to desertification and water wars breeding violence , to political vacuums due to weak institutions and poor succession planning . Through its support to NGOs , USAID works to strengthen local governance and empower legitimate authorities . These are the dynamics on the ground the Hub must understand in order to inform .
UNHCR and USAID participants pointed to humanitarian field operations where NATO engagement was welcome – e . g . in civil preparedness , population movement , the role of women in peace and security , and protection of vulnerable civilians and children – particularly leveraging the military ’ s logistical capacity to reach areas where humanitarian aid otherwise cannot . In post-conflict zones , NATO can support disarmament , demobilization and reintegration ( DDR ) processes to maintain peace . The Hub could be a mechanism for monitoring areas of need and for synchronizing civ-mil programming . A senior European Union ( EU ) diplomat outlined EU bilateral engagement with MENA partner states in tailored , country-specific stabilization programs under its Neighborhood Policy . On a multilateral level are initiatives to rescue migrants and capture traffickers ( Operation Sophia ) in
the Mediterranean , to counter violent extremism and combat arms trafficking , and to enhance judiciaries , in conjunction with the UN , NATO , the Global Counterterrorism Forum , and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS . These efforts collectively offer areas of overlap and potential collaboration with the Hub .
An African Union ( AU ) representative spoke of the need to understand cultural , historical , trade , and economic dynamics driving terror trends in order to confront them . Democratic governance must be strengthened at local levels and communities empowered to generate economic opportunities . Forums like the G5 Sahel and AU-EU summits are opportunities for the Hub to plug in , while AU-NATO links can be elevated to a more strategic level . NATO and its members can lend militaries ’ analytic and strategic planning capabilities to support MENA states designing their counterterrorism architecture . UNHCR , USAID , EU , and AU representatives pulled together the days ’ presentations in a joint panel offering specific leads for the Hub to get started . These included an extensive list of readily available online resources , data bases , and portals supplying metrics and indicators for monitoring
and analysis . Panelists also recommended existing collaborative platforms , consortia , and conferences addressing similar problem sets , as starting points for the Hub to get connected to existing networks . Alongside this civilian-military outreach , Commanders at the conference also discussed how land forces could get their own house in order by using the Hub to synchronize military cooperation and defense capacity building efforts . By minimizing duplication of programs and refocusing them on opportunities of maximum impact , a shared coordination mechanism could meaningfully contribute to NATO ’ s core strategic goal of projecting stability beyond its borders .
Experts from leading think tanks also provided an afternoon of case studies on four MENA countries – Jordan , Libya , Syria , and Tunisia – that will provide an initial focus for the Hub .
JFC Naples officially launched the Hub on September 5 , with both military and civilian personnel . Following an initial start-up phase , it is slated to reach final operating capability at the end of 2017 .
LAND POWER23