The PKSOI led “Protection of Civilians” (PoC) working
group worked on developing a plan for producing a multi-
dimensional PoC Reference Guide. An inherent secondary
objective included obtaining working group familiarity
with existing UN, NATO, and US mi litary approaches to
PoC. Head Quarters Department of Army and the Joint
Staff J7 joined with PKSOI to lead the second working
group on “Operationalizing the Women Peace and Se-
curity (WPS) Agenda.” The working group utilized the
Army WPS Lead Gender Dynamics Handbook 1.0 to
inform version 2.0, stressing the importance of gender
analysis. The PKSOI led “Humanitarian Assistance in a
Complex Environment and Civ-Mil Information Sharing”
working group sought to begin the development of a set
of readiness indicators in order to assist the Global Com-
batant Commands (GCCs) to be ready for execution of
foreign humanitarian assistance (FHA) in their areas of
responsibilities. The working group for “Civil Affairs' Role
in Stability” determined appropriate responsibilities and
CA tasks in support of U.S. Army stability tasks in order
to support CA capability enhancement efforts across the
DOTMLPF-P domains. The United States Institute of
Peace led a group on “Operationalizing Governance” and
tried to determine how best to support and build capacity
of civ-mil practitioners, including civil affairs and other key
actors, in strengthening their capacity to engage effectively
in these areas.
After a day and a half of dedicated working group time,
the forum came together on the third and final day of the
workshop. The day began with an update from Mr. Jonas
Alberoth, who is a member of the Executive Staff of the In-
ternational Association of Peacekeeping Training Centers
(IAPTC). Mr. Alberoth updated the forum on the work
being done at the international level on many of the same
topics discussed by working groups. In the fall, the PKSOI
Director will update the members of the IAPTC at their
annual meeting on the outcomes of PSOTEW 2018. This
reciprocal exchange of work efforts allows for an open dia-
logue between the U.S. and the international communities
of practice.
The final collective event of the PSOTEW was the working
group out briefs. Each workgroup gave a 15-20 minute pre-
sentation highlighting key points of their discussion and
working group’s findings, as well as a planned “way ahead.”
Keynote address speaker Dr. Sarah Sewall is the Speyer
Family Foundation Distinguished Scholar at the Henry
A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs.
Along with the participants, the out briefs were monitored
by PKSOI’s staff of Visiting Professors. This allowed for
the group to receive feedback from this group of well-sea-
soned PSO experts, and also provides the opportunity for
PKSOI to begin to shape its academic priorities for the
upcoming year.
PKSOI will surely continue on with conducting the annual
PSOTEW, and we are always looking for interested indi-
viduals and organizations to help shape the event and look
to take a role in proposing and leading working groups.
Please continue to monitor the PKSOI webpage for the
development of PSOTEW 2019!
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Stabi-
lization and Humanitarian Assistance, Mr. Mark Swayne
gave an update on the state of the current Stability Policy
for the Department of Defense.
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