Civil Military Co-operation Centre of Excellence

NATO member countries are increasingly involved in operations around the world to contribute to global security and stability. In order to reach these common goals, cooperation with civil actors is of paramount importance since working in a complementary way is the best way to reach a desired end state. To enable this cooperation NATO forces are required to have the necessary knowledge of the operational environment and the civil actors working within this environment as well as the right skills and tools for this interaction. The CIMIC Centre of Excellence provides these skills and tools in the form of courses, innovative and timely advice, and subject matter expertise on Civil-Military Co-Operation (CIMIC) for both civilian and military customers.

The CCOE is dedicated to further improving today’s CIMIC. To this end, the Concepts, Interoperability and Capability (CIC) Branch of the CCOE is committed to the development of new concepts, training modules and the revision of existing doctrines in response to the needs of NATO military personnel in the field. In order to achieve the best possible results, the CCOE is cooperating with humanitarian organisations to gain insight on their needs and to benefit from their experience.

One of the most valuable sources of inspiration for the CIC branch is the Multiple Future Project of the Allied Command Transformation. This project is aimed at improving the understanding of the Alliance’s future threat environment by analysing emerging security challenges. The possible futures identified in this project are important as a framework to guide the discussion regarding specific risk conditions which will influence decision-making within NATO. Risk Conditions refer to vulnerabilities and characteristics that endanger global security and stability as well as specific values and ideas.
The CCOE is using these risk conditions to identify subjects relevant to CIMIC and for the development of tangible tools and CIMIC know-how.

The CIC-Branch conduct a Front-End Analysis (FEA) – based on operational requirements – in order to develop training modules which can be combined to suit the customers’ individual training needs and to identify major future drivers on CIMIC.
This FEA is also to be used as the foundation for a recommendation to the NATO CIMIC Education Working Group, on the necessity to begin a combined Training Need Analysis on the current NATO CIMIC Staff Course (NCSC), which again might lead to the development of a new, also NATO accredited NCSC.

Participation

If you are interested in participating in the overall dialogue either as an individual or as an organisation you are cordially invited to do so by contacting the CCOE using the link on the right.