From 21 to 25 September 2026, the NATO Security Force Assistance Centre of Excellence (NATO SFA COE) delivered the SFA Operators Course 2026-2.
The five-day programme provided participants with an understanding of the SFA framework and the skills required to operate in complex, multinational environments. It combined classroom instruction, discussions, practical exercises and the exchange of operational experiences.
The main areas addressed during the course were:
- SFA planning and assessment, including capability development and the monitoring of progress;
- analysis of the operational environment, including the Host Nation, the security sector and relationships among key actors;
- communication across cultures, with attention to cultural mediation, gender perspectives, rapport building and effective communication;
- cooperation with local counterparts through negotiation, the use of interpreters and lessons from operational case studies.
Through experiential learning, participants worked together towards shared objectives, fostering interaction and mutual understanding—essential skills for SFA operators (advisors, mentors and trainers)—and laying the foundations for the activities ahead. In a mapping exercise, they examined the security sector and the relationships among key actors.
During a role-play exercise, participants practised mediation and negotiation with a local counterpart through an interpreter in a simulated capacity-building environment. For the first time, the exercise incorporated SFA Agent, an advanced AI-powered training simulator designed for SFA Operators.
On the final day, a NATO Mission Iraq (NMI) case study connected what participants had learned to a real operational scenario. They also shared their experiences and discussed SFA in practice.
The SFA Operators Course 2026-2 provided a valuable opportunity to practise skills relevant to security-related capacity-building missions and exchange experiences with colleagues from different backgrounds.
