NATO SFA COE: 2nd SFA Workshop on the implementation of the advising mission of SFA
On the 21st and 22nd of November 2019 the NATO Security Force Assistance Centre of Excellence (NATO SFA COE) organized in Florence the 2nd SFA Workshop on the implementation of the advising mission of SFA “Bringing the SFA community together: Establish good practice around advising”.
Designed in the framework of “Law and Policy” area activities, the Workshop has been planned by Capt. Ludovica Glorioso, NATO SFA COE Legad and project officer, and partnered with Dr. Nadia Gerspacher, senior expert and author of publications on advising. The event intended to bring together the leading experts who work or who hold a leadership role in the Advising sector, in order to provide concrete solutions and standardized tools to make the work of all SFA Operators more effective at Strategic level.
During the opening session Lt. Gen. Salvatore Camporeale, Commander of the Army’s Training, Specialization and Doctrine Command (COMFORDOT), who in his outgoing role as Deputy Commander of the Resolute Support Mission (RSM), intervened by providing an updated overview of the mission in Afghanistan with ideas, thought and analysis about the effectiveness of Assistance at Institutional level, on which to set the work for the following days.
After the plenary session, participants composed by SFA practitioners and leadership of the NATO community, formed small groups to discuss and analyse in depth the SFA environment, the actors, the obstacles and the challenges of advising Security Forces and the tools to support the entire SFA Community.
In particular:
– map out the steps that lead to the Security Force Assistance activities from Strategy, Policy, Planning and Implementation perspectives;
– identify what is systematically and effectively faced and what is counterproductive in advising Security Forces;
– analyse the type of support which would assist the entire SFA community address existing challenges and identify the tools and the training opportunities which can most reliably support advising Security Forces;
– understand the training content which empowers an effective advising and identify the various knowledge areas required and the skill sets.
The closing plenary session allowed the participants to put together all the different ideas and thoughts in order to give the right tools and ways ahead to render the SFA Advisors more effective at strategic level.
Advising activities can be considered effective only if certain principles, specific standards and an adequate mindset are implemented, as well as a multidisciplinary, intergovernmental and strategic approach, with shared objectives.
For these reasons the NATO SFA COE has placed at the core of its working activities the strengthening of the “Human Capital” to which it associates the development of cross-cutting and in-depth projects in an international context with NATO HQ (Brussels), Strategic Command in Norfolk (ACT) and ACO / SHAPE (Mons), and the main stakeholders which allow SFA operators to be strengthened and operate effectively in these types of International Missions.
