Leadership and Cooperation

Civilian and military personnel are holding a meeting together.

Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad

When a country is hit by violent conflict, many different actors are normally engaged in order to stop the violence. Good leadership and cooperation skills are decisive factors for all actors’ ability to contribute to solving the conflict.

When war breaks out within a country, the government may decide to invite an international actor such as the UN, EU or OSCE to establish a peace operation in the crisis area.

Such an operation is staffed with personnel of various nationalities and from different professional backgrounds. For example, there might be military staff tasked with protecting civilians from violence, police staff tasked with maintaining law and order, and civilian staff in leadership positions or tasked with supporting the leadership. All actors involved need solid understanding of each other’s roles, and training in cooperation.

Moreover, the peace operation staff must be able to coordinate their work with outside actors, such as local authorities. Good leadership, at all levels in all organizations involved in the efforts for peace, is key for effective coordination, cooperation, and sustainable results.

What does the FBA do?

Training and advice
FBA offers training and advice on leadership and cooperation in international efforts for peace. FBA also co-arranges Viking together with the Swedish Armed Forces. Viking is one of the world’s largest international staff exercises, held approximately every fourth year with military, police and civilian participants practicing cooperation in a fictional peace operation.
Research
FBA conducts and supports international research on leadership and cooperation in international efforts for peace.
Secondments
FBA seconds personnel working within the field of leadership and cooperation to international peace operations that Sweden contributes to, led by the EU, UN and OSCE. Click here to see a map of where our personnel is currently deployed.
Our partner countries
Within the framework of Sweden’s international development aid, FBA carries out projects concerning leadership and cooperation in efforts for peace. Click here to read more about the countries where we work.
Support to civil society
FBA grants yearly funds to Swedish civil society organizations working to promote dialogue and debate and to spread knowledge about peace and security related issues, for example issues concerning leadership and cooperation in international efforts for peace.

Women’s low participation in decision-making one of the main gender equality challenges

It was an international breakthrough for gender equality when 189 countries agreed on an action plan to strengthen women’s rights 25 years ago. Some years later, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, rooted in the action plan. The 2020 anniversary of the resolution is an occasion to celebrate women’s rights. But what is the status of gender equality today?

2020-10-28 08:00

On international deployment

Kristian Edqvist

Training manager in Brussels

Catalina Perdomo Rodriguez

Adviser to the UN in Colombia

Johan Chytraeus

Monitoring officer in Ukraine

Karolina Riedel

Statistician in election observation missions

Johan Fredborn Larsson

Political adviser in Mali

Vanda Dahlbom

Analyst in Iraq

Björn Tedeman

Election observer

Read our publications

Security Sector Reform for Practitioners

This booklet aims to provide the reader with a basic overview of security sector reform (SSR) as well as some initial insights necessary to engage in SSR programming.

Documents

Security sector reform for practitioners

More Publications

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In the midst of the pandemic, riots and unrest continues in the US over the recent cases of police brutality that resulted in the deaths of several African American individuals. While the Black Lives Matter movement continues to draw attention to the structural racism and inequalities of the American society, one of the slogans of the movement is ‘defund the police’ – seemingly meaning to disband or even abolish the police and give their funding to… ... Read entire post »
2020-09-30 12:26
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Posted by Rhodri Williams
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2020-09-14 10:34