THE FRUIT OF TEN YEARS OF PEACEKEEPING CAPACITY BUILDING WITH JAPAN - Defense Security Cooperation University

Over the course of 17-days in early 2023, an Institute for Security Governance (ISG) Peacekeeping & Exercise (PKX) Team traveled to Tokyo, Japan to conduct a United Nations Staff Officer Course (UNSOC) at the Japan Peacekeeping Training and Research Center (JPC), Joint Staff College. 

ISG has been delivering both the UNSOC as well as the Peacekeeping Contingent Commanders Course (PKOCC) annually to rotating Japanese contingents for over a decade. 

For the first time in ISG’s engagement history with Japan, this iteration included a two-day train-the-trainer preparation, enabling five Japanese instructors from the JPC to join the ISG trainers in executing the course. Japanese partners taking a direct instructional role is a strong indicator of the efficacy of ISG’s capacity building efforts in Japan. The JPC indicated their intention to build on this success during the next course in July. Participants were encouraged by the Commandant of the Joint Staff College, Vice Admiral FUTAKAWA Tatsuya, during his graduation to “take home and share the knowledge and the skills they have acquired during the course and be a core personnel in the international missions.” Japan is looking for ways to increase its contribution to United Nations Peacekeeping. 

ISG supports the State Department Global Peacekeeping Operations Initiative (GPOI) to deliver high-level United Nations peacekeeping training to partner nations. The intent of this training is ultimately to enable partner nation peacekeeping training centers to become self-sufficient. The ISG PKX Team provides unrivaled career UN expert instructor/mentor support and offers continuously updated materials and training methodologies that are fully compliant with UN training requirements. What’s more, ISG PKX training incorporates up-to-date lessons learned from ongoing missions.

Using this expertise, ISG also provides support to non-GPOI countries via FMS and IMET courses. ISG’s Peacekeeping & Exercise with Japan is part of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) FMS case with Japan. 

To learn more about ISG’s Peacekeeping & Exercise Practice Group, how it supports worldwide peacekeeping exercises, as well as about its resident and mobile education offerings, visit: https://instituteforsecuritygovernance.org/