Curriculum Review and Gap Analysis

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Curriculum Review and Gap Analysis
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Curriculum Gaps in Training Education

• Six Primary Gap Areas
• Integrated Management and Complex Operations
  Training
• Focused Training on Situational and Cultural
  Awareness
• Additional Courses on Basic Capacity Building
• Ingrained Lessons Learned Systems
• Operational Coordination between organizations
  involved in complex operations
• Coordinated Information and Public Diplomacy
• Drawn from Sharing the Space A Study on
  Education and Training for Complex Operations.

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Curriculum Gaps in Training Education

• Integrated Training in Management and Complex
  Operations
• Leadership and management courses must take into
  account the skill sets required to operate
  effectively in a complex and often chaotic
  environment.
• Practitioners must have the ability to make
  assessments and evaluations during a postconflict
  situation.
• Greater emphasis must also be placed on internal
  continuity and knowledge transfer.

1 of current course offerings (7 courses)
train-the-trainer.
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Curriculum Gaps in Training Education

• Focused Training on Situational and Cultural
  Awareness

• Lack of courses that address interacting within a
  host culture at a professional level.
• Need for more interactive courses that enable
  personnel to transfer skills learned into
  practice.
• Courses must take a nuanced approach and provide
  practitioners with that ability to recognize the
  nature of cultural differences as drivers of
  conflict.
• Practitioners must be trained to understand the
  impact of their presence and actions on local
  society.

13 of courses address conflict resolution,
mediation or negotiation.
6 of courses focus on cultural awareness
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Curriculum Gaps in Training Education

• Additional Courses on Basic Capacity Building
• In order to stand up or improve host country
  institutions, practitioners must have the ability
  to
• Recognize and respect host-country capacity
• Perform baseline assessments
• Transfer knowledge to local counterparts
• Informed development strategies focus on
  strengthening pre-existing capacities rather than
  starting from zero.

Because we didnt receive any guidance for
governance or reconstruction and certainly not
for spreading democracy, I had to make up
everything as I went, based on the situation on
the ground and what I remembered from my Special
Forces training and a handful of political
science classes. Major Gavrilis, USA, The
Mayor of Ar Rutbah Foreign Policy Magazine,
Nov-Dec 05
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Curriculum Gaps in Training Education

• Ingrained Lessons Learned Systems
• The USG must greatly improve its ability to
  capture lessons learned and integrate those
  lessons into the education and training process,
  especially at the strategic level.
• Agencies involved in complex operations must give
  attention to the best practices of allied
  governments in addition to looking at best
  practices from U.S. entities.
• Civilian agencies are too often limited by
  resource and time constraints to identify and
  document effective practices.

PKSOI's Lessons Learned program allows US
Military, USG civilian agencies, multinational
military and civilian organizations, IOs, NGOs,
and private sector organizations to engage in a
collaborative process for collection, analysis,
dissemination and integration of lessons learned
for SSTR and Peace Operations.
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Curriculum Gaps in Training Education

• Operational Coordination between Organizations
  Conducting Complex Operations
• Institutional stovepipes, differences in
  organizational cultures, and even the lack of a
  common lexicon present barriers to developing
  fully integrated training opportunities.
• There is a clear need to go beyond a whole of
  government and apply a whole of community
  approach to complex operations education and
  training to best prepare the spectrum of
  operators involved on the ground.
• Understanding the mechanisms of other
  organizations is critical when decisions need to
  be made quickly.

• 10 of current course offerings address working
  with other agencies.
• 7 address civil-military relations.
• 4 address interagency planning and coordination.

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Curriculum Gaps in Training Education

• Coordinated Information and Public Diplomacy

• The lack of coordination in developing common
  communication and a standardized lexicon can lead
  to confusion on the part of the host population
  and affect mission legitimacy.
• Institutions on the ground must develop
  coordinated public diplomacy in order for US
  goals and objectives to be implemented
  effectively.
• USG and allied institutions must agree upon the
  roles, missions, and job descriptions for
  civilian and military personnel.

3 of current course offerings address
communication and public diplomacy.
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Reducing Curriculum Gaps

• Reducing the gaps in education and training for
  Complex Operations requires participation from
  the community.
• Inform the Consortium for Complex Operations of
  additions or changes to course offerings so that
  a comprehensive catalog of civilian and military
  courses can be maintained.
• Develop an actionable strategy for addressing
  curriculum gaps.
• Determine the appropriate amount of attention
  that should be given to each subject area to
  ensure an appropriate distribution of effort.
• Identify the appropriate institutions to teach
  specific content and any relevant strategic
  partnerships.

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• Questions?