On May 20, 2021, CIVIC participated in the New York University Center for International Cooperation Early Warning / Early Action Practitioners Workshop. CIVIC convened a panel of our own researchers—alongside representatives of the UN Operations and Crisis Centre (UNOCC) and the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA)—to discuss recent advances on peacekeeping early warning and rapid response (EW/RR) systems. The panel discussion, “Peacekeeping Early Warning and Response Tracking Systems and the Protection of Civilians in Mali”, combined CIVIC’s independent field research on peacekeeping EW/RR with the technical experience of UN practitioners who are implementing new tools in the field.
Lauren Spink, CIVIC’s Senior Global Researcher, introduced some of CIVIC’s findings related to peacekeeping EW/RR, including the types of protection activities missions undertake; the challenges to EW/RR; and ways in which missions have tried to improve coordination, incident tracking, and community engagement. Based on a recent CIVIC policy brief, Seán Smith, CIVIC’s Mali Peacekeeping Researcher, discussed the genesis of the EW/RR procedures MINUSMA adopted in June 2020, and how the Mission standardizes practices, clarifies roles, improves cross-mission coordination, and creates new tools. Jonathan Lorrillard, the head of MINUSMA’s Regional Joint Operations Centre in Mopti, described in more detail how MINUSMA has begun to implement those new EW/RR practices and tools, and the initial impact they have had on the Mission’s EW/RR actions. Rajkumar Cheney Krishnan, an Information Management Officer with UNOCC, explained how UNOCC developed and supported the implementation of a new EW/RR mobile app, which allows rapid and coordinated responses to early warnings received by the Mission, as well as analysis of responses. The panel discussion and Q&A were facilitated by Alison Giffen, CIVIC’s UN Director.
Recordings of other events in the Practitioners Workshop are available here.
