Uniform Approach
Szöveg: Péter Snoj | 2016. április 28. 9:00A one-week NATO accredited Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) Liaison Course has started in the Stefánia Palace – Military Cultural Center (Budapest). During the week, the international group of students will be studying several theoretical and practical subjects.
“We offer a kind of uniform approach by teaching, for example, ways of successful cooperation with various humanitarian organizations or local governments. The aim is to standardize these methods of approach", Maj. Etien Lavalette told us. The director of the course organized by the NATO CIMIC Centre of Excellence also revealed that besides academic subjects, the one-week training launched on 18 April is mainly based on hands-on tasks, so the students will act as role-players in a number of scenarios based on actual real-world events.
The organization of the course in Hungary has been made possible by successful cooperation, as normally this course type is regularly held in the CIMIC Centre of Excellence (COE) in the Hague, the Netherlands. Thanks to the good relations with Hungarian partners, the COE made an exception in this case and has brought the course to Budapest, which has been co-organized here by the NATO CIMIC Centre of Excellence and the HDF Civil-Military Cooperation and Psychological Operations Centre. Thus, this special form of extramural education ensures that the maximum number of Hungarian experts can receive the training. Before the start of the course, Col. Csaba Szilágyi, commander, HDF CIMIC/PSYOPS Centre welcomed the participants saying “We are greatly honored to be able to host this course here. In earlier years, we have organized several hands-on training events in Hungary, but this year, for the first time ever, we can host a liaison course."
Col. Szilágyi added that from the viewpoint of the HDF Civil-Military Cooperation and Psychological Operations Centre the currently running NATO training course and the like greatly assist and benefit the soldiers of the organization in international environments. During the training, Hungarian, Dutch and American instructors and observers are teaching the subjects to the close to 20-person group that comprises Hungarian, American, British, Czech, Danish and Turkish students. Maj. Lavalette said that although the course is not a pre-deployment training, the mission-related experience of the instructors and students forms an integral part of the curriculum.
Photo: László Tóth
