Nepal -- The Staff Training Events (STEs) are designed to improve multinational readiness and coordination in the U.N. Force Headquarters operational-level environment by developing staff officers’ capabilities in operations, logistics, planning and civil-military coordination.

Nations from the Indo-Asia-Pacific region currently have more than 16,000 peacekeepers deployed in support of 15 of the 16 U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations missions across the world.

The STEs main topics include how peacekeeping operations work, the environments in which peacekeepers operate, and the roles and tasks that a U.N. staff officer will undertake.

The STEs are designed to prepare staff officers for real-world U.N. deployments.

“One of the significant problems identified by the U.N. Department for Peacekeeping Operations is the inadequate preparation of military staff officers. These Staff Training Events, and the U.N. staff officer courses, are designed to address this shortfall,” said Ian Parker, Lead STE Instructor from U.S. Pacific Command.

During the STEs leaders also discussed threats and factors affecting the planning of peacekeeping operations, to include: cultural considerations, vast areas covered by limited numbers of peacekeepers, multinational military operations, civil-military cooperation, mission headquarters work, humanitarian components of peacekeeping missions, dealing with violent extremists and transnational threats, human rights, political agendas and more.

Participants at the STEs included officers from Australia, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, Fiji, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Rwanda, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay and Vietnam.

The STEs are being held as part of exercise Shanti Prayas III, a Nepal and U.S. co-sponsored multinational training exercise conducted as part of the U.S. State Department’s Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI).

During the Shanti Prayas III opening ceremony Admiral Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, emphasized the importance of partnerships, planning together and being innovative to face global challenges.

“Partnerships play a critical role in meeting global challenges, from maintaining peace to providing humanitarian assistance after natural disasters,” said Harris. “In addition to considering logistics, plans, and operations – take the time to think outside the box about peacekeeping and how we can use this time to enhance our collective effectiveness.”

The goals of Shanti Prayas III include building partner capacity to conduct pre-deployment training for U.N. peacekeeping operations, improve mission performance, and further enhancing military-to-military relationships and regional interoperability.

Multinational peacekeeping exercises have been conducted annually in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region supporting the GPOI since 2006. The exercises have occurred in Bangladesh (twice), Cambodia, Indonesia (twice), Malaysia, Mongolia (three times), Nepal and Thailand. The last iteration conducted in Nepal occurred in 2013.