Report

Bottlenecks to Deployment? The Challenges of Deploying Trained Personnel to United Nations Peacekeeping Operations

“The present report addresses the role of training programmes with respect to the deployment of personnel in peace operations. How effective is the deployment of trained personnel, and what are the main obstacles
to this deployment? We use the Norwegian-funded Training for Peace in Africa (TfP) as a case to explore the bottlenecks that
hamper the recruitment and deployment of trained personnel, especially civilians, to peace operations in the African context. The present study is exploratory in character and our conclusions are tentative in nature, as they are based on limited empirical data.
We differentiate between individual and systemic bottlenecks. On the basis of the present study we argue that individual bottlenecks, referring to the respondent’s unwillingness or inability to apply, make up
for roughly half of the non-deployments. Systemic bottlenecks are still a crucial factor. Here, the informal nature of the UN’s recruitment stands out.”