Transformative Training in Soft Skills for Peacekeepers

Abstract

Personnel in peacekeeping missions come from diverse organizations and nations, yet must coordinate together in each peacekeeping mission. Diversity in organizations (militaries, police forces, civil organizations), gender and culture (national, ethnicity, religion) make communication and cooperation difficult yet vital in order to achieve peacekeeping missions’ goals. Current training puts few resources into training personnel in the critical soft skills of communication, gender awareness and cultural awareness that facilitate working together. Experiential learning through role-play is recognized as the best way to improve soft skills but is expensive and logistically difficult. Role-playing in a digital environment, specifically a Serious Game, can provide experiential learning that is low cost and accessible to all. Training peacekeepers in soft skills digitally requires deep knowledge of soft skills in peacekeeping. Yet we know little about the experiences of soft skills by peacekeeping personnel on peacekeeping. This article draws on in-depth interviews with 177 experienced military, police and civilian peacekeeping personnel around Europe. The research demonstrates the limited and uneven nature of training in soft skills, identifies the soft skills needed by the interviewees on missions, and demonstrates that the majority of the interviewees want more training and practice in soft skills relevant for peacekeeping.