UPDATE ON
CHANGE IN RESPONSIBILITY FOR IAPTC SECRETARIAT
CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
(2nd revised version – Jan 2016)
Dear Members of the IAPTC
The Presidency and Executive Committee members announce that CUNPK India,
while confirming its intention to relinquish its role as IAPTC Secretariat after more
than10 years service with the Association, will continue to meet its responsibilities
as Secretariat up to and including the 2016 annual conference. Thereafter CUNPK
will no longer be able to continue its role. The Presidency and Executive Committee
sincerely hope that the Association will be able to find a similar professional
institution to fulfill the roles and responsibilities of the IAPTC Secretariat.
Accordingly the Presidency and Executive Committee wish, as a matter of some
priority, to intensify the search for another institution from the IAPTC membership
to take over the responsibilities of the IAPTC Secretariat. This notice is intended to
explain this process.
PRINCIPAL ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE IAPTC SECRETARIAT
The IAPTC Secretariat is far more than one’s traditional understanding of a
Secretariat. For the IAPTC it is not just a case of keeping records, recording minutes
of meetings and maintaining a web site. The Secretariat is expected to play a lead
role in the management of the Association, given that most other key appointments
are rotational. Moreover, the management focus and activity of the Executive
Committee is by its very nature haphazard and intermittent at best. Not only are two
thirds of its members rotational, but most members focus only twice a year on their
IAPTC responsibilities – during the planning conference and during the annual
conference itself. In between these meetings most members, including the
‘quadripartite’ Presidency and the 4-member functional chair group focus mainly on
their primary institutional responsibilities and have little time for the affairs of the
Association. The relatively permanent Secretariat is therefore assumed and
expected to play a lead management role.
The following are the principal roles and responsibilities for the Secretariat. They
attempt to capture the complexities and development of the IAPTC concept over the
years, and reflect today’s concept and program management requirements:
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Be the IAPTC Institutional Memory;
Develop and maintain an up-to-date IAPTC Web site;
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Draft and maintain key IAPTC meeting records – including for the Planning
Conference; Annual Conference Executive Committee meetings; and the
Annual General Meeting (AGM);
In close cooperation with the Presidency, initiate, develop and manage the
agendas for all meetings of the IAPTC Executive Committee;
Support, and be responsive to, Presidency and Host;
Advise Executive Committee functional chairpersons as appropriate;
Work with the Consolidation and Development Committee (CDC) on policy,
management and conceptual matters;
Maintain the IAPTC Articles of Association;
Maintain mail lists of members covering the past 2 years’ annual conference
participants;
Maintain an up-to-date Executive Committee members list, including key
support staff for each member;
Keep the IAPTC archives up to date;
Advise future hosts and presidencies on concept, process, and annual
conference, as required;
Initiate and manage the official annual conference invitation process;
Initiate and manage the process of developing the annual conference
background paper;
Manage the process of detailed program development in between the
Planning ECM and the annual conference;
Guide the Host on the preparation of the annual conference report;
Manage the process of identifying future hosts; and
Be prepared to assume the role for five years, with an option to continue for
an additional five years.
PRINCIPAL CAPABILITIES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE IAPTC
SECRETARIAT
As a result of the above roles and responsibilities, and based on experience to date,
the key capabilities and characteristics of the new Secretariat include:
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dedicated resources (personnel, time and finances),
a professional and readily updatable IAPTC-dedicated web-site,
a multi-functional interest and attitude (if not multi-functional organization),
a willingness to maintain a year-round interest in the Association and the
work of its Executive Committee,
an expressed commitment to work with proven and accepted IAPTC
objectives, policies, traditions and practices, and
a willingness and ability to cooperate with the Executive Committee,
including the Presidency and the Consolidation and Development Committee
(CDC), on IAPTC conceptual, policy and management issues.
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The institution hosting the Secretariat should have significant experience with the
Association.
The commitment is on behalf of an institution and not an individual. Ideally it is for
5 years and, hopefully, for 10 years as per past history.
The new Secretariat needs to take into account the makeup of a membership that
has a strong UN interest, but also the fact that some 50% of the Association
comprises members interested in educating and training police, military and a range
of civilians for AU, EU, NATO and coalition operations.
The integrated nature of missions/operations and the constantly emerging
importance of police and civilians in both peace and crisis management operations
also suggest a Secretariat that is multifunctional in nature and not purely military or
otherwise ‘uni-functional’.
A new Secretariat is also expected to take on some of the more procedural roles
currently assumed by the CDC (and indicated in the roles and responsibilities
above). It is intended that the CDC adopt more of a support role to the Secretariat, as
required. This matter will be discussed between CDC and prospective Secretariats.
SELECTION PROCESS
The IAPTC Articles of Association say nothing about a process for this eventuality,
and there is very limited institutional experience with such a situation. Item III of
the Articles establishes the Secretariat as a member of the Association’s Executive
Committee, and article VI simply states that “The Secretariat will be headed by a
Director, who shall be a senior executive of the organization hosting the IAPTC
Secretariat”.
A change in Secretariat has occurred only once in the 20 year history of the
Association. In 2005, after providing the Secretariat for some 10 years, the IAPTC
founding organization, Canada’s Pearson Peacekeeping Center, decided to pass on
the role and responsibilities to another IAPTC member. At the time Canada worked
with several regular participants of IAPTC annual conferences, and also consulted
with the UN committee member, to identify a long-term IAPTC member that might
assume the Secretariat duties. The whole process therefore was informal, more or
less bilateral, and the AGM was simply asked to agree the proposal to handover the
Secretariat duties to the ‘volunteer’ India CUNPK. The selection of CUNPK as
Secretariat was unanimously approved in the 2005 AGM.
As was the case in 2005, it is important that the appointment of a suitable
replacement institution be based primarily on an institution’s detailed working
knowledge of the Secretariat requirement, and of its ability to understand, manage,
and implement IAPTC objectives, policies, best practices, traditions and procedures.
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It requires an institution prepared to take a lead role, 12 months a year, in the active
management of the Association.
This web-call for bids is therefore open to all with significant IAPTC
experience, and with interest in significantly contributing to the IAPTC
concept and process.
ALTERNATIVES
The possibility however exists that, for a number of reasons and at least for ‘a
period’, no organisation is prepared to take on the role, without further reflection
and discussion within the IAPTC community and without further national or
regional deliberations. Accordingly it is suggested that consideration must also be
given by the Executive Committee to examining options for an alternative and
interim ‘working concept’; one that will ensure a degree of continuity and
effectiveness for the Secretariat function, with advice from the membership at large.
TIMETABLE
The optimum opportunity for consideration of this issue, including alternative
possibilities, is during the 2016 Annual Conference’ Planning Meeting of the
Executive Committee, during the week 16-20 May 2016 in Sarajevo. Accordingly,
organisations with an interest in the Secretariat role should contact the current
Secretariat, or the Brazilian IAPTC Presidency, prior to that week.
It is expected that a new Secretariat, or alternate interim concept, will be effective
following the 2016 annual conference.
Further information on the process, if required, can be obtained from the IAPTC
Secretariat.
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