Intergovernmental Affairs Programs and Activities
As part of its mission, USIP Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA) plays an active role in the development and advancement of USIP Civilian-Military Relations activities as a principal means to manage international conflict and respond to humanitarian crises. USIP embodies a “whole of society”/“whole of community” approach throughout all facets of its work, actively engaging and convening a wide range of actors in the U.S. military, U.S. civilian government agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), as well as key intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and foreign partners through training, research and analysis, and on the ground work.
Highlights of USIP’s work in this area include:
Civ-Mil Working Group (CMWG)
The USIP-facilitated Working Group on Civilian-Military Relations in Non-Permissive Environments (CMWG) is a network of experts and practitioners from U.S. government civilian and military agencies, key nongovernmental humanitarian organizations, and international entities involved in humanitarian and crisis response operations. The group has convened since 2005 to advance dialogue on critical issues related to the blurring of roles and responsibilities among the myriad actors operating in conflict zones. The group seeks to:
- Convene. The CWMG is a recognized venue for experts to build knowledge, share information and advance the dialogue among the NGO community and U.S. government civilian and military agencies.
- Consult. The CWMG is a consultative mechanism for the wider crisis response community to provide and receive expert input on doctrine, policy guidance, operational procedures, etc., which affect the operational environment during crisis/humanitarian response.
- Communicate. The CWMG shares best practices and lessons learned, identifies emerging issues and specific concerns and communicates to policymakers, the training/education community, and implementers.
In 2007, the CMWG released the Guidelines for Relations between U.S. Armed Forces and Non-Governmental Humanitarian Organizations in Hostile or Potentially Hostile Environments. Facilitated by USIP, the Guidelines seek to mitigate frictions between military and NGO personnel over the preservation of humanitarian space in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. Endorsed by the leadership of both the U.S. military and InterAction, the Guidelines remain relevant today and have been disseminated worldwide. Other activities of the CMWG include the development of exercises and programs to promote the Guidelines, and projects including the Guiding Principles for Stabilization and Reconstruction.
The CMWG is managed by a Core Group consisting of representatives from the Departments of Defense and State, USAID, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and InterAction.
Integrated Education and Training Working Group (IETWG)
USIP facilitated the establishment of the Integrated Education and Training Working Group (IETWG) in August 2011. This group, which includes representatives from fifteen governmental and intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and civil society organizations (CSOs), are tasked with identifying core competencies, shared education and training, and learning objectives for civilian-military exercises to better prepare practitioners from across the response community as institutions transition from major operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The group provided recommendations to senior leaders from the participating organizations in a January 2012 report, Preserve and Adapt: Education and Training for Responding to Conflict and Humanitarian Emergencies.
To accomplish the development of integrated education and training, working group members will explore and share the work of their institutions in different response environments (humanitarian and disaster response, conflict response and conflict prevention) as the basis for understanding core competencies and institutional roles and responsibilities
Participating organizations include:
- Alliance for Peacebuilding
- InterAction
- International Committee of the Red Cross
- United Nations
- U.S. Agency for International Development
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- U.S. Department of Commerce
- U.S. Department of Defense
- U.S. Department of Energy
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security
- U.S. Department of Justice
- U.S. Department of State
- U.S. Department of Transportation
- U.S. Institute of Peace
The group coordinates closely with other initiatives in this area, including the annual Stability Operations Training and Education Workshop (SOTEW) run by the U.S. Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations (PKSOI), Joint Staff J-7, and George Mason University (GMU).
Interagency Professionals in Residence (IPR) Program
The USIP Interagency Professionals in Residence (IPR) initiative actively seeks to build networks and sustainable partnerships for the Institute with counterparts across the interagency community by hosting non-reimbursable, recurring detail assignments for personnel from U.S. government, nongovernmental, and international organizations. USIP partners with other U.S. government organizations to leverage resources and skills for international peacebuilding and serves as a catalyst in empowering others to prevent, manage and resolve international conflict.
Objectives: USIP provides a multidisciplinary setting for interagency professionals and offers IPRs a range of substantive experiences to work directly with USIP’s country-specific, regional and thematic programs through the Center for Conflict Management (CCM) and the Centers of Innovation (COIs), as well as with the Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. The interagency professional interacts with others from the interagency community and non-governmental experts and practitioners, deepening the professional’s understanding of the “whole of community.”
Candidates: USIP seeks senior professionals and rising leaders from across the interagency community who have recent experience working on issues of conflict prevention and resolution or relevant experience working in a zone of conflict abroad. IPR candidates typically have experience with “whole of government” or “whole of community” response operations abroad or are preparing for assignments in which the prevention or management of conflict are paramount issues. Candidates who align with one of our conflict functional areas such as rule of law, economic sustainability, media, science and technology, religion and peacemaking, gender, and security sector governance are also considered for placement.
Interagency Professionals in Residence activities may include:
- Conducting research and analysis in support of ongoing USIP initiatives and programs
- Advising on program development at home and in the field
- Serving as a subject matter expert (SME) for Academy courses, seminars, workshops
- Developing and analyzing case studies and lessons learned
- Developing and reviewing new curriculum, exercises and training content
- Developing practitioner networks
- Liaison with home organization
To date, IPRs have represented the Department of State, USAID, the Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Navy.
Military Fellows
USIP has hosted an annual Army Senior Service College Fellow since 2001 as part of its Jennings Randolph Senior Fellowship Program. In 2012, the portfolio was expanded to include a Senior Army Fellow.
See our Grants and Fellowships page for information about annual military fellowship programs.
Contacts
Marcia Wong, Director, Intergovernmental Affairs, mwong@usip.gov (IGA, CMWG, IPRs)
Brian Rose, Sr. Program Specialist, Intergovernmental Affairs, brose@usip.gov (IGA, CMWG, IPRs)
Dr. Lauren Van Metre, Dean of Students, USIP Academy, lvanmetre@usip.org (IETWG)
Dr. Elizabeth “Lili” Cole, Director of the Jennings Randolph Fellowship Program, ecole@usip.org (Fellows)