USIP’S ‘SENSE’ Trainings in Iraq in Demand
The Strategic Economic Needs and Security Exercise (SENSE), a state-of-the-art computer-facilitated simulation that teaches peacebuilding and negotiating skills, has helped more than 1,650 Iraqis in government, nongovernmental organizations and academia learn collaborative and decision-making skills that should directly strengthen their efforts to advance development and manage conflicts in a country until recently torn by war and still facing terrorist strikes.
Eight years after the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) introduced to Iraq a state-of-the-art computer-facilitated simulation that teaches peacebuilding and negotiating skills, demand for the trainings there is growing and recent sessions have drawn key officials from a variety of government ministries.
The Strategic Economic Needs and Security Exercise (SENSE) has helped more than 1,650 Iraqis in government, nongovernmental organizations and academia learn collaborative and decision-making skills that should directly strengthen their efforts to advance development and manage conflicts in a country until recently torn by war and still facing terrorist strikes.
"The demand for SENSE trainings has increased with time not only from individuals, but also from ministries and institutions as well as international organizations. Many participants have asked for additional trainings," said Noor Kirdar, a senior program officer with USIP's Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding who is in charge of the Iraqi trainings. "Participants learn negotiation as well as collaboration skills and are challenged to make decisions in a time-sensitive environment. The simulation encourages them to shift their perspectives to better understand the different sides and challenges that confront a post-conflict environment as they think about short-term versus long-term strategies."
SENSE was created by Richard White of the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) in the late 1990s for use in postwar Bosnia, bringing Bosnian officials and others into considering resource-allocation and other decisions in the virtual country of "Akrona" emerging from authoritarian rule following internal conflict or revolution. USIP and IDA have since adapted SENSE to better reflect Iraq's circumstances—its reliance on the oil industry (with related vulnerabilities to terrorism) and the risk of inflation in a transitional economy—and in recent years it has been conducted in Iraq by a team of Iraqis trained by USIP's Academy and coordinated by USIP's Baghdad office. SENSE events, which typically bring together 40-60 people for two days of instruction in conflict management and then three days in the exercise, have taken place in Baghdad and various locations in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
The most recent trainings, in February and April, drew participants from such Iraqi ministries as higher education and scientific research, education, health, culture, youth and sports, labor and social affairs, industry, national reconciliation, the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministries, the Baghdad Provincial Council and other agencies. Working together in the SENSE simulations sets the stage for similar cooperation in their various jobs. Local and provincial officials have also received SENSE training. Among other aims, SENSE has been used to foster women's participation in practical decision-making and is part of USIP's "Toolkit for Collaborative Problem Solving."
The exercise revolves around interactions among the participants, though the computer dimension injects real-time feedback and new or changed circumstances, making the simulation more realistic—and useful for those who will have a role in similar decisions in Iraq.
The reviews from Iraqis have been striking. An Iraqi participant in a SENSE simulation last October stated: "We will apply what we learned in our province and how to plan for the future and strategize our goals." A member of a District Advisory Council who participated in the February SENSE program said, "This workshop increased my capacities and experience in the administration field" and will help "overcome the difficulties" faced in official work. Similarly, an official from Iraq's Ministry of Education, reflecting on the training, said, "It is now time for implementing SENSE from the smallest agency in government to the biggest one."
And an official from Iraq's Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research credited the simulation with taking those immersed in "the reality of [a] mess to the hope that we can make a difference."
USIP began using SENSE in 2004 to train Iraqis, including senior officials. The prosecuting judge who was in charge of the case against Saddam Hussein credited what he had learned from SENSE for guiding him in his successful management of that case. In 2005, using an approach that it has applied elsewhere in Iraq and in other conflict zones around the world, USIP "trained the trainers," empowering Iraqis to deliver SENSE programs to their fellow citizens. In one such case, parliamentarians told the Iraqi who was then in charge of administering it that after experiencing SENSE they at last understood the importance of supporting an economic reform law that had until then been stalled in the legislature.
Now that U.S. military forces have withdrawn from Iraq, one of the top priorities of the remaining U.S. civilian diplomatic and development missions is to help Iraqis build a strong economy and solid political and social institutions. According to the Academy's director of gaming, Mike Lekson, "SENSE is the perfect tool for such a mission. It's all the more effective because for years it has been a project run by the Iraqis themselves. It will continue to help Iraqis as they strive to build a stable and prosperous country."
"SENSE simulation trainings provide participants with many essential skills that assist them to implement their tasks better and in turn help the country at large," added Kirdar. "As the security situation improves in Iraq, the SENSE training program can provide a unique platform for government and non-government officials to work together on the many challenges they face in post-conflict reconstruction."
