The Human Resource Management (HRM) Toolkit for the Public Sector offers an interactive guide to Building Integrity, including systematic planning guides for human resources personnel, questionnaires for employees, and hands-on assessments of managerial competencies.

HRM is critical for Building Integrity. In public service, poor HR makes an institution and its employees less resilient to hybrid threats, such as corruption. A well-functioning system for HR management is crucial in the defence and security sector. It establishes an ethical leadership culture, which is accountable and transparent. Building Integrity in HR is present at every level of the institutions, from job design to recruitment and selection, employee induction, professional development, and organisational culture.

This new and practical toolkit comes with specific questionnaires and tasks to narrow the gap between principles and practice. Together with our earlier publication ‘ Glossary of Human Resource Management in the Public Sector’ defining core concepts, the HRM Toolkit is intended for civil servants and public sector managers as well as individuals from civil society organisations and media. It is designed to be a practical tool to implement NATO BI in building institutional resilience in the public sector. This toolkit will be made available in the two official NATO languages (English and French) as well as the other languages in which NATO BI is implemented, including Arabic, Georgian, Ukrainian and Spanish.

The toolkit was initiated, led and developed by our partner the Norwegian Centre for Integrity in the Defence Sector (CIDS).

The publication is available here.

NATO Building Integrity is now available to Spanish speakers!

We are pleased to announce that the NATO Building Integrity (BI) Awareness Course is now accessible in Spanish via the NATO Joint Advanced Distributed Learning (JADL) platform under “ADL.336”.

The NATO BI Awareness Online course is mandatory for NATO personnel. It is now open to BI participating countries engaged in mainstreaming BI in their defence and related security educational systems and, as such, is the first step of NATO BI Train-The-Trainers programmes. To date, this course is currently available in English, French, and Russian.

Colombia is NATO’s only partner in Latin America and contributes to international security in many ways. The fight against corruption is one of the common approaches to security challenges we have been developing together. How has our cooperation started and where do you see it leading?

Corruption is incompatible with a modern, accountable democracy. Since the adoption of the UN Convention against corruption in 2003, there has been a broader international consensus about the need to prevent, detect and punish corruption of public officials.

Corruption is a security issue, since corruption, among others, allows the proliferation of criminal groups and globally interconnected crimes. And when corruption happens in Defence or within the arms forces, it is extremely critical since it erodes the public trust and support, which are crucial for any progress in terms of Security. When there is corruption, Democracy and the Rule of Law are in danger, which are the fundamental values that Colombia shares and defends with NATO’s allies.

So to go back to your question, Colombia was invited to a NATO BI Conference that took place in Monterrey, USA, back in 2013 and our high level delegation got interested in the program because it works in three transformative areas: 1. Integrity, 2. Transparency and 3. Accountability, with the value added that it is particularly tailored for the Defence sector. Advancing in these three fields is a priority for Colombia, a State commitment, in fact. Nevertheless, I must say that the current government has given a particular emphasis to Legality and President Duque himself reaffirmed our commitment to BI in a joint press conference with NATO’s Secretary General in his last visit in 2018.

About the future of our cooperation, two levels are worthwhile mentioning: First, at home we continue strengthening the culture of integrity with NATO BI standards, courses and further integration of BI content in our military curriculums. Secondly, abroad, Colombia will continue to promote BI by sharing its experience internationally and also within Latin America and the Caribbean, as NATO’s sole partner in the region. We are currently working in the train the trainer phase because the idea is to further contribute to the spillover effect from our strengthened national capabilities.

NATO and Colombia have been engaged in dialogue and cooperation since 2013 when your country joined NATO Building Integrity. Colombia then completed the Self-Assessment and Peer Review Process in 2016, even before becoming a NATO partner in May 2017. What impact did this process have on Colombia in terms of good governance and integrity strategies? Has it played any role in becoming a NATO partner?

You are right. Our engagement with Building Integrity started before our formal acceptance as Global Partner. Both things are indeed related.

One of Colombia’s motivations when approaching NATO was, as it is still today, to acquire the highest standards and increase, when possible, the professional standards of our military. That is exactly what BI offers. And the second drive for Colombia is to contribute through its experience to international security. That is what we are also doing in the context of this program.

For example, Colombia has shared its experience at the NATO School Oberammergau and bilaterally with Afghanistan and Ukraine. Once you start to make progress in Integrity I would say you become part of a network of excellence. For instance, out of NATO we have conducted further training activities with the support of the United Kingdom.

In terms of good national Governance achievements I would say that BI has contributed to fostering the integrity culture in the defence sector. The last five promotions of high rank officials as Generals or Admirals had senior leaders’ integrity training, with officers from other LAC countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Peru. In line with NATO standards we also train civilians, officers and NCOs at all levels.

Integrity becomes top of mind for them, they understand the concept, speak about this; they are able to anticipate a corruption risk and act to mitigate it. That has a positive lasting impact in terms of democratic development as well.

Colombia’s Ministry of National Defence has recently completed the NATO Building Integrity Self-Assessment and Peer Review Process for the second time. This high political commitment is commendable. It will allow NATO Building Integrity to measure the impact of the set of reforms launched since the first completion of the process. Could you give us examples of where we have made a difference together? What key successes have we achieved together?

Worldwide corruption represents more than 5% of the world’s GDP. Can you imagine what this loss means in terms of development? As I mentioned before, tackling corruption is a priority for us and we support every international effort to that end.
Last year, for instance, Colombia sponsored a UN General Assembly (GA) resolution, about preventing and combating corrupt practices and the transfer of proceeds of corruption. Together with Peru and other nations, we have promoted this year GA’s special session against corruption. We expect nations to take concrete actions against illicit financial flows.

Colombia has ratified all major international instruments aimed to tackle corruption and also believes in the Peer Review Mechanisms to promote progress in this field. We are currently participating in these review mechanisms within the United Nations, the OECD, and regionally within the OAS, both as reviewing parties and parties under review. These types of exercises are fully supported by Colombia.

Since the existence of the BI Program, Colombia is the second country to undertake the review process more than once, and we decided to do so, because we approach integrity as an ongoing process that requires constant updating and renewed efforts. The review mechanism is a demanding exercise that we undertook even during the Covid-19 context because we truly believe in it. It will allow us to assess the impact of the activities executed after the first review cycle and carry on new ones.

You asked me about key successes. Let me give you some examples. After the first review in 2016, among other initiatives, we:

   • Created a specific integrity code for the Defence Sector;
   • Integrated our logistics and procurement systems and reinforced their independent nature as to other planning and operational areas;
   • Identified critical positions and defined professional profiles and competences;
   • Created groups in each of our forces to promote transparency. I would highlight one in particular, a Direction within the Army called DANTE, in charge of implementing transparency standards;
   • Reinforced internal audit processes; our technical regulations include NATO standards and we created several integrity awareness campaigns;
   • Strengthened complaint mechanisms with confidentiality and whistleblower protection measures. Overall, we have witnessed increasing citizens' oversight, which is key to raise integrity;

Colombia associated itself with the NATO Building Integrity Policy together with Afghanistan, Australia and partners from the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council area. Are there any valuable experiences that Colombia can share with other countries?

The most important experience that Colombia can share with other countries is that having security challenges is not an obstacle to make substantive progress in terms of Integrity. In Colombia, the Armed Forces are the most trusted public institutions. That is a very important asset, which entails responsibility.

Citizens need reassurance that their tax contributions are being used properly. Especially, in the Defence sector. There is an increasing demand for transparency and accountability, which is only possible if there is an open government culture as well as media pluralism and independence, which is worthwhile mentioning as part of the Colombian context.

In a nutshell, our experience reveals that corruption peer review processes are valuable and in line with democratic principles. Integrity is an everyday job.

(BI): NATO and the European Union (EU) signed an agreement on 10 December 2018 to cooperate in promoting good governance in the defence and related security sector for the period of 2019 to 2022. We are now half way through our agreement, how do you evaluate our partnership so far?

Overall, I have a positive assessment of our partnership. We met numerous objectives of our agreement during the first two years of implementation of the fourth phase of the NATO BI programme. The BI Self-Assessment and Peer Review Process for Ukraine was completed for the fourth time, this time with a valuable contribution from the EU Advisory Mission to Ukraine. A first Peer Review visit to Tunisia was conducted and two partner countries, Armenia and Jordan, submitted their BI Self-Assessment Questionnaire. Several high-level conferences also took place in Allied and partner countries, to which the EU participated and contributed.

The Covid-19 pandemic has of course had an impact on our cooperation with partners. Certain initiatives were put on hold or postponed to a later date. However, the BI programme was quick to adjust to the new realities and to find innovative ways to deliver on its commitments, notably through the development of some new online modules.

Each crisis presents opportunities. We should continue to explore new innovative approaches and technologies to increase the visibility of our work and extend our cooperation to additional partners.

(BI): The security of the European Union and NATO is interconnected and triggered the first Joint Declaration signed in Warsaw in July 2016, which identified seven areas of enhanced cooperation and 74 concrete actions for implementation. How does the partnership with NATO Building Integrity (BI) support this call for a closer mutual cooperation and which concrete actions have been taken?

Indeed, the joint declaration outlined seven priority areas where cooperation between the two organisations should be enhanced. One of these priority areas is in supporting Eastern and Southern partners’ capacity-building efforts. The NATO Building Integrity Programme directly contributes to the achievement of this priority.

One of the concrete actions under this priority area is to identify possibilities for EU and NATO to participate in their respective projects and practical partnership programmes. The BI programme is currently the sole NATO programme in which the EU participates financially.

Beyond this financial contribution, the EU contributes to the strategic steering of the programme, by participating as a full member in the BI Steering Group. The EU also regularly interacts with the BI project team and where relevant and possible, offers its expertise to the BI activities. For instance, EUAM Ukraine was part of the NATO-led team for the BI Peer Review process for Ukraine and contributed to three seminars.

The BI programme is therefore a real success story for EU-NATO cooperation and a good example on which to capitalize to expand practical cooperation in other fields.

(BI): NATO BI has demonstrated distinct expertise in the defence and related security sector. How does our cooperation complement efforts led by the European Union to address good governance, integrity and sustainability of security sector reform in partner countries?

Corruption and poor governance are security challenges that undermine democracy, the rule of law and economic development. Addressing these has been subject to major financial efforts both in our cooperation with enlargement countries and neighbourhood countries, and also in our development cooperation. In the security sector, corruption and poor governance may erode public trust and have a negative impact on operational effectiveness. The overarching goal of the EU strategic framework to support security sector reform is therefore to support partner countries’ efforts to ensure security for individuals and the state while enhancing the legitimacy, good governance, integrity and sustainability of the security sector of partner countries. In this respect, the BI programme is fully in line with the EU Strategic Framework and directly contributes to the implementation of our main objectives.

EU support to SSR processes has been largely focussed on civilian security stakeholders and institutions. Only on a few occasions has the EU engaged directly with the military (except in the framework of CSDP missions). The BI programme allows the EU to broaden its scope of actions by contributing to the reform of the defence sector. It also allows the EU to rely on the unique expertise, methodology and set of tools developed by NATO, therefore complementing EU support to SSR.

Finally, the EU financial contribution is earmarked for EU Neighbourhood countries that are also NATO’s partners. The BI programme therefore contributes to reinforcing EU partnership with some participating third states, offering new avenues of cooperation.

(BI): What other actions can be taken to further advance the NATO-EU cooperation in strengthening the principles of integrity, transparency and accountability in the defence and related security for the remaining period of Phase IV?

Given their devastating impact on societies as a whole, corruption and poor governance need to be addressed across the board, in a comprehensive manner. I believe there is further room to enhance the complementarity of EU and NATO respective actions in this field.
This synergy will be particularly relevant in partner countries where the border between “defence” and “law enforcement” in not so clear-cut. The NATO BI programme works almost exclusively with Defence Ministries although other Ministries, for example Interior and Justice, could also benefit from the “BI approach”.
EU and NATO could perhaps exchange more systematically information on their respective programmes on good governance and anti-corruption. They should also share their lessons learned and best practices. Extending the exchange to other relevant international organisations working in the field, such as the UN or even the World Bank, might also be relevant as global challenges require global responses.

(BI): How do you see the future of NATO-EU cooperation, at times of turmoil with Brexit, COVID and new conflicts arising in our neighbourhood?

The current turmoil, as you call it, reinforces the call for further developing EU-NATO cooperation. It is in my view part of the solution for ensuring Europe’s security in the future. This idea was indeed central to the “Joint Declaration” to which both institutions subscribed in July 2016, as well as to the “Statement on the implementation of the joint declaration”. Four years down the road, the validity of that declaration has not diminished, on the contrary!
Global threats continue to evolve and the current pandemic illustrates this rather painfully. Tools and approaches therefore require flexibility and innovative thinking but the adaptability of both our institutions make them particularly suitable to address security threats together, both within the EU and in our neighbourhood. The areas listed in the 2016 Statement on the implementation of the joint declaration - in particular cyber threats, security sector reform, capacity building, strengthening resilience among neighbourhood states, global governance, maritime security or hybrid warfare to name just a few - remain important EU priorities and I’m looking forward to exploring possibilities to further enhance our cooperation in these areas.

NATO BI Webinar: Good practices in preventing the risk of Corruption in Defence Procurement and strengthening Integrity in the Interface between Industry and Defence
9 December 2020 (online)

On 9 December, NATO BI conducted a Webinar on “Good Practices in Preventing the Risk of Corruption and Strengthening Integrity in the Interface between Industry and Defence” to foster a public-private initiative for enhancing integrity in the defence sector through the joint efforts of defence establishments and the industry. The objective of the webinar is to generate public-private dialogue and to stimulate discussions on good business practices to strengthen integrity in the interface between the industry and defence establishments.

Participants in the webinar are national experts responsible for procurement, ethics, compliance, anti-fraud and anticorruption in the defence and related security sector. Representatives of the NATO Industrial Advisory Group (NIAG) as well as industry associations dealing with ethics and compliance in the defence sector, such as the International Forum on Business Ethical Conduct (IFBEC) also provided the perspective of the industry and the efforts taken by the private sector in enhancing integrity.

Both private companies and government institutions are, in one way or another, vulnerable or potentially vulnerable to risks of corruption and fraud. They are equally affected by the negative impact of cases of misconduct and corruption. To be effective, both sides need to promote integrity concurrently through joined-up and mutually reinforcing endeavours. Since its outset, NATO BI has fostered cooperation with IFBEC to forge understanding of the shared interest in generating collective action. Allies, NATO BI and IFBEC have promoted the idea of establishing a structured framework for collaboration with a view to strengthening transparency, accountability and integrity in the defence and related security sector.

NATO’s role in advancing good governance and BI in the defence sector is well established. The NATO-Industry Forum plays a critical role in NATO’s long-standing engagement with industry. The Framework for NATO Industry Engagement provides a framework that describes NATO and Industry roles in both non-procurement and procurement phases, on the basis of existing arrangements and NATO bodies. It also provides a set of principles clarifying the NATO-Industry relationship and modalities for engagement, allowing for enhanced visibility of NATO needs and enhanced transparency of NATO processes.

On the side of the private sector, IFBEC sets standards of ethical behaviour in the defence sector. The IFBEC Global Principles of Business Ethics for the AeroSpace and Defence Industry outline the standards of business conduct, including the principle of zero tolerance of corruption, the use of advisors, management of conflicts of interest and respect for proprietary information.

The webinar provided a platform to discuss risks and vulnerabilities in the defence sector as well as good practices that help identify red flags and respond to them. Discussions will also address as to how the pandemic has impacted the understanding of risks and vulnerabilities. While the list of challenges is long, the webinar will seek to advance the debate on how to strengthen good governance and enhance integrity in the public and private sector through a joined-up approach.

NATO Building Integrity Workshop in Iraq
29 November 2020 (online)

On 29 November, NMI and NATO BI conducted a hybrid online and physical presence workshop on Building Integrity and Good Governance for the broader defence and related security sector of Iraq. Under the aegis of the Prime Minister’s National Operations Center (PMNOC), and hosted by the Al-Nahrain Center for Strategic Studies, the workshop gathered representatives of several institutions – PMNOC, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Interior, Counter-Terrorism Service, National Intelligence Service, Ministerial Training and Development Centre, and the Commission for Integrity.

The workshop provided an opportunity to discuss NATOs approach to good governance and defence institution building. Special focus was given to the importance of risk assessment and the NATO BI Self-Assessment and Peer Review Process. The representative of Iraq’s Commission of Integrity outlined their ongoing efforts at finalising a comprehensive anti-corruption strategy for all ministries. The debates and the interaction through a questions-and-answers session, despite the online connection from Brussels, proved the critical relevance of the topic for the Iraqi institutions and their commitment to addressing corruption as a threat to security.

2020 BI Discipline Annual Conference
14 October 2020 (online)

NATO HQ’s Perspective and the latest BI Policy Developments

Dr. Gerlinde Niehus, Deputy Director
Defence Institution and Capacity Building Directorate;
Operations Division, NATO HQ

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear colleagues and members of the Building Integrity Community of Practice,

It is an honour for me to participate in this year’s Annual Discipline Conference and represent NATO’s Defence Institution and Capacity Building Directorate. I also wish to thank you for taking the time to attend today’s online conference. It is a pleasure to join you, albeit virtually, since the conditions continue to pre-empt us from meeting in-person.

Before starting, I would like to extend, on behalf of NATO, our deepest condolences to one of our partners, the Kharkiv Air Forces Academy for the recent airplane accident and the tragic losses. Our thoughts are with our Ukrainian friends.

COVID-19

Let me start with a few remarks about the COVID-19 crisis and its impact on NATO’s work. The pandemic has been a significant challenge for all of us – both here at NATO and at home in our nations. For the Alliance writ large, we have made a priority of demonstrating that NATO can continue to deliver on its core tasks while simultaneously ensuring the safety and health of all our personnel. I think it is fair to say that NATO has been successful at delivering on our collective defence and crisis management core tasks. But I must be honest and admit that our core task of cooperative security has suffered. This includes Building Integrity – as we could not conduct educational and training activities with physical presence. Face-to-face engagements are particularly key in the realm of Building Integrity - due to the unique nature of the work on integrity and good governance in the defence and related security sector.

Progress and adaptation

Nevertheless, it’s not all doom and gloom. We have made good progress on many BI strands of work – and we continue to adapt to the challenges posed by the pandemic.

In that respect, let me first applaud the Centre for Integrity in the Defence Sector for holding the Annual Discipline Conference despite the difficult circumstances.

In general, I think we need to remain innovative, creative and curious to explore new approaches. Online tools like the one we use today can be applied more. More remote engagements and stronger use of new technologies may help to give our cooperation further impetus.

In this vein, we have recognised the added-value of the BI online awareness course. While the development of the course was launched before the COVID-19 crisis, the course gained extra value under the current circumstances. This is why we are now producing it in more languages. These will include versions in Arabic and Russian languages, and then also versions in Georgian and Ukrainian.
We also put extra effort into developing the BI immersive training – as a very innovative educational tool to learn more about the impact of corruption in operations.
And we are working with experts on the development of new online modules for leadership and audit. Those new additions will further complete the BI online toolkit of educational materials.

A strong and trusted network of partners

These innovations are also possible, because we can rely on a strong, longstanding network of trusted partners – and many are present today. To illustrate:

Since 2012, NATO BI, Norway and CIDS have been developing a very strong partnership. We, as Requirement Authority, are very pleased with the high level of collaboration in advancing the NATO BI Discipline under guidance from Allied Command Transformation. NATO IS, and Building Integrity in our Directorate in particular, is the only civilian Requirement Authority within the NATO family of academic disciplines. This has been a political decision, reflecting the specific nature of NATO BI.

I would also like to thank all our Implementing Partners who have been contributing to shape the BI initiative since its inception in 2007. Without your continued commitment, BI would not be as advanced as it is today.

In this context, let me highlight a number of key developments in the area of BI education:

From the beginning, the Peace Support Operations Training Centre of the Armed Forces of Bosnia-Herzegovina (“PSOTC Sarajevo”) has been a real BI pioneer and power house. Aware of the lack of BI courses in the early 2000’s, PSOTC took the decision to develop two BI residential courses which over the years received NATO certification and remain an important educational offer until today.

Six years ago, PSOTC also joined NATO BI in launching our first BI Mobile Training Team (MTT) courses and supporting us in many countries from Colombia to Iraq. And like our beneficiary partners, we look forward to continuing those Mobile Training Team courses once conditions permit.

More recently, in 2019, PSOTC also supported the launch of our first Train-the Trainers programme. We are also very grateful that PSOTC committed to support the development of two scenarios for the NATO BI immersive course that we are creating also with the support of both Strategic Commands and our community of practice.

Let me also commend the NATO School Oberammergau for supporting us since the inception of the BI initiative by hosting the flagship educational course “Defence Leadership in Building Integrity”. While Covid-19 forced us to cancel the course this year, we are very grateful for the continued support from Oberammergau in hosting this key course for leaders of defence establishments over the years.

Let me also mention the Regional Department of Defence Resource Management Studies (DRESMARA) for hosting the course on Building Integrity in Human Resources Management led by CIDS. Incidentally, DRESMARA just celebrated its 20th anniversary – Congratulations to all of you!

Furthermore, we are grateful to FINCENT for providing a most valuable contribution to the BI Discipline. And we are glad to enlist the Security Force Assistance Centre of Excellence now among our partners.

This wide community would not exist without the continuous support within NATO. From the outset, the Strategic Commands and Joint Force Commands have been playing a key role to enhance contribution from other members of the NATO family – the Joint Warfare Centre (JWC Stavanger), the Joint Allied Lessons Learned Centre (JALLC) and some national Rapid Reaction Corps.

I also wish to highlight that Allied and Partner countries, NGOs, academia and department heads from other disciplines play a commendable role in fostering and contributing to the BI Discipline. You are implementing the BI Reference Curriculum and mainstreaming it within national educational systems and in other NATO disciplines. This reflects the specific cross-cutting nature of BI.

In this regard, I am delighted to see other department heads in attendance. I hope your presence will contribute to strengthening this cross-cutting approach and linking BI with NATO’s agenda, including gender perspectives, counter-terrorism, and strategic communications.

This list could probably be longer – and I should apologize if I omitted someone. But the wider point I would like to make is that the strength of BI very much resides in its strong network. We, the BI team, myself will do whatever we can to foster our network and our cooperation on education, training and advisory activities, and indeed adapting them to the “next normal” created by the pandemic.

Most recent and next political milestones

Let me now turn to my final point, our most recent and next political milestones.

The BI Discipline is first and foremost a response to NATO and national needs of different nature that are reported to us or analyzed by the BI Team. These are captured at the highest political level within the Annual Implementation Progress Report of the BI Policy. This Report has been noted in June this year by NATO Defence Ministers.

We look forward to developing a new BI Action Plan for notation by NATO Foreign Ministers later in December. This new BI Action Plan will reflect achievements in all NATO BI strands of work including those related to education and training.

The Military Concept of BI in Operations to be delivered by our Military Colleagues, also in late December, will be of great importance in the shaping of the future Discipline Alignment Plan. In fact, this has been identified last September in the context of the NATO BI Requirements Review workshop.

To sum up

Before concluding, let me warmly thank Dr. Lidra Zegali for her work over the past three years in advancing the BI Discipline. Many of the achievements I have mentioned are linked to Lidra’s commitment and dedication to the cause. As you probably know, Lidra will take up a new challenging position in Sarajevo shortly after having worked with us as a Voluntary National Contribution from Albania for the past years. Therefore also my thanks to Albania for its support of NATO BI.
And Lidra, let me wish you the best of luck in your new and exciting endeavours.

In closing, let me underpin that NATO IS and in particular the DICB Directorate is eager to advance the work of the NATO BI Discipline and the strength of the BI network. With so many talents coming together, I would encourage you to leverage the power of the network – and to think outside of the box and look for innovative solutions that build on our collective experience and expertise.

To this end, I would like to introduce, or rather re-introduce my colleague Benedicte Borel – as I trust most, if not all of you, know her. What may not yet be fully known is that Benedicte has assumed since January this year the demanding role as Building Integrity Team Leader within our Directorate. In this capacity she will present the main outcome of the NATO BI Discipline’s Requirements Review. So you are in most capable hands.

From my side, I wish you all a successful and productive event.

The first online NATO Internal Audit Training has been successfully conducted from 15 to 18 September 2020 with the aim to support internal auditors across the Georgian government in the process of public finance management reform implementation.

The course was designed to train participants on how to audit crises, emergency response and business continuity, as well as to enhance their skills in managing internal audit’s own risks. Participants gained hands-on experience from experts of the Georgian Ministry of Defence who shared their expertise and best practices in the field. All participants stated that they would recommend the course to their peers as it proved to be informative, practical and useful for their work.

The previous five iterations of the course were held in situ in Tbilisi. This year, due to the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the delivery of capacity building activities, the NATO Internal Audit Training was exceptionally fully digitalised with online participation of 20 government officials. Over the past two iterations, the course has been translated from English into Georgian in order to expand its impact to a broader audience, especially with the challenges that represent online conduct of events.

“Internal auditing is instrumental for implementing the principles of integrity, transparency and accountability in the defence and related security sector”, said First Deputy Defence Minister Lela Chikovani at the closing ceremony of the event.

The training was organised under the umbrella of NATO Building Integrity (BI) in joint cooperation with NATO Liaison Office in Georgia, the Defence Institution Building School, the Ministry of Defence of Georgia and the Harmonization Center of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia.

Within the framework of the BI Policy and Action Plan, NATO supports Allies and partners to promote good governance in accordance with international norms and practices established for the defence and related security sector. Internal audit represents a particularly strong means of internationally recognised methods of demonstrating transparency of government processes and decisions, as it is closely connected to measures aimed at reducing the risk of corruption.

Ambassador Hasani: “It is vital to maintain the current, positive momentum on anti-corruption”.

During this year, we have provided a platform to continue the discussion on some key areas such as the links between corruption and security, its link to the degradation and trafficking of natural resources, and the use of technology and digitalization to address and prevent corruption.

Albania assumed for the first time the OSCE Chairmanship in January 2020 with an ambitious agenda. We are now in the mid-year, how do you evaluate your role and what are the challenges for the remaining period?

The OSCE Chairmanship is a historic moment for Albania. Forty-five years after being the only European state to refuse to be part of the OSCE due to a cruel communist regime that opposed the Helsinki spirit, we now have the opportunity to be on the helm of an organization that has supported the country throughout the difficult transition.

Our challenging role as Chairmanship is to provide political direction to the OSCE and to mediate between the 57 participating States to find consensus – however elusive – on emerging challenges and on key decisions. Our priorities as Chair stretch from conflict prevention and resolution, to transnational organized crime and anti-corruption, to human rights.

At the mid-year point, I am proud of some of our achievements, despite being faced with a pandemic that has largely impacted our work and lives. We have succeeded in keeping the OSCE operational throughout the COVID-19 crisis and continued negotiations, conferences and decision-making using technology. Despite the constraints of “digital diplomacy”, we have secured a substantial increase in the budget of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine – a critical enabling factor for the current ceasefire in Ukraine.

As we look ahead to the next months, we face three main challenges. Firstly, the situation in Belarus: we hope that our offer to mediate will be accepted and a dialogue can start as soon as possible. Secondly, the appointment by consensus of a new OSCE leadership, including its Secretary-General, which will give the Organization its leadership for the next three years. Thirdly, organizing the Tirana Ministerial Council in December, the largest diplomatic conference ever to take place in Albania. And all of that, in COVID-19 times.

The fight against corruption is one of your priorities for this year. What are the main achievement in this area and the objectives till the end of the year?

A main success is the unity of OSCE states on anti-corruption efforts, symbolized by the recent establishment of a Special Representative to champion anti-corruption efforts at the highest levels. Professor Paola Severino, a former Italian Minister of Justice, has been instrumental to support governments across the OSCE region, for example in Armenia, Ukraine and across South-East Europe, in their efforts to step up the fight against corruption. Moreover, during this year, we have provided a platform to continue the discussion on some key areas such as the links between corruption and security, its link to the degradation and trafficking of natural resources, and the use of technology and digitalization to address and prevent corruption.

Our focus for 2020 is to maximize opportunities offered by technology in support of anti-corruption activities. One main objective for the Albanian Chairmanship will be passing a decision to harness the potential of technology in promoting, for example, information exchange on anti-corruption between OSCE states, or investment screening mechanisms.

What else can be done to further advance the OSCE anti-corruption agenda?

It is vital to maintain the current, positive momentum on anti-corruption. The OSCE is most effective when there is unity of vision across its diverse membership – and that does not happen very often. Again, passing a strong decision at the Tirana Ministerial would signal political will on anti-corruption and mandate the OSCE to undertake new, innovative projects to benefit its member States.

Partnerships are one area where the OSCE shines. There is a need to intensify cooperation with other leading international actors on anti-corruption: we have just concluded a new action plan with UNODC which includes new areas of collaboration in the area of anti-corruption. Strengthening of the partnership with UNODC that is the lead UN agency with a mandate on anti-corruption and is the guardian of the United Nations Convention against Corruption is key in advancing and broadening our anti-corruption work. Further impulse should also be given to joint initiates with OECD, CoE/GRECO and other relevant bodies.

NATO has a distinguished expertise in addressing corruption in the defence and related security sector. What are the opportunities for the two organizations to collaborate in this realm?

As a security organisation, it is just natural for the OSCE to focus part of its anti-corruption activities on the security sector. Fighting corruption and promoting integrity in law enforcement are a priority and just last year the OSCE launched a dedicated Regional Anti-corruption Platform. It is just natural to explore synergies in such projects, as both our organisations are seeking to strengthen integrity in the security sector.

As it delivers added value for those NATO Allies who are also OSCE members, being a platform for dialogue means that the OSCE is also a perfect vehicle for sharing expertise in addressing common challenges. We just had the pleasure of discussing how to fight corruption in the security sector with NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General Jonathan Parish, at the Albanian Chairmanship high-level conference on anti-corruption. Such contacts can and should continue, as do expert-to-expert contacts. Albania´s hope is that of a more intense cooperation between OSCE and NATO, as two pillars of the European security system. Of course, we must always bear in mind the specific political sensitivities and differences among the memberships of our two organisations.

The Defence Institution and Capacity Building Directorate of the NATO International Staff in Brussels is looking to hire an Officer for its Building Integrity Team.

Do you have experience in advising defence and related security leaders on good governance and integrity to reform and strengthen their organizations? Do you have expertise in designing and delivering tailored capacity building activities to implement strategic priorities? Have you contributed your analytical and conceptual skills to broader good governance best practices, strategic resources management policies and ethical programmes such as prevention оf corruption, institution building, reforms, transformation or modernisation of defence and related security institutions? Are you interested in playing a crucial role in assisting nations to strengthen integrity, transparency and accountability in their defence and related security sector and reduce the risk of corruption as a threat to security and peace?

Then you could be the next colleague to join our Building Integrity Team!

Please note that we can only accept applications from nationals of NATO member countries.

Applications must be submitted using e-recruitment system, as applicable:

• For NATO civilian staff members only: please apply via the internal recruitment portal (for more information, please contact your local Civilian HR Manager);
• For all other applications: https://ncianato.referrals.selectminds.com/jobs/officer-building-integrity-1126.

The vacancy notice is accessible at the following link: https://www.nato.int/structur/recruit/documents/Officer,%20Building%20Integrity,%20Operations%20Division.pdf (deadline for applications: 2 August 2020)

NATO Building Integrity (BI) toolkit now has a practical and effective learning tool – the “BI in Operations Handbook”.

The aim of the handbook is to ensure the audience is aware of corruption risks and their impact on mission success and to raise awareness of corruption and promote BI concepts and tools in order to enhance professionalism and effectiveness across NATO and relevant national structures.

This handbook, developed by NATO Allied Command Operations (ACO) in cooperation with NATO Building Integrity, will help all military and civilian staff at strategic, operational and tactical levels at the NATO Command Structure (NCS) and NATO Force Structure (NFS) as well as NATO HQ, Agencies, and Allied and partner nations to have a better understanding of corruption as a security risk.

SHAPE’s Vice Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Olivier Rittimann highlights that the ACO Building Integrity Handbook is part of an overall programme of NATO endeavours to raise awareness and create a more comprehensive appreciation, among military and civilian staff across the NATO Command and Force structure, of the risks and impact of corruption on a military mission adding that this handbook is in line with the five core values in the NATO Code of Conduct, and the principles that exemplify them guide us in keeping the professional standards of NATO and our ethical values in line with best practices.

The publication is available for download at the following link: Handbook (425 KB).

Interview with NATO Security Force Assistance Centre of Excellence Director Colonel [ITA Army] Franco MERLINO

¹ Such as: advancing NATO’s overall Projecting Stability agenda, overall understanding of causes of instability and how NATO might promote stabilization and reconstruction efforts, contributing to professionalizing the corps of NATO Advisors, the possibility of exchanging Subject Matter Experts in our reciprocal events and activities, enhancing development of individual and collective training needs.
² NATO’s SFA Concept was endorsed in 2014; NATO Allied Joint Publication on Security Force Assistance (AJP-3.16) was endorsed in 2016 and is currently undergoing its first review process.
³ JCISFA (Joint Centre for International Security Force Assistance - USA), SIGAR (Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction - USA), DSCA (Defence Security Cooperation Agency - USA), MoDA (Ministry of Defence Advisors - USA) Programme, and others.
⁴ DCAF (Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance), ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross — office in Brussels), NUPI (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs – Norway), ORG (Oxford Research Group — UK), PRIO (Peace Research Institute Oslo — Norway), IAI (International Affairs Institute – Italy).
⁵ DDR is strongly connected to Security Sector Reform. The rehabilitation of former belligerents and combatant groups could affect the security sector and create corruption and transparency issues related to their new role in society.
⁶ NATO Strategic Concept 2010.
⁷ Defence and Related Security Capacity Building Initiative (DCBI), Building Integrity (BI), Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP), and Planning and Review Process (PARP).
⁸ Such as: advancing NATO’s overall Projecting Stability agenda, overall understanding of causes of instability and how NATO might promote stabilization and reconstruction efforts, contributing to professionalizing the corps of NATO Advisors, the possibility of exchanging Subject Matter Experts in our reciprocal events and activities, enhancing development of individual and collective training needs.
⁹ FINCENT (Finnish Defence Forces International Centre): even though Finland is not a NATO member state, the FINCENT plays a central role in supporting the Alliance as it is the NATO Department Head for the Military Contribution to Peace Support Operations (MC2PSO). It is also crucial in linking our community with the UN and EU.

The February 2020 issue of the Building Integrity Newsletter is out in English, French and Arabic.
Please contact us at building-integrity@hq.nato.int should you wish a hard copy of it.

ENGLISH VERSION
BI Education and Training Working Group Meeting

On 27-29 January, NATO BI and the Norwegian Center for Integrity in the Defence Sector (CIDS) - BI Discipline Head - organised a series of workshops to address needs and requirements of the BI Discipline and prepare the ground for the year 2020. The discipline is now very well established offering a solid foundation of education and training solutions for NATO structures, member and partner nations to address, integrity, transparency and accountability in the defence and related security sector including NATO’s operations and missions.

The BI Education and Training Working Group, with participation of SHAPE, Joint Force Command Brunsum and Naples, CIDS and NATO International Military Staff addressed several education issues, including aspects of training requirements and competence development for the staff at all levels and in various functional areas.

The Working Group finalised the development of Building Integrity in Operations Course, which is a long-standing requirement for NATO operational level, but not only. The group completed the documentation in line with the Education and Training TEE and Global Programming and decided on the way forward for the delivery of this Education, Training, Exercises and Evaluation (ETEE) Solution.

The Security Force Assistance (SFA), Center of Excellence in Italy, which is the Education and Training Facility for this course, will host the first iteration on 22-26 June 2020.

The Working Group also discussed about the BI Discipline Alignment Plan, the basic document which guides the works for the discipline and prepared the upcoming Requirements Review Workshop that will take place at the NATO Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Center (NMIOTC) in Chania Greece first week of May.

FRENCH VERSION
Réunion du groupe de travail sur les aspects formation et entraînement du développement de l’intégrité

Du 27 au 29 janvier, le programme OTAN pour le développement de l’intégrité et le Centre norvégien pour l’intégrité dans le secteur de la défense (CIDS), chef de file pour la discipline « développement de l’intégrité », ont organisé une série d’ateliers afin de répondre aux besoins et aux exigences associés à la discipline BI et de préparer les travaux de l’année 2020. Désormais très bien établie, la discipline BI jette de solides bases pour l’élaboration de solutions de formation et d’entraînement au profit des structures de l’OTAN ainsi que des pays membres et partenaires sur les questions de l’intégrité, de la transparence et de la redevabilité dans le secteur de la défense et de la sécurité s’y rapportant, y compris dans les opérations et les missions de l’OTAN.

Le groupe de travail sur les aspects formation et entraînement du développement de l’intégrité, auquel participent le SHAPE, les commandements de forces interarmées de Brunsum et de Naples, le CIDS et l’État-major militaire international de l’OTAN, a examiné plusieurs questions relatives à la formation et s’est notamment intéressé aux aspects concernant les exigences de formation et le développement des compétences du personnel à tous les niveaux et dans différents domaines fonctionnels.

Le groupe de travail a mis la dernière main au stage sur le développement de l’intégrité dans les opérations, qui constitue une exigence de longue date pour le niveau opératif de l’OTAN, mais il ne s’est pas arrêté là. Le groupe a achevé l’élaboration de la documentation, suivant les critères ETE et de programmation globale pour la formation et l’entraînement, et a décidé de la marche à suivre pour proposer cette solution ETEE (formation, entraînement, exercices et évaluation).

Le Centre d’excellence pour l’assistance aux forces de sécurité (Italie), institution de formation et d’entraînement de référence pour ce stage, en proposera la première édition du 22 au 26 juin 2020.

Le groupe de travail a également discuté du plan d’agencement de la discipline « développement de l’intégrité », document fondateur qui en oriente les travaux, et a préparé le prochain atelier d’analyse des besoins qui se tiendra au Centre OTAN d’entraînement aux opérations d’interdiction maritime (NMIOTC), à La Canée (Grèce), pendant la première semaine de mai.

ENGLISH VERSION
Defence Leadership in Building Integrity Course
BI Flagship Course continues its successful tradition at the NATO School in Oberammergau

On 11-15 November 2019, the NATO School Oberammergau hosted the annual NATO Building Integrity in Defence Leadership course led and conducted by the BI NATO Headquarters Team.

Similarly to 2018, the audience was very high. 53 representatives from NATO allied (3) and partner (41) countries as well as NATO structures (9) participated. The course engaged not only high level participants (OF5-OF8 and civilian equivalent) but also speakers. NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Operations, Mr. Jonathan Parish, and NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Human Resources, Mr. Patrice Billaud-Durand recalled the importance given by the Alliance to Integrity, Transparency and Accountability in the defence establishments and shared their vision, as NATO Executives, on the importance of leading by example.

The audience also appreciated the experience shared by the Colombian Deputy Defence Minister for Strategy and Planning further to its participation in NATO BI, but also two of the Lead Nations of the BI Trust Fund, Norway and the United Kingdom as well as from Ukraine with which NATO BI has a long standing collaboration with 9 defence and related security institutions.

As BI is a cross – cutting domain and successful good governance reforms cannot be implemented in a stove-pipped fashion, the course’ programme of instruction included a large part on the management of resources and how good practices from the private sector can be used within public administration. In addition, NATO experts shared the connections between corruption, illicit trade/traffics of small arms and light weapons and terrorism to identify risks caused by poor governance and lack of individual integrity. Participants got also familiarised with NATO experience and lessons learned from operations and missions. In the 2019 course had a specific focus on NATO’s experience in Iraq with a round table which gathered staff officers working with and in the NATO Mission in Iraq. Last but not least, for the second consecutive year, the World Bank contributed to the course to highlight the interconnection between public finances and defence sector reforms.

This course, certified by Allied Command Transformation, is the flagship educational activity led by the NATO Building integrity Team. Specifically designed and addressed for the executives and leaders of the defence and related security sector, it focuses on their role in promoting, leading and implementing sustainable good governance reforms. The BI Team is proud of the course review! All participants praised the content of the course, the level of experiences and good practices shared and high quality of speakers. They informed that they would recommend it to their peers. The 2020 iteration of the Defence Leadership in Building Integrity course will take place on 9-13 November at the NATO School Oberammergau in Germany.

FRENCH VERSION
Stage de formation des cadres au développement de l’intégrité dans le secteur de la défense
Le succès toujours au rendez-vous pour le stage phare du programme BI dispensé à l’École de l’OTAN à Oberammergau

Du 11 au 15 novembre 2019, l’École de l’OTAN à Oberammergau a accueilli le stage annuel de formation des cadres au développement de l’intégrité dans le secteur de la défense, piloté et animé par l’équipe du siège de l’OTAN chargée du développement de l’intégrité.

Comme en 2018, le stage a été fortement plébiscité, avec 53 participants issus des pays de l’Alliance (3), des pays partenaires (41) et des structures de l’OTAN (9). Le stage a mobilisé des participants de haut rang (militaires de niveau OF-5 à OF-8 et civils de rang équivalent), mais aussi d’éminents intervenants. Deux hauts responsables de l’OTAN, le secrétaire général adjoint délégué pour les opérations, M. Jonathan Parish, et le secrétaire général adjoint délégué pour les ressources humaines, M. Patrice Billaud-Durand, ont rappelé l’importance qu’attache l’Alliance à l’intégrité, à la transparence et à la redevabilité dans les institutions de défense, et ont fait part de leur point de vue sur la nécessité de montrer l’exemple.

Les participants ont également eu l’occasion d’entendre la vice-ministre colombienne de la Défense en charge de la stratégie et de la planification, venue témoigner de la participation de son pays au programme BI de l’OTAN, mais aussi des représentants de deux des pays chefs de file du fonds d’affectation spéciale BI, la Norvège et le Royaume-Uni, et de l’Ukraine, où le programme BI de l’OTAN a noué une collaboration durable avec neuf institutions du secteur de la défense et de la sécurité s’y rapportant.

Sachant que le développement de l’intégrité est un domaine transversal et que, pour aboutir, les réformes en faveur de la bonne gouvernance exigent des modalités de mise en œuvre décloisonnées, il a été décidé d’inclure dans le programme de formation un large volet consacré à la gestion des ressources et à la transposition des bonnes pratiques du secteur privé au sein de l’administration publique. En outre, des experts de l’OTAN ont expliqué les liens entre corruption, commerce illicite/trafic d’armes légères et de petit calibre et terrorisme afin de mettre en lumière les risques engendrés par une mauvaise gouvernance et un manque d’intégrité individuelle. Les participants se sont également familiarisés avec les données d’expérience de l’OTAN et les enseignements tirés des opérations et des missions de l’Organisation. En 2019, le stage de formation a mis particulièrement l’accent sur l’expérience de l’OTAN en Iraq. Ainsi, une table ronde a réuni des officiers d’état-major qui ont travaillé aux côtés et au sein de la mission OTAN en Iraq. Enfin, il est important de souligner que pour la deuxième année consécutive, la Banque mondiale a contribué au stage de formation afin de souligner les interconnexions entre les finances publiques et les réformes du secteur de la défense.

Ce stage, certifié par le Commandement allié Transformation, est l’activité phare de formation pilotée par l’équipe en charge du programme OTAN pour le développement de l’intégrité. Pensé et conçu pour répondre aux besoins particuliers des cadres et responsables du secteur de la défense et de la sécurité s’y rapportant, il met l’accent sur le rôle que ces acteurs jouent dans la promotion, la conduite et la mise en œuvre de réformes durables de la gouvernance. L’équipe en charge du programme est fière des commentaires des participants, qui ont tous salué la qualité du contenu du stage, le niveau des expériences et des bonnes pratiques présentées et la stature des intervenants. Ils ont indiqué qu’ils recommanderaient le stage de formation à leurs pairs. L’édition 2020 du stage se tiendra du 9 au 13 novembre à l’École de l’OTAN à Oberammergau (Allemagne).

ARABIC VERSION
دورة الريادة الدفاعية في مجال بناء النزاهة
تواصل هذه الدورة الرائدة لبناء النزاهة سجل نجاحها في مدرسة الناتو في أوبرامرغو

استضافت مدرسة الناتو أوبرامرغو، في الفترة من 11 إلى 15 نوفمبر 2019، دورة التدريب السنوية للناتو في الريادة الدفاعية في مجال بناء النزاهة، والتي يقودها ويديرها فريق برنامج بناء النزاهة بالمقر الرئيسي للناتو.

وعلى غرار ما تحقق في عام 2018، شهدت هذه الدورة إقبالاً كثيفاً، حيث شارك 53 ممثلاً من حلفاء الناتو (3 مشاركين) والشركاء (41 مشاركاً) بالإضافة إلى هياكل الناتو (9 مشاركين). ولم تقتصر الدورة على المشاركين رفيعي المستوى (OF5-OF8 والرتب المدنية المكافئة) فحسب، بل شملت أيضاً المحاضرين. وقد أشار نائب الأمين العام المساعد للعمليات في الناتو، السيد/ جوناثان باريش، ونائب الأمين العام المساعد للموارد البشرية في الناتو، السيد/ باتريس بيلود-دوراند، إلى الأهمية التي يوليها الحلف للنزاهة والشفافية والمساءلة في مؤسسات الدفاع، وقاما بعرض رؤيتهما حول أهمية القيادة بالقدوة بصفتهما مديرين تنفيذيين في الناتو.

وقد أعرب المشاركون عن تقديرهم للتجربة التي عرضتها نائبة وزير الدفاع الكولومبي لشؤون الاستراتيجية والتخطيط، بناء على مشاركة بلادها في برنامج الناتو لبناء النزاهة، كما أثنى المشاركون على العرض المقدم من دولتين رائدتين في الصندوق الاستئماني لبناء النزاهة، وهما النرويج والمملكة المتحدة، وكذلك من أوكرانيا التي يقيم معها برنامج الناتو لبناء النزاهة تعاوناً طويل الأمد عبر 9 مؤسسات أوكرانية في قطاع الدفاع والقطاعات الأمنية ذات صلة.

ونظراً لأن بناء النزاهة هو مهمة شاملة تغطي مجالات متعددة، ولا يمكن تنفيذ إصلاحات الحوكمة الرشيدة الناجحة بطريقة مجزأة، فقد تضمن برنامج دورة التدريب قسماً كبيراً يختص بإدارة الموارد وكيفية استفادة منظمات الإدارة العامة من الممارسات الفضلى المطبقة في القطاع الخاص. بالإضافة إلى ذلك، عرض خبراء الناتو شرحاً للعلاقة التي تربط بين الفساد والاتجار/التجارة غير المشروعة في الأسلحة الصغيرة والأسلحة الخفيفة، من ناحية، والإرهاب من ناحية أخرى، من أجل تحديد المخاطر الناجمة عن سوء الحوكمة ونقص النزاهة الفردية. كما تعرّف المشاركون على تجربة الناتو والدروس المستفادة من مختلف عملياتها وبعثاتها. وقد شهدت دورة التدريب لعام 2019 تركيزاً خاصاً على تجربة الناتو في العراق، حيث انعقدت جلسة حوارية جمعت ضباط الأركان العاملين ضمن بعثة الناتو في العراق أو بالتعاون معها. وأخيراً وليس آخراً، وللسنة الثانية على التوالي، ساهم البنك الدولي في دورة التدريب من خلال تسليط الضوء على العلاقة بين الإدارة المالية الحكومية وإصلاحات قطاع الدفاع.

هذه الدورة، المعتمدة من قبل مشروع "تحويل القيادة العامة للتحالف" (Allied Command Transformation)، هي بمثابة نشاط التعليم الرائد بقيادة فريق مشروع الناتو لبناء النزاهة. وقد تم تصميم الدورة خصيصاً لتستهدف المدراء التنفيذيين وقيادات قطاع الدفاع والقطاعات الأمنية ذات الصلة، حيث تركز على دورهم في تشجيع وقيادة وتطبيق إصلاحات الحوكمة الرشيدة المستدامة. ويفخر فريق برنامج بناء النزاهة بنتائج تقييم الدورة، حيث أشاد جميع المشاركين بمحتوى الدورة ومستوى الخبرات والممارسات الفضلى التي تم عرضها عليهم، ونوعية المتحدثين ذوي المستوى الرفيع، كما قالوا إنهم سيوصون أقرانهم بحضور الدورة. وسوف تعقد دورة الريادة الدفاعية في مجال بناء النزاهة لعام 2020 في الفترة من 9 إلى 13 نوفمبر في مدرسة الناتو أوبرامرغو في ألمانيا.

ENGLISH VERSION
North Macedonia: Strengthening national capacity through a Train-the-Trainers programme
Enhancing national capacities and ownership

The Ministry of Defence of North Macedonia continues its efforts at mainstreaming Building Integrity across its policies, structures and organisational culture. To support North Macedonia in building its institutional capacity to provide awareness training throughout the military career education and for officers and NCOs, NATO BI established a tailored train-the-trainers programme for the specific national requirements.

The train-the-trainer approach is crucial in the development of sustainable national BI capabilities that will enable the Ministry of Defence to develop and apply routine training related to ethics, integrity and code of conduct for officers and NCOs. Participants have been selected across different divisions and entities within Ministry of Defence, the Armed Forces and the Military Academy.

Welcoming the group of future trainers at the NATO HQ Brussels on 5 November 2019, Deputy Director of the Defence Institution and Capacity Building Director Dr Gerlinde Niehus commended their personal commitment to be trained and then become trainers on BI for their Ministry of Defence. “We see this also as a clear demonstration of the commitment of the leadership of the Ministry of North Macedonia to embed the principles of transparency, accountability and integrity in the defence and related security sector”.

Over the span of 18 months divided into four modules delivered in Skopje and Brussels, future trainers were immersed in an interactive learning process on BI through a multidimensional perspective, such the link to security; international anti-corruption legal framework; concept of integrity; principles of good governance; ethics and code of conduct; BI perspective in separate functional areas, such as human resources management, procurement and contracting; as well as BI linkages with other security domains, such as Gender and Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW).

Through active participation and progress tracking in a collaborative environment, the programme enabled participants to consolidate their knowledge on BI and hone their training skills. At the end of the course, future trainers designed and delivered presentations applying their subject matter expertise.

“The strong professional experience and diverse backgrounds of all participants has enriched the learning process”, said Dr Nadja Milanova from the Defence Institution and Capacity Building Directorate who was in charge of conceptualising and designing the programme to meet the respective national requirements. “We rely on the future trainers from North Macedonia to contribute to the further development of the NATO BI Discipline”, she added.

This is the first cohort of BI trainers trained through the NATO Building Integrity Programme, with instructors from the Peace Support Operations Training Center (PSOTC) of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and with a pool of international and NATO experts.

FRENCH VERSION
Macédoine du Nord : Renforcement des capacités nationales grâce à un programme de formation des formateurs Développer les capacités nationales et l’appropriation

Le ministère de la Défense de la Macédoine du Nord poursuit ses efforts pour intégrer le développement de l’intégrité dans ses politiques, ses structures et sa culture organisationnelle. Pour accompagner la Macédoine du Nord dans le renforcement des capacités institutionnelles requises pour mener des actions de sensibilisation tout au long du parcours de formation des militaires de carrière et au profit des officiers et sous-officiers, le programme OTAN pour le développement de l’intégrité a créé un programme sur mesure de type « formation des formateurs » répondant aux besoins de formation propres au pays.

La formation des formateurs est une démarche fondamentale pour mettre en place des capacités nationales pérennes en matière de développement de l’intégrité, qui permettront au ministère de la Défense de concevoir et de dispenser des formations systématiques aux officiers et sous-officiers concernant l’éthique, l’intégrité et le code de bonne conduite. Les participants ont été choisis parmi différentes divisions et entités du ministère de la Défense, des forces armées et de l’Académie militaire.

Le 5 novembre 2019, lorsque Mme Gerlinde Niehus, directrice adjointe pour le renforcement des institutions et capacités de défense, a souhaité la bienvenue aux futurs formateurs au siège de l’OTAN à Bruxelles, elle les a félicités pour leur engagement personnel et leur volonté de se former pour pouvoir ensuite former les autres au développement de l’intégrité, pour le compte du ministère de la Défense. « Pour nous, les responsables du ministère de la Macédoine du Nord démontrent en cela clairement qu’ils s’engagent à enraciner les principes de transparence, de redevabilité et d’intégrité dans le secteur de la défense et de la sécurité s’y rapportant. »

Pendant 18 mois, répartis en quatre modules dispensés à Skopje et à Bruxelles, les futurs formateurs se sont retrouvés au cœur même d’un processus d’apprentissage interactif sur le développement de l’intégrité, selon une démarche multidimensionnelle englobant des questions telles que la sécurité, le cadre juridique international pour la lutte contre la corruption, le concept d’intégrité, les principes de la bonne gouvernance, l’éthique et les codes de conduite, la dimension du développement de l’intégrité dans des domaines fonctionnels distincts, tels que la gestion des ressources humaines, les achats et les contrats, et les liens avec d’autres domaines afférents à la sécurité, comme les questions de genre et les armes légères et de petit calibre.

Fondé sur des modalités de participation active et sur le suivi des progrès dans un environnement collaboratif, le programme a permis aux participants de consolider leurs acquis sur le développement de l’intégrité et d’affiner leurs compétences pédagogiques. À la fin du programme, les futurs formateurs ont conçu et présenté des exposés relatifs à leurs domaines de spécialisation.

« Le fait que tous les participants aient une solide expérience professionnelle et proviennent d’horizons divers a enrichi le processus d’apprentissage », a déclaré Mme Nadja Milanova, de la Direction Renforcement des institutions et capacités de défense, chargée de conceptualiser et de mettre au point le programme pour répondre aux besoins respectifs des pays. « Nous aurons besoin des futurs formateurs de la Macédoine du Nord pour contribuer à renforcer encore la discipline BI à l’OTAN », a-t-elle ajouté.

Il s’agit de la première cohorte de formateurs BI formés dans le cadre du programme OTAN pour le développement de l’intégrité, avec l’aide d’instructeurs du Centre de formation aux opérations de soutien de la paix (PSOTC) des forces armées de Bosnie-Herzégovine et d’un vivier de spécialistes internationaux et d’experts de l’OTAN.

ARABIC VERSION
شمال مقدونيا: تعزيز القدرات الوطنية من خلال برنامج لتدريب المدربين
تعزيز القدرات والملكية الوطنية.

تواصل وزارة الدفاع في شمال مقدونيا جهودها لتعميم بناء النزاهة عبر سياساتها وهياكلها وثقافة العمل فيها. ولدعم شمال مقدونيا في بناء قدراتها المؤسسية اللازمة للتدريب من أجل رفع التوعية بالنزاهة خلال جميع مراحل التعليم المهني العسكري، وأيضاً للضباط وضباط الصف، أنشأ حلف الناتو برنامج لتدريب المدربين مخصص لتلبية متطلبات شمال مقدونيا المحددة.

يعدّ نهج تدريب المدربين عنصراً حاسماً في تطوير القدرات الوطنية المستدامة في مجال بناء النزاهة، وهي القدرات التي من شأنها تمكين وزارة الدفاع من تطوير وتطبيق التدريب الروتيني المتعلق بالأخلاقيات والنزاهة ومدونة قواعد السلوك للضباط وضباط الصف. وقد تم اختيار المشاركين من مختلف قطاعات وكيانات وزارة الدفاع والقوات المسلحة والأكاديمية العسكرية.

وأثناء الترحيب بزيارة مجموعة المدربين المستقبليين لمقر الناتو ببروكسل في 5 نوفمب 2019، أشادت نائبة المدير التنفيذي لمديرية بناء المؤسسات والقدرات الدفاعية، الدكتورة/ جيرليند نيوس، بالتزامهم وتفانيهم الشخصي طوال مراحل التدرب، لكي يصبحوا مدربين في ميدان بناء النزاهة بوزارة دفاع بلادهم، وقالت: "نحن نعتبر ذلك أيضاً دليلاً واضحاً على التزام قيادة وزارة دفاع شمال مقدونيا تجاه تضمين مبادئ الشفافية والمساءلة والنزاهة في قطاع الدفاع والقطاعات الأمنية ذات الصلة".

وقد شارك مدربو المستقبل في دورة تدريب على مدار 18 شهراً، حيث انقسمت الدورة إلى أربع وحدات تدريب في سكوبي وبروكسل، وقد ركزوا كل جهودهم على التعلم التفاعلي حول موضوع بناء النزاهة من خلال منظور متعدد الأبعاد، شمل قضايا مثل ارتباط النزاهة بالأمن، والإطار القانوني الدولي لمكافحة الفساد، ومفهوم النزاهة، ومبادئ الحوكمة الرشيدة، والأخلاقيات ومدونة السلوك، ومنظور بناء النزاهة في مجالات وظيفية منفصلة مثل إدارة الموارد البشرية والمشتريات والتعاقدات، بالإضافة إلى الروابط بين بناء النزاهة والميادين الأمنية الأخرى، مثل النوع الاجتماعي والأسلحة الصغيرة والأسلحة الخفيفة.

ومن خلال المشاركة النشطة ومتابعة العمل ضمن بيئة تعاونية، نجح البرنامج في تمكين المشاركين من توسيع وتعميق معارفهم حول بناء النزاهة، وصقل مهاراتهم كمدربين مستقبليين. وفي نهاية الدورة، قام مدربو المستقبل بتصميم وتنفيذ العروض التقديمية بالاستفادة من خبراتهم في هذا الموضوع.

وقالت الدكتورة/ ناديا ميلانوفا، من معهد الدفاع ومديرية بناء القدرات، والتي كانت مسؤولة عن وضع مفاهيم البرنامج وتصميمه لكي يلبي المتطلبات الوطنية ذات الصلة: "لقد كان للخبرات المهنية القوية والخلفيات المتنوعة لجميع المشاركين تأثير متميز على عملية التعلم. وسوف نعتمد على المدربين المستقبليين من شمال مقدونيا للمساهمة في زيادة تطوير مادة بناء النزاهة الدراسية في الناتو".

هذه هي المجموعة الأولى من مدربي بناء النزاهة الذين تم تدريبهم من خلال برنامج الناتو لبناء النزاهة، حيث تم ذلك بمساعدة مدربين من مركز تدريب عمليات دعم السلام (PSOTC) التابع للقوات المسلحة للبوسنة والهرسك، بالإضافة إلى مجموعة من الخبراء الدوليين وخبراء الناتو.

ENGLISH VERSION
The conference agrees for an ambitious plan of work for the year 2020 including use of innovative technology.

The Annual Building Integrity Discipline Conference took place at the NATO HQ in Brussels on 15th of October. The conference was organised by the Norwegian Centre for Integrity in the Defence Sector (CIDS), which is the Department Head for the BI Discipline with the support of the NATO BI.

More than forty participants from different NATO bodies, agencies and commands, NATO member and partners, IOs, NGOs, NATO Centers of Excellence and NATO Partnership Training and Education Centers participated at this conference, exchanged ideas and experiences contributing to the discussions.

Participants discussed and shared information regarding the recent developments and achievements during 2019, pertaining to the implementation of the BI Policy and Actions Plan, addressing matters of integrity, transparency and accountability in the defense and security sector and the enhancement of the BI Discipline. Participants stressed the importance of mainstreaming BI in all areas and highlighted the importance of BI in NATOs operations and missions as well as in training and exercises. The discussion focused also in strengthening cooperation among NATO and national training and education institutions with to complement each other and to contribute in addressing Building Integrity Requirements and further developing staff competences in implementing integrity, accountability and transparency.

The community of practice presented the work already done to address integrity, transparency and accountability in the defence and security sector including institutional enhancement and individual development.

Ms. Annette Hurum, Department Head representative highlighted the need for further cooperation among education institutions to mainstream and embed BI principles in the teaching curricula.

Dr. Lidra Zegali from NATO IS, presented the achievement and progress for the Discipline including the progress achieved in addressing BI as a cross cutting topic, including Counter Terrorism, Small Arms Light Weapons, Civil Military Cooperation, Gender, Human Security etc. The Counter Terrorism Reference Curriculum has a BI Module. NATO BI is currently contributing for the development of the Human Security Reference Curriculum.

The discussions were lively, engaging and fruitful which resulted in a very full and ambitious action plan for BI for the next year, including the use of new technologies. The conference validated the BI requirements and approved the programme of work for the year 2020. Main strands of work for the year 2020 include development of Online Training Solutions based on the BI Reference Curriculum, Development of Immersive Training for BI in Operations etc.

The Conference proved that the discipline is growing in a solid foundation, expertise and experience in good governance and anti-corruption in education and training is contributing not only within NATO structures, but also in NATO members and partners to increase the BI awareness and develop further the competences to address this topic.

The next BI Discipline Conference will take place on 13 October 2020 in Rome, Italy.

FRENCH VERSION
Conférence annuelle consacrée à la discipline « développement de l’intégrité » : de solides progrès et des résultats tangibles

Les participants à la conférence ont arrêté un plan de travail ambitieux pour l’année 2020, prévoyant entre autres le recours à l’innovation technologique.

La conférence annuelle consacrée à la discipline « développement de l’intégrité » s’est tenue au siège de l’OTAN à Bruxelles le 15 octobre dernier. Organisée par le Centre norvégien pour l’intégrité dans le secteur de la défense (CIDS), chef de file de la discipline BI, avec le soutien du programme BI de l’OTAN, la conférence a rassemblé plus de 40 participants de différents organismes, agences et commandements de l’OTAN, de pays membres et partenaires, d’organisations internationales, d’ONG, de centres d’excellence de l’OTAN et de centres de formation et d’entraînement des partenariats, venus échanger idées et données d’expérience.

Les participants ont examiné et partagé des informations sur les évolutions récentes et les réalisations obtenues en 2019 dans le cadre de la mise en œuvre de la politique et du plan d’action pour le développement de l’intégrité, et ils se sont penchés à ce titre sur l’intégrité, la transparence et la redevabilité dans le secteur de la défense et de la sécurité et sur le perfectionnement de la discipline BI. Les participants ont souligné qu’il importait d’intégrer cette discipline dans tous les secteurs et que le développement de l’intégrité était essentiel dans les opérations et les missions de l’OTAN, ainsi que dans les entraînements et les exercices. Les débats ont aussi porté sur le renforcement de la coopération entre l’OTAN et les institutions nationales de formation et d’entraînement, l’objectif étant d’appliquer une logique de complémentarité et de contribuer à la satisfaction des exigences relatives au développement de l’intégrité et au perfectionnement des compétences des agents concernant la mise en œuvre des principes d’intégrité, de redevabilité et de transparence.

La communauté de praticiens a présenté le travail mené pour renforcer l’intégrité, la transparence et la redevabilité dans le secteur de la défense et de la sécurité, y compris sur le plan du renforcement institutionnel et du perfectionnement individuel.

Mme Annette Hurum, représentante de l’entité chef de file, a souligné qu’il était nécessaire de resserrer les liens de coopération entre les institutions de formation afin d’intégrer de manière transversale et d’inscrire les principes du développement de l’intégrité dans les programmes d’enseignement.

Mme Lidra Zegali, du Secrétariat international de l’OTAN, a présenté les réalisations et les progrès enregistrés dans la discipline, y compris pour ce qui concerne la prise en compte du développement de l’intégrité en tant que thème transversal touchant la lutte contre le terrorisme, les armes légères et de petit calibre, la coopération civilo-militaire, le genre, la sécurité humaine et d’autres questions. Le programme de référence sur la lutte contre le terrorisme comprend un module sur le développement de l’intégrité. Le programme BI de l’OTAN contribue actuellement à l’élaboration du programme de référence sur la sécurité humaine.

Les débats ont été animés, stimulants et féconds, ce qui a permis d’établir pour l’année à venir un plan d’action très complet et ambitieux pour le développement de l’intégrité, prévoyant entre autres le recours aux nouvelles technologies. Les participants à la conférence ont validé les exigences relatives au développement de l’intégrité et approuvé le programme de travail pour 2020. Parmi les principaux axes de travail, citons la mise en place de solutions de formation en ligne, fondées sur le programme de référence BI, et la mise au point d’entraînements immersifs pour le développement de l’intégrité dans les opérations.

La conférence a démontré que la discipline s’appuie sur des bases de plus en plus solides et sur un capital croissant de compétences spécialisées et d’expérience relatives à la bonne gouvernance, et que la lutte anticorruption dans la formation et l’entraînement contribue à accroître la sensibilisation et les compétences en matière de développement de l’intégrité aussi bien au sein des structures de l’OTAN que dans les pays membres et partenaires.

La prochaine conférence sur la discipline BI se déroulera le 13 octobre 2020 à Rome (Italie).

ARABIC VERSION
المؤتمر السنوي لمادة بناء النزاهة: تَقدُّم قوي ونتائج ملموسة
وافق المؤتمر على خطة عمل طموحة لعام 2020، بما في ذلك استخدام التكنولوجيا المبتكرة.

انعقد المؤتمر السنوي لمادة بناء النزاهة في المقر الرئيسي للناتو في بروكسل بتاريخ 15 أكتوبر، حيث تولى تنظيم المؤتمر المركز النرويجي للنزاهة في قطاع الدفاع (CIDS)، والذي يتولى رئاسة قسم مادة بناء النزاهة، وذلك بدعم من برنامج الناتو لبناء النزاهة.

حضر المؤتمر أكثر من أربعين مشاركاً من هيئات ووكالات وقيادات مختلفة في الناتو، وكذلك من أعضاء وشركاء الناتو، والمنظمات الدولية، والمنظمات غير الحكومية، ومراكز الناتو للتميز، ومراكز التدريب والتعليم بشراكة الناتو، حيث تبادلوا الأفكار والخبرات وساهموا في المناقشات.

وقد تحوار المشاركون وتبادلوا المعلومات حول آخر التطورات والإنجازات التي تحققت خلال عام 2019، وذلك فيما يتعلق بتنفيذ سياسة وخطة عمل برنامج بناء النزاهة، ومعالجة مسائل النزاهة والشفافية والمساءلة في قطاع الدفاع والأمن، وتعزيز مادة بناء النزاهة. وشدد المشاركون على أهمية تعميم بناء النزاهة في جميع المجالات، وسلطوا الضوء على ضرورة بناء النزاهة في عمليات ومهام الناتو، وكذلك في التدريب والتمرين. وركزت المناقشات أيضاً على تعزيز التعاون بين الناتو ومؤسسات التدريب والتعليم الوطنية تحقيقاً للتكامل المتبادل والمساهمة في تلبية متطلبات بناء النزاهة، وكذلك مواصلة تطوير كفاءات العاملين في مجال تنفيذ متطلبات النزاهة والمساءلة والشفافية.

وقد عرضت مجموعة من الممارسين آخر الأعمال المنجزة في مضمار النزاهة والشفافية والمساءلة في قطاع الدفاع والأمن، بما يشمل التحسين المؤسسي وتنمية الأفراد.

قامت السيدة/ أنيت هوروم، ممثلة رئيس القسم، بتسليط الضوء على ضرورة الارتقاء بمستويات التعاون بين المؤسسات التعليمية من أجل تعميم مبادئ بناء النزاهة وإدراجها في مناهج التدريس.

كما عرضت الدكتورة/ ليدرا زغالي من الخدمة الدولية بالناتو، ما تحقق من إنجاز وتقدم في مادة بناء النزاهة، ومن أمثلته التقدم المحرز في تناول برنامج بناء النزاهة كموضوع شامل يغطي عدة مجالات، بما في ذلك مكافحة الإرهاب والأسلحة الخفيفة الصغيرة والتعاون العسكري المدني والنوع الاجتماعي والأمن البشري، وغيرها من المجالات. ويتضمن المنهج الدراسي المرجعي لمادة مكافحة الإرهاب اليوم وحدة خاصة ببناء النزاهة، كما يساهم برنامج الناتو لبناء النزاهة حالياً في تطوير المنهج الدراسي المرجعي لمادة الأمن البشري.

كانت المناقشات نشطة ومثيرة للاهتمام ومثمرة، مما أفضى إلى وضع خطة عمل كاملة وعالية الطموح لبناء النزاهة خلال العام المقبل، بما في ذلك استخدام التقنيات الجديدة. وقد أقرّ المؤتمر متطلبات بناء النزاهة ووافق على برنامج العمل لسنة 2020، حيث تشتمل مسارات العمل الرئيسية لعام 2020 على حلول للتدريب عبر الإنترنت، وذلك على أساس المنهج الدراسي المرجعي لبناء النزاهة، إضافة إلى تطوير التدريب الشامل لبناء النزاهة في العمليات، وغير ذلك من أعمال.

أثبت المؤتمر أن مادة بناء النزاهة الدراسية تحقق النمو المتواصل انطلاقاً من أسس وتجارب وخبرات متينة في مجال الحوكمة الرشيدة ومكافحة الفساد، وإنها تسهم في التعليم والتدريب ليس فقط داخل هياكل الناتو المختلفة، بل أيضاً لدى أعضاء الناتو وشركائها، بما يحقق زيادة الوعي تجاه بناء النزاهة وتطوير الكفاءات اللازمة للتعامل مع هذا الموضوع.

سيعقد المؤتمر القادم لمادة بناء النزاهة في 13 أكتوبر في روما، إيطاليا.

Dear participants and friends of NATO BI,
please find the photos from the NATO Building Integrity Conference 2019 on this link: https://buildingintegrity.hq.nato.int/albums.aspx?id=2 .
If you wish to receive a high resolution version of a specific photo, do not hesitate to contact us at building-integrity@hq.nato.int.

photos by: Tyler Montanino

In March NATO Building Integrity (BI) conducted the NATO certified “NATO BI in Peace Support Operations” course.
During this four-day course, NATO experts and trainers from the Peace Support Operations Training Center of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina addressed the importance of integrity, ethics, values and good management of resources in the context of international peacekeeping operations and missions.
Through plenary and syndicate work participants also had the opportunity to be confronted to practical cases of corruption and its consequence during operations.

The audience gathered 24 participants from the armed and security forces of Ukraine as well as institutions participating in the fight against corruption such as the National Anti-Corruption Bureau; highlighting the large cooperation between NATO BI and the Ukrainian defence and related security institutions.  This course is part of the annual NATO Building Integrity – Ukraine tailored programme of cooperation. 
It contributes to the preparation and professional development of servicemen prior their deployment in operations.

The February 2019 issue of the Building Integrity Newsletter is out.
This is available in hard copy on request or you can download it here (508 kb).

Integrity, Good Governance and the modernization of the Tunisian Armed Forces was discussed at the high level conference organized in the framework of the 25th anniversary of the NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue by the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs and NATO Political Affairs and Security Policy Division/ Middle East and North Africa section and hosted by the École Nationale d’Administration Tunis.

About 300 participants, diplomats, journalists, representatives of the Tunisian Armed Forces and the Tunisian Government participated in this event.

Ms. Benedicte Borel, Building Integrity Programme Manager for Tunisia, who was invited to address the practical cooperation between NATO and the Tunisian Ministry of Defence presented an overview of the partnership highlighting that “the ministry has demonstrated an excellent understanding of the principles of integrity, transparency and integrity and how to align this cooperation with other NATO’s partnership frameworks”

Building Integrity is included in the second Individual Partnership and Cooperation Programme 2018-2020, in the Planning and Review Process, the Defence Capacity Building Package agreed at the 2018 NATO Heads of State and Government Summit, said Ms. Borel adding that Tunisia is not only a beneficiary of NATO’s integrity good governance and but is also a contributor.

Amb. Semia Zaouri, Director of the International Cooperation at Tunisian MFA, highlighted the importance of this partnership thanking NATO BI for the efforts and assistance is providing to the Tunisian MOD to address matters of integrity, transparency and integrity.

NATO and the European Commission signed an agreement on Monday 10 December to cooperate in promoting good governance in the defence and security sector. As part of this agreement, the European Commission will contribute 2 million EUR to the NATO Building Integrity (BI) Trust Fund for 2019-2022.

The agreement was signed by the NATO Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, Ambassador Alejandro Alvargonzález, and the European Commission’s Deputy Director-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Mr. Maciej Popowski. In signing the agreement, Ambassador Alvargonzalez highlighted the importance of NATO-EU cooperation and underlined the commitment of both organisations to strengthening good governance. "Building Integrity has proven to be an effective partnership tool to support nations to embed the principles of transparency, accountability and integrity in the defence and related security sector", he said.

The Building Integrity Trust Fund will support capacity building activities to strengthen transparency, accountability and integrity in Ministries of Defence and related security sector. NATO's Building Integrity programme provides peer-to-peer consultations, education and training and access to a pool of subject matter experts drawn from international organisations, national administrations, private sector as well as civil society.

The Building Integrity programme of activities, originally launched in 2007, is open to NATO member and partner states.

Contributions by the European Commission to the NATO Building Integrity Trust Fund will be used to scale up the ongoing programme of activities made available to 71 nations world-wide. Tailored packages are currently being implemented in 20 nations.

Through the NATO Building Integrity programme, nations are able to take part in education and training for civilian and military personnel and share lessons learned and promote good practices. In 2018, 2552 civilian and military personnel took part in Building Integrity capacity building activities conducted in Europe, Africa, Middle East, Latin America and Asia.

On 11 October, 2018, the Centre for Integrity in the Defence Sector (CIDS) hosted a conference entitled, “Why building integrity, institution building and anti-corruption belong on the security agenda”. Discussions covered the wider context of Building Integrity (BI).

Sir Ian Andrews from Transparency International highlighted that corruption is a major driver of insecurity stating that, “the defence sector fails badly, if it fails”. Other speakers shared their perspectives, stressing that reasons for corruption were not always internal, that corruption was seen as a disease, and also as a serious social problem with the potential of destabilising countries and regions.

Director of CIDS, Mr Per A. Christensen, pointed out that the results of the conference were promising. They underlined that there should be more focus on hybrid threats in the future and concluded that there was a need to reach out to other nations besides those that were in focus today.

Head of Building Integrity at NATO Headquarters in Brussels Ms Susan Pond stressed the value of the conference as an excellent venue for sharing ideas and best practices, discussing the future efforts and identifying actions that must be pursued in addressing this very critical topic.
“We need to continue our efforts and focus in mainstreaming BI and promoting best practices and keep our focus on our experiences in operations and missions and find the way to address hybrid threats and transnational risks,” she said.

The October 2018 issue of the Building Integrity Newsletter is out.
This is available in hard copy on request or you can download it here (323 kb).

NATO Building Integrity toolkit now has a new innovative, practical and effective learning tool: “On-line BI awareness course”.

The aim of the course is to ensure the audience is aware of corruption risks and their impact on mission success and to raise awareness of corruption and promote BI concepts and tools in order to enhance professionalism and effectiveness across NATO and relevant national structures.

The course, developed by NATO Supreme Allied Command for Transformation and NATO Building Integrity, will help all military and civilian staff at strategic and operational levels of the NATO Command Structure (NCS) and NATO Force Structure (NFS), including the tactical HQ level, NATO HQ, Agencies, and Allied and partner nations to have a better understanding of corruption as a security risk. They will be aware of the impact, the importance of addressing this topic in all NATO plans and operations and the importance of addressing BI elements in all phases of planning and implementation.

The course will be available to Allied and partner nations to help them to imbed and mainstream BI into their teaching curricula.

Course is located on the JADL site at https://jadl.act.nato.int/.

Do you have an account already? If not, follow the steps to create an account.

If you do have one, follow the path:

 Repository Home > NATO COMMAND STRUCTURE ENTITIES (NCS) > North Atlantic Treaty Organization Headquarters (NATO HQ) > BUILDING INTEGRITY (BI) AWARENESS COURSE

At JFC Brunssum on 5th of June, Ms Susan Pond, senior officer from the NATO HQ, conducted a series of briefings for staff members of the command on the NATO BI Policy, programme of activities conducted by the NATO IS and the importance of addressing BI throughout NATO’s three core tasks.
This event was part of a professional development initiative organized by JFCB to support implementation of the NATO BI Policy and ensure all staff members were made aware of the policy and the code of conduct. This event was attended by more than 125 staff, including Chef of Staff of JFCB.

During her visit in Brunsum Ms. Pond had an office call with the COS LGen Juan Campins.
They discussed about the implementation of the BI policy and action plan and shared ideas how to further enhance NATO’s BI agenda focusing on the future of BI 2019-2022 and upcoming BI Conference in 2019.

On 23 May, in Lisbon Portugal, Building Integrity discipline TNA (Training Need Analyses) Working Group Meeting kicked start the process for developing a new course to address good governance, corruption and transparency in operations and missions.

Under the lead of CIDS (Norwegian Center for Integrity in Defence Sector) as the BI Discipline Department Head and ACT JFT, representatives from ACT, ACO, JFCs, SME and BI implementing Partner discussed and shared their ideas in identifying current requirements and other elements related to the preparation of the course.

The objective of this meeting was to define and confirm target audience, level of knowledge and performance objectives, formulating guidance’s and setting the course of the action including guidance for the further steps to be completed.

Participants where engaged and participated vividly in the discussions, contributing in all stages of the course preparations planned for this particular phase. Developing a course that will address Good Governance, Corruption and Transparency in operations and missions will be a suitable solution in addressing BI training requirements for NATO and for nations.

The May 2018 issue of the Building Integrity Newsletter is out.
This is available in hard copy on request or you can download it here (323 kb).

The workshop was an invaluable tool in assisting Afghanistan to continue their efforts toward BI and by sharing similar experiences from around the world

On 10-11 April 2018, the NATO Building Integrity Programme organised peer-to-peer consultations on Building Integrity for Afghan Security Institution. High-level representatives of the Administrative Office of the President, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Interior met with their peers from the Ministries of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Montenegro, Norway and the United Kingdom at NATO HQ in Brussels.

“On behalf of HE President Ghani, the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan would like to note how important this Building Integrity workshop is in developing our Enduring Partnership and we welcome NATO’s engagement and support in bringing together delegations from around the world to work with our senior leadership in peer-to-peer consultations” these are the remarks of Mr Mirwais Farahi, Director General at the Administrative Office of the President.

The workshop was organised in the framework of NATO’s strengthening Enduring Partnership with Afghanistan . The aim of the workshop was to bring together Afghan officials with representatives from countries participating in the NATO’s Building Integrity Self-Assessment and Peer Review process to share their best practices and conduct discussions on how to strengthen transparency, accountability, good governance, management of resources and highlight values that we all share and address together. This discussion was developed based on the philosophy that we can grow and strengthen the Community of Practice on Building Integrity by sharing national experiences and learning from each other’s challenges, solutions and best practices.

“Countering corruption and strengthening integrity in institutions is a number one priority for the Government of Afghanistan”, said Afghanistan’s Deputy Minister of Defence Mr Ahmad Tamim Asey during the consultations, highlighting the progress made. “There is no lack of leadership and political commitment. While we have introduced policies and procedures, we still have to focus on implementation. This workshop is an invaluable tool in assisting us to continue that work by sharing similar experiences from around the world. We in the Ministry of Defence look forward to taking this work forward”.

In his remarks, NATO’s Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Operations Dr John Manza highlighted the progress made by Afghanistan in strengthening transparency, accountability and oversight, while also underlining the importance of further reforms and the role public officials play as “stewards of public tax money”.

During these frank and open discussions, participants shared their best practices and paved the way for further cooperation in the future. The event provided a platform for learning and sharing among nations on BI and on how NATO BI can further structure its tailored support for Afghanistan’s Security Institutions. This was an opportunity for Afghan representatives to understand the ways and means in developing good practices to address good governance and corruption and at the same time to share their experiences and challenges they face in this regard.

NATO-led Mission Resolute Support has the mandate to train, assist and advise Afghan Security Forces, at the same time NATO Allies and partners are also supporting financially the sustainment of Afghan Security Forces and institutions. NATO’s Enduring Partnership with Afghanistan provides a wider framework for political dialogue and practical cooperation.

Ms Abigail Austen, Director for Enduring Partnership Co-ordination at the RSM in Kabul, highlighted that “Integrity in office and governance is not just core to NATO’s values and standards. Integrity underpins a populace’s confidence in its institutions to deal with people’s needs and concerns in a fair, effective, transparent and accountable manner. Those values and standards are the basic building blocks of liberal democracy”.

Ms Austen further said: “I am delighted to be a small part of Afghanistan’s on-going efforts to adopt those standards as part of the Enduring Partnership. I am equally enthused by the commitment and professional approach of the Afghan delegation as they move towards joining the Building Integrity program. I have real faith that NATO and Afghanistan have started on a new journey together to embed Integrity as a core value and function across all government service.”

The consultations laid the ground for an increased engagement of Afghanistan with NATO BI, with the possibility for the country’s association with the NATO BI Policy, participation in the BI Self-Assessment and Peer Review process, and NATO’s support tailored to the needs and requirements of Afghan Security Institutions.

On 19-22 March, the NATO Building Integrity Programme (BI), successfully conducted the fourth iteration of the BI in Peace Support Operation course in Ukraine. Following the BI established principle rotation of capacity building activities, this course was held for the first time at the Academy of the National Guards. The past iterations took place at the Academy of the Land Forces of Lviv in 2015 and in Kyiv, at the National Defence University, both in 2016 and 2017.

General Sokolovsky, Commander of the Academy, co-opened the course with a representative of NATO HQ BI Team. The course brought together 32 representatives from various defence and security institutions participating in the NATO BI Programme inter alia, Air Force base of Kharkiv, Armed Forces of Ukraine, National Agency on Corruption Prevention, National Anti-Corruption Bureau and National Academy of the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU) as well as the NGU. Very active, the audience, engaged in both plenary discussion and syndicate work.

The conduct of the course was supported by NATO Expert lecturers from NATO HQ, Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum and the NATO Representation in Ukraine, international experts, trainers from the Peace Support Operations Training Center of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a lecturers from the National Defence University BI and Training Education Center of Ukraine.

This event was widely covered by the Academy. For further information, you can consult the photos and NGU coverages of the event through the following links:

• http://nangu.edu.ua/?p=43314
• http://nangu.edu.ua/?p=43329
• http://nangu.edu.ua/?p=43424
• Facebook Academy of the National Guard of Ukraine
• Facebook NATO in Ukraine

Imbedding and mainstreaming Building Integrity (BI) into the NATO School Oberammergau (NSO) curricula was the main objective of a workshop organized at NSO with the participation of representatives from the school and CIDS as the Department Head and NATO International Staff BI as the Requirement Authority for the NATO BI Discipline.

In addition to hosting the NATO annual Defence Leadership in Building Integrity Course, NSO has implemented BI elements into some of their other courses. The participants shared and discussed their views on how BI could be further implemented into relevant courses as part of the work to implement NATO’s BI Policy and Action Plan, considering appropriate approaches and solutions.

Participants agreed to follow up this process on a step by step basis, institutionalizing the cooperation and making the best use of available teaching techniques, including Advanced Distributed Learning.

BI in Training and Education Working Group
Enhancing BI NATO Discipline and Education and Training vector of NATO BI
On 18-19 of January NATO BI Team organised a meeting of the BI Working Group in Education and Training with the participation of Norwegian Centre for Integrity in the Defence Sector CIDS as the department head for the BI discipline and representatives from NATO command and force structures, academia, international organisations etc.

The objective of the meeting was to discuss on the latest development in addressing Integrity in Education, update on NATO BI in Education and Training activities, generate new ideas and share experiences with the view to enhancing the BI NATO Discipline and education and training vector of the NATO BI agenda.

At the same time participants shared views and opinions with the aim to preparing the ground for the BI Discipline Requirements Workshop.

The discussion also focused on the enhancement of the BI Discipline by developing new tools and mechanisms, sharing experiences, defragmenting activities and resources, increasing the level of engagement, addressing Cross Cutting themes etc.

A special attention was dedicated to the following topics: Gender, Counterterrorism and Mass Communication.

Finally the participants agreed on the need to develop Train of Trainers packages for BI Discipline. This will help countries do develop their teaching capacities and to increase the level of ownership for this matter specifically in national and regional perspective.

On 14 – 15 December 2017, the NATO Building Integrity (BI) Programme organised an expert meeting to assess the impact of NATO BI in nations involved in the BI Self-Assessment and Peer Review Process.
This event, hosted and supported by the Montenegrin authorities, united more than 30 national experts in the city of Budva and allowed for a reflexion on national experiences in generating and sustaining change in the defence and related security sector by applying systematically the NATO BI methodology.
Discussions were rich in concrete examples that nations gave to demonstrate the impact of BI. The meeting also provided an opportunity to review the BI Self-Assessment and Peer Review Process and discuss ways to reinforce it.
The NATO BI Programme conducts an assessment of the BI impact for the second time. The first assessment was completed in 2014 with results published at https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/pdf_2015_03/20150309_150309-bi-Impact-on-Nations.pdf
This iteration will reinforce further the analysis of progress on BI made over time in national defence establishments and the value added by NATO BI in Defence Institution Building and Projecting Stability.

On 20-22 November 2017, the NATO Building Integrity Programme participated for the third consecutive year to the Anti-Corruption Week organised by the National Defence University of Ukraine.

This capacity building activity was organised for the third consecutive year. The aim of this year was threefold. Firstly, to sum up the results of the Ministry of Defence with the State Programme for Implementing the State Anti-corruption Policy Framework of Ukraine (Anti-Corruption Strategy) for 2015-2017. Secondly, to promote and generalize the experience of anti-corruption measures of Ukraine at the national and departmental level. Thirdly, to make recommendations by national and international experts to the Minister of Defence of Ukraine on counteraction and prospects of fighting corruption in the defence sector. To this end, the event gathered various foreign and Ukrainian experts of anti-corruption, corruption prevention and good governance. With the support of the NATO Building Integrity Programme, the 2017 Anti-Corruption Week became a regional event with the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Defence of Georgia and of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Moldova.

In addition, more than 60 participants from the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Presidential Administration of Ukraine, National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Accounting Chamber of Ukraine, Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, State Financial Inspection of Ukraine, Security Service of Ukraine, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, National Guard of Ukraine, departments and boards of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, law enforcement bodies, military formations, military educational institutions, public and non-governmental organisations attended the event.

The NATO Building Integrity Programme expresses thanks to Bulgaria, Norway, Poland, United Kingdom and Switzerland as Lead Nations of the BI Trust Fund for supporting this event as well as the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

http://www.mil.gov.ua/en/news/2017/11/22/3rd-international-anticorruption-week-concluded-in-national-defence-university-of-ukraine/

Integrity, Transparency and Accountability discussed at the military academies in the defence and security sector of Ukraine

During October-November 2017, NATO BI Programme held third iteration of BI Introductory seminars in various military educational institutions of Ukraine.
The seminars took place at:
 • Zhytomyr Military Institute – 18 October;
 • National Academy of State Border Guard Service in Khmelnitsky – 19 October;
 • Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Army Academy in Lviv – 20 October;
 • National Defence University of Ukraine in Kyiv (including representatives from the National Academy of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, National Guard of Ukraine, National Academy of Security Service of Ukraine, Military Faculty of Kyiv Taras Shevchenko University) – 31 October;
 • Military Academy in Odesa (including representatives from the Naval Institute of National University “Odesa Maritime Academy”) – 1 November;
 • National Academy of the National Guard of Ukraine in Kharkiv (including representatives from the National Guard of Ukraine, Kharkiv National Air Force University, Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs, Military Law Faculty of Yaroslav Mudry National Law University ) – 2 November

The experts from the Ministry of Defence of Georgia, Peace Support Operations Training Center of Bosnia and Herzegovina (NATO BI Implementing Partner), National Defence University of Ukraine and Attorney-at-law from Belgium specialized in money laundering and management of finance on such relevant and significant topics as:
 • Integrity, transparency and accountability in the management of human resources;
 • Building Integrity challenges in peace support operations - Importance of individual integrity honour and code of conduct;
 • Integrity in procurement and contracting;
 • International anti-corruption legal framework

730 cadets, officers, members of scientific faculties and pedagogical staff took part in these events and used the chance to actively communicate with the Building Integrity Team.

The NATO events were covered by media in different regions of Ukraine and reflected on respective web sites of the military educational institutions.

Links
National Academy of State Border Guard Service
(http://nadpsu.edu.ua/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=768:provedennya-v-akademiji-seminaru-u-ramkakh-initsiativi-nato&catid=44:mizhnarodni-novini&Itemid=262);
Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Army Academy
(http://www.asv.gov.ua/?q=news/2017/10/20/ofis-zvyazku-nato-v-ukrayini-proviv-seminar-u-lvovi);
National Defence University in Kyiv
(http://nuou.org.ua/informatsiia/novyny/provedeno-seminar-prohramy-nato-z-buduvannia-tsilisnosti-ta-vykhovannia-dobrochesnosti.html);
National Academy of National Guard of Ukraine
(http://nangu.edu.ua/?p=39694)
including the web-sites of Kharkiv top news spots -
http://newsroom.kh.ua/news/v-harkove-siloviki-i-predstaviteli-nato-obsuzhdayut-borbu-s-korrupciey
https://www.057.ua/news/1848535
https://glavnoe.ua/news/n323985-predstaviteli-nato-rasskazali-silovikam-harkovschiny-o-metodah-borby-s-korrupciej-(foto)

Building Integrity Annual Discipline, highlights the importance to further enhance the discipline.

Building Integrity Annual Discipline Conference for the year 2017, was conducted at the NATO Headquarters on 25th of October. The Conference, was hosted by Norwegian Center for Integrity in Defence Sector (CIDS) in cooperation with NATO Building Integrity. The aim of the conference was to discuss and share ideas on aligning and updating BI training and education solutions.

Director for Integration, Partnership and Cooperation (IPCD) Dr. Alberto Bin addressing the conference highlighted that “establishing BI as a NATO discipline among 29 disciplines, the endorsement of the BI Policy and agreement of the BI Action Plan represent a great achievement. Together they demonstrates our commitment to our values and principles. They also provide solid ground for us to put into practice the values for which we stand”.

Director of CIDS Mr. Per Christensen in his remarks highlighted that the NATO Bi Discipline remains essential for one of the core values that keep nations in NATO together.

Representatives from different institutions and organisations from NATO allied and partner countries, NATO Command Structures and schools discussed how to enhance NATO BI Education and Training Discipline. Representatives from UK Defence Academy, Transparency International Defence and Security Programme, Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), Peace Support Operations Training Centre (PSOTC), Finnish Armed Forces International Operations Centre and others present shared their experiences how they are integrating and developing BI in their programme of work.

Furthermore, The Conference provided the opportunity to discuss and share ideas and proposals with the aim to find new ways and means to further enhance the Discipline.

NATO Building Integrity in Peace Support Operations Orientation Course, Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Moldova, 26-29 September 2017

The NATO Building Integrity Programme is currently conducting a Building Integrity in Peace Support Operations course for Moldovan military officers at the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Moldova. Throughout the week course, participants are focusing on the consequences of corruption in the context of operations and how individual integrity, accountability, transparency make military forces more resilient to this recognised threat. In his opening remarks, State Secretary Fondos highlighted the value of the participation of the Ministry of Defence in the NATO Building Integrity Programme. This course is indeed part of the implementation of the recommendations of the NATO Building Integrity Self-Assessment and Peer Review Report. It also contributes to prepare Moldovan Armed Forces before their deployment in peace-keeping operations including at KFOR and in Africa.

The conduct of this course is supported by NATO and international expert lecturers, and a Mobile Training Team from the Peace Support Operations Training Center of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the Head of the NATO Liaison Office in Moldova.

This course enters into the implementation of the NATO Defence and Related Security Capacity Building (DCB) Package agreed with the Republic of Moldova and is supported by the DCB Trust Fund.

NATO Building Integrity in Peace Support Operations Orientation course, Ministry of Defence and National Police, 5-8 September 2017
From 5 to 8 September 2017, the NATO Building Integrity (BI) Programme held the first BI course for representatives of the Colombian defence sector in cooperation with the Ministry of National Defence and Police, and the Escuela de Misones International y Accion Integral of the National Army (ESMAI School), in Bogota, Colombia. The conduct of this capacity building activity is a follow – up of the completion of the NATO BI Self-Assessment and Peer Review Process in August 2016. The participation of the National Ministry of Defence and Police in this Process provides the foundation for the tailored strategy designed by the NATO BI Team and the Ministry to further assist in the defence sector reforms with regard to good governance.

During four days, the sixty representatives from the Air, Army, Navy and Police services as well as few representatives from the civil society undertook the Orientation Course on Building Integrity in Peace Support Operations. This course which is certified by NATO Allied Command Transformation, focuses on corruption in operations. It addresses various consequences of corruption including on deployed troops, in the country, as well as the management of resources in – theatre. The programme of instruction contributes to prepare troops before their deployment. In this regard, it entirely falls in with the national agenda to contribute to UN Peace Keeping Operations and NATO – Colombia agreed partnership programme. The course was conducted with the support of a mobile training team from the Peace Support Operations Training Center of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, NATO BI Implementing Partner, and international expert lecturers from NATO HQ, Denmark and France.

The NATO Building Integrity Programme is grateful for the support provided by Spain in its capacity of NATO Contact Point Embassy in Colombia and the participation of H.E.Mr. Gomez de Olea, Ambassador, at the opening ceremony.

At the 2016 NATO Summit held in Warsaw the NATO Heads of State and Government endorsed the Building Integrity (BI) Policy and thereby reaffirmed their conviction that transparent and accountable institutions under democratic control are fundamental for stability and international security cooperation.
In December 2016 Allied Foreign Ministers noted the BI Action Plan aimed at supporting the overarching aim of the BI Policy, namely the development of effective, transparent and accountable defence institutions which are responsive to unpredictable security challenges.
The BI Action Plan sets the course for a strategic approach to BI and good governance in the defence and related security sector and identifies concrete steps to make BI applicable across NATO’s political and military lines of activity.

At a book talk at NATO Headquarters on 9 June 2017, Dr Louise Shelley – a Professor at George Mason University, a well-known researcher and a leading expert on the relationship among terrorism, organised crime and corruption as well as human trafficking, transnational crime and terrorism – presented and discussed her thoughts on her recent work “Dirty Entanglements: Corruption, Crime and Terrorism”.
This event, which was a part of NATO’s effort to promote good governance, transparency and accountability, coincided with International Archive Day.

More info on this newsitem : http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_146289.htm?selectedLocale=en .
Video of the booktalk: Video .
Audio of the booktalk: Audio .
High resolution pictures of the booktalk: High Resolution Pictures .

Additional resources have been added to the Building Integrity website (Administrative note and outline).

You can find these in the resources tab, or go to the dedicated events page.

On 15 to 18 May 2017, a new iteration of the NATO Building Integrity in Peace Support Operations course took place at the National Defence University of Ukraine named after Ivan Chernyakhovski. This ACT certified course which focuses on the consequences of corruption in operations and how individuals can bring change is part of the NATO Building Integrity Tailored Work Programme for Ukraine since 2015 (for previous iterations, see stories on the Building Integrity website).

The course was delivered by a mobile training team from the Peace Support Operations Training Center of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, NATO expert lecturers and international subject matters experts. For the first time, a Ukrainian trainer from the National Defence University’s Building Integrity training and Educational Center was part of the training team. The audience gathered a wide audience from the Armed Forces, the National Guards and the State Border Guards Service of Ukraine.

The course was supported by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in-kind contribution from Bulgaria which is one of the nation leading the BI Trust Fund.
NATO Liaison Office Ukraine: Facebook Page

On 27 February 2017, 24 representatives of the Ministry of Defence, National Guard and State Border Guard Service of Ukraine participated in a NATO Building Integrity Professional Development Workshop addressing good practices in the management of financial resources - procurement and contracting.
This workshop was conducted with NATO experts and the assistance of the NATO Liaison Office of Kyiv.

Link to the State Border Guard Service’s website: http://dpsu.gov.ua/ua/news/V-Ofisi-zvyazku-NATO-proyshov-seminar-z-pitan-korupciynih-rizikiv-v-sferi-derzhzakupivel/ .

On 23 - 27 January 2017 a Planning and Review Process Assessment visit took place in Ukraine.
During this week, productive discussions on the Partnership Goals on Integrity Development were held with the participation of a NATO BI Programme representative.
In the margins of these meetings, additional consultations were held with representatives of the Office of the General Prosecutor, the National Security and Defence Council, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention, and the Anti-Corruption Bureau.

Link to the Ministry of Defence: http://www.mil.gov.ua/news/2017/01/23/v-kievi-rozpochalosya-ekspertne-zasidannya-z-pitan-uchasti-ukraini-u-proczesi-planuvannya-ta-oczinki-sil/ .

On 11 October 2016, the National Defence University of Kazakhstan hosted a NATO Building Integrity Seminar. The NATO Political Affairs and Security Policy’s Building Integrity (BI) Team presented the Programme, its mandate, the Self-assessment and Peer Review Process as well as the wide spectrum of tailor-made assistance made available to countries participating in the Process. The Ministry of Defence of Serbia actively supported this event and shared national experience in participating in the NATO BI Programme including the completion of the NATO BI Process.

On 12 October, the Director of the NATO BI Programme gave a lecture at the KAZGUU University on the impacts of corruption in the defence and related security sector and NATO’s contribution to good governance.

The NATO Liaison Office for Central Asia supported the conduct of these activities.

Link of the National Defence University: http://www.nuo.kz/en/news/nato-seminar-on-building-integrity-program.html

On February 17th and 18th 2016, a Planning and Review Process Assessment visit took place in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*. During the course of these two days, productive discussions on Partnership Goal on Integrity Development were held with the participation of a NATO BI Programme representative.

Link to the Ministry of Defence: http://morm.gov.mk/?mainnews=parp-bilateralni-konsultacii-megju-mk-i-nato-17-02-2016&lang=mk

*Turkey recognizes the Republic of Macedonia with its constitutional name

On 24 May 2016, upon invitation of the General Inspector of the Tunisian Armed Forces, the NATO Political Affairs and Security Policy’s Building Integrity (BI) Team participated in a seminar to introduce the NATO BI Programme, its mandate and the BI Self-Assessment and Peer Review Process. Under the lead of the General Inspector, various departments of the Ministry of Defence participated and presented good governance related policies and measures in place.
The future of the cooperation in the field of NATO Building Integrity was also addressed including the wide range of education and training activities available to countries completing the NATO BI Self-Assessment and Peer Review Process.

From 4 to 8 April 2016, the NATO Political Affairs and Security Policy’s Building Integrity (BI) Team conducted a second iteration of the NATO BI in Peace Support Operations course for representatives of Ukrainian defence and related security sector.

This ACT certified course was conducted with the support of a Mobile Training Team from the Peace Support Operations Training Center (PSOTC) of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. PSOTC is an active Implementing Partner of the NATO BI Programme. The Center conducts twice a year residential BI in PSO courses for senior NCOs and OF2-OF4 officers in Sarajevo with the support of the NATO BI Programme.

After a first iteration in 2015 held at the Lviv Academy of Land Forces, the 2016 edition took place at the National Defence University of Ukraine "Ivan Chernyakhovsky". It gathered representatives from various institutions of the defence and related security sector participating in the NATO BI Programme. The course was organised with the support of the NDU Building Integrity Training and Education Center (BITEC) and the NATO Liaison Office in Kiev.

Link of the National Defence University of Ukraine: http://nuou.org.ua/informatsiia/novyny/oriientatsiinyi-kurs-dobrochesnist-v-operatsiiakh-z-pidtrymannia-myru.html .

• • SAQ - Russian version.
• • SAQ - Ukrainian version.

Key officers of the Georgian Defence and Security Sector address Building Integrity and Corruption Risks Reduction

• • Russian version (262kb).
• • Ukrainian version (267kb).

“Corruption as a threat to stability and peace – a Norwegian view on the role of NATO”