Learning to Protect? Identifying Elicitive Approaches in Protection of Civilians Training for UN Peacekeepers

Abstract

ABSTRACT How are military peacekeepers trained to undertake the Protection of Civilians (PoC)? This article addresses this important question, focussing on how ‘contact skills’ are integrated into the UN’s flagship PoC training progammes through learner-centred ‘elicitive’ forms of training. The article outlines theoretical and policy considerations which advocate more complex training in this domain, before exploring the programmes. It then critically analyses the challenges of systematically standardising elicitive forms of peacekeeper training. The article makes a strong contribution to studies of peacekeeper training and to debates on the preparation of peacekeepers for deployment to complex environments where civilian protection is paramount.