Last updated in June 2004

"Given the many trouble spots and the complexity of conflict situations, individual countries or organizations are often overstretched when it comes to resolving the problems. Civilian crisis prevention, civilian conflict management and post-conflict peace-building offer a prospect of success in particular if they have a subsidiary, multilateral and multidimensional structure, if different governmental, economic and social players and above all mediating forces from the conflict regions pull together. To increase effectiveness and efficiency, activities and programmes have to be discussed and coordinated at national, regional and international level ..." (German Bundestag, printed paper no. 14/3862).

The Federal Foreign Office receives funds annually from the federal budget (approx. EUR 13 million in 2004) to fulfil this mandate. Steps from the following categories are supported, bearing in mind that the long-term success of international peace efforts and missions depends on initiatives and projects at different levels involving various approaches:

* Civilian personnel and logistical support for UN peace missions
Strengthening UN missions through the targeted deployment of German civilian personnel and logistical support using comparative advantages, for example, medical support for the UN mission in Afghanistan provided by the Maltese Cross Relief Service, technical support for UNAMSIL (Sierra Leone) by the Federal Agency for Technical Relief.
* Training and recruitment of civilian personnel for international peace missions
Preparatory courses and pool of experts of the Federal Foreign Office were taken over and extended by the CIPM (Centre for International Peace Missions, www.zif-berlin.org) in 2002. In addition to UN and OSCE missions, assistance is offered for election monitoring and EU missions.
* Support for international and regional peace processes and conflict management instruments
Examples of support include African Union peace missions in Somalia and Burundi, the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre in Ghana, the Central Asian Conference of the Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum as well as work on the NEPAD Peace and Security Agenda.
* Individual conflict management, crisis prevention or post-conflict peace-building projects operated by German and international NGOs
The ifa project zivik uses Federal Foreign Office funding to strengthen civil society's peace efforts by supporting and coordinating projects run by German and foreign NGOs which are making an effective contribution to conflict management (see Funding Criteria, Application Guidelines and project lists).

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