ICT4COP Research Contributes to Strategic Advising Training at CoESPU
Advising senior police leaders and ministries requires an understanding of institutions, local priorities and the challenges of sustaining reform. The Strategic Advising course at the Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units (CoESPU) prepares senior officers and officials for these responsibilities. Ingrid Nyborg contributes to this training, drawing on ICT4COP’s research into community-oriented policing and post-conflict police reform.
CoESPU, based in Vicenza, Italy, is a Carabinieri doctrinal hub and training centre specialising in stability policing. Through its partnership with the United States Global Peace Operations Initiative, it helps build international capacity for United Nations peace operations by training peacekeeping forces.
The two-week course focuses on advising at ministerial level and within senior police leadership. Topics include assessing local capacity, developing advising plans, supporting local ownership and strengthening institutions over the short and long term. Participants also examine knowledge transfer, coordination with other actors and the identification of people who can support institutional change.
Nyborg was invited to teach because of the relevance of ICT4COP’s findings to these challenges, particularly its emphasis on human security and police reform in post-conflict contexts. The EU-funded Horizon 2020 project, coordinated by NMBU, explored policing across 11 case countries. Its research considered how police respond to communities’ security needs, how trust is established and maintained, and how accountability shapes police–community relationships.
This research provides a community perspective on questions addressed at the strategic level. Nyborg’s contribution connects discussions of institutional reform and capacity building with the experiences of the people those institutions serve, bringing ICT4COP’s findings into the preparation of future strategic advisers.
