ZIF at 20

After the wars in the Balkans, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) was looking for international civilian staff to monitor the ceasefire agreements. The German government wanted to support those efforts but was not able to meet the demands with their own civil servants. As a result, the selection process of these early monitors was rather random. In a following study, researchers outlined the idea of an institution providing services, expertise and personnel on and for peace operations in a comprehensive approach. The multidisciplinary mandate was visionary: combining training, recruitment and analysis under one roof.

On June 22^nd 2002, the idea became a reality: the German government and the German parliament founded the Berlin Center for International Peace Operations as a non-profit limited liability company. Dr. Winrich Kühne, significantly involved in developing and planning the institution, became its first Executive Director. ZIF’s sole shareholder is the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the German Federal Foreign Office. With only 17 employees, ZIF began its operation significantly smaller than today – with the same resourcefulness and creative spirit that still marks the institution today. Shortly after its foundation, the first training course was held, the first civilian experts were recruited for the ZIF Expert Pool and then seconded to OSCE and EU missions. ZIF acted as a true pioneer with this new set-up as there were no available institutional models in the civilian sector.

Since taking the position as Executive Director in 2009, Dr. Almut Wieland-Karimi had campaigned for more personnel and innovation – not only in missions but also in the Berlin “headquarters”. After a decade, ZIF had significantly grown as an institution with an Expert Pool of 1.500 profiles, a strong international network of partners, a legal basis for personnel secondment, as well an emphasis on the Comprehensive Approach among others. To this day, its work aims for higher visibility, security, appreciation and political relevance of civilian experts. That is why ZIF proposed to honor German military, police and civilian staff in peace operations annually on May, 29^th, the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers. The first Day of the Peacekeeper was held in 2013. Since then the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense, and the Interior take turns in hosting the celebration each year.

Tragically, three German civilian experts were severely injured in a terrorist attack in Djibouti in May 2014. This incident brought to light the deficits and the need for reform of the first Secondment Act from 2009. Paying an allowance instead of a salary, making staff personally responsible for pensions and health care, and providing no security in case of a disability and unemployment this was no longer adequate for highly qualified professionals and did not meet international standards of staff in peace operations. The law needed to be revised.

Right before the general election, in July 2017 the German parliament passed the reformed “Secondment Act” as the legal basis for civilian deployments. The new law made ZIF the employer for the deployed civilian experts, the so called secondment of civilian experts is now generally based on a German employment contract – including legal clarity, duty of care, transparent tax rules as well as a comprehensive social security package.

Following this development, ZIF established a Human Resources unit and restructured its organizational operation.

Having made a name for itself as an agency for civilian crisis management as well as having grown to nearly 90 employees working in eight teams at its headquarters, ZIF diversified its portfolio both professionally and in terms of its staff. Over 190 civilian experts are currently seconded to humanitarian and peace operations as well as in headquarters and multilateral positions in conflict management. ZIF also sends hundreds of election observers each year to missions around the world. ZIF is also contributing to current topics such as peace mediation, climate security and digitalization. Secondments to the UN, the EU’s Special Envoys and humanitarian crises are already common. Always at the centre is the idea to contribute to peace with partners by providing advice, personnel and know-how!