Major General Ingrid Gjerde, UNFICYP Force Commander, shares her thoughts on performance:

As Force Commander of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), what do you see at the core of “military performance” in terms of the values, capabilities, and mindset required to successfully achieve mandated tasks?

To achieve mandated tasks, UNFICYP requires not only basic military skills, but the ability to understand the political sensitivity of the conflict, and the subsequent role of the military to support the political peace process is imperative.

The ability to remain impartial and respect the parties’ different views on the narrative is required.

For UN peacekeepers, qualities such as patience, tolerance, flexibility, and negotiation skills are essential. 

What are some of the measures you are prioritizing to strengthen military performance at UNFICYP’s Headquarters?

UNFICYP has a wing responsible for the training that is in line with the Force Commander’s training directive.

We use the Military Performance & Evaluation Team system to evaluate and develop our units and individuals and we have mandated trainings and exercises both at the sector-level and the mission at large.

We also conduct after-action reviews post operations, which focus on identifying lessons learned, both at sector level and at HQ. 

How do you evaluate the effectiveness of military performance in activities, as implemented by UNFICYP?

It is hard to evaluate effectiveness, but peace has been kept since 1974.

So, I believe that the military force is effective in maintaining the status quo and de-escalating tensions through reporting and engagement.

However, we use our Joint Mission Analysis Centres for assessment and I engage with military and civilian actors to understand how they regard our performance.

We also evaluate using tools provided by UN Headquarters in New York, latest by being a pilot unit for the Military Performance & Evaluation Team.

UNFICYP also conducts regular exercises evaluated by our training team.

The Military Performance & Evaluation Team (MPET) recently conducted the first pilot evaluation with UNFICYP HQs. Please share this experience with us.

It is designed to give the Office of Military Affairs confidence that the military HQs within missions are effective and able to plan, execute and sustain operations within the field.

Commanders at all levels will be able to use the MPET evaluation to understand their HQ’s strengths and weaknesses and, take corrective action where necessary.