PEACETRAINING

Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS) is among the first civil society organizations in Kosovo that is the organizational partner of Horizon 2020 research and innovation project projects supported by the European Union (EU).

In this regard, since June 2016, the KCSS is implementing the project "Strengthening Opportunities and Training for Courses in Preventing Conflicts and Peace Building", which is briefly known as PeaceTraining.eu. Moreover, the KCSS as the research institute specializing in the security sector is the partner of this project for its implementation in Kosovo and in the Western Balkans. The purpose of this project is to strengthen crowns and training capacities in the field of conflict prevention and peace building in Europe through the most advanced methods of knowledge. This project has managed to bring trainers and other interested parties to develop a common platform in Europe to provide training in the field of peace. In addition, this platform has contributed and is contributing to the enhancement of quality and further training specialization through providing counseling and guidance to trainers in the area of conflict prevention and peace building.

Activities implemented by KCSS in Kosovo during the implementation of this project:

• during 2017 dozens of interviews were conducted with representatives of Kosovo institutions in the security sector as well as international missions and organizations that are present in Kosovo. These interviews were conducted with a view to assessing the practices, challenges and lessons that security sector institutions in Kosovo, as well as international ones, can bring about conflict prevention and peace-building training programs. Interview data and findings have served to compile a report recommending the advancement of training in relevant fields. This report is focused on sharing experiences of peace building and conflict prevention in Kosovo and Northern Ireland.

• On November 2, 2017, the KCSS organized a conference on "Local Ownership and Cooperation between Local and International Institutions in Kosovo", which discussed the role of the international community in developing the security sector in Kosovo and the development of local ownership by of security institutions in the country. In this conference was discussed in two panels for the international administration in Kosovo, with particular emphasis on the establishment of security institutions during 1999-2008, the contribution of international missions in Kosovo and the development of the concept of local ownership in security institutions from the year 2008 and so far. One of the main conclusions of the conference was that reforming the security sector in Kosovo remains challenging as a result of the failure to implement the recommendations from the Sectoral Security Review Strategy Analysis in Kosovo. Also present at the conference were representatives of security institutions in Kosovo, international missions that are present in the country and security experts. While, the conference was attended by representatives from KU Leuven University of Belgium and the Northern Ireland Irrigation Research Institute (ICR) that are partners in this project.

• On 1-2 October 2018, the international conference "Establishing the Future of Peace in Europe and Beyond" was held in Vienna, Austria. This was the final project activity in which two days was widely discussed on the topic of peace training in Europe and other regions. During this conference were held in parallel 20 different workshops and panels dealing with the most critical issues for training in conflict prevention and peace building. Moreover, KCSS representatives participated in this conference, where they contributed to Kosovo's experience in the peacebuilding process. This high level conference was organized by the consortium of partner organizations of the PeaceTraining.eu project and attended by representatives of many state institutions, non-governmental organizations and research institutes at European and international level.

This project will be completed by the end of 2018 and coordinated by the Austrian organization SYNYO GmbH