prijava
SARAJEVO, April 26 (FENA) - The Peace Support Operations Training Center (PSOTC), in cooperation with the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Sarajevo, organized a course on media management in peace support operations from April 22 to 26.
It is a course certified by NATO and the University of Sarajevo and is designed to provide participants with the basic knowledge necessary to understand both the opportunities and challenges of the media presence in peace support operations.
It also aims to train the necessary skills required to best utilize public affairs within the operational process, ensuring unity of effort in achieving the mission objectives.
Head of training at the Peace Support Operations Training Center, Colonel Amer Riković, said that 33 participants from 15 countries around the world attended the course, including Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Jordan, North Macedonia, the Netherlands, Tunisia and Qatar.
All participants completed the course and were presented with certificates today.
''The goal of the course for media management in peace support operations was to explain to our participants what challenges they may face during participation in peace support operations when it comes to cooperation with the media,'' said Colonel Riković.
He added that the course was intensive and that the participants who completed the course are ready to stand in front of the cameras and communicate with the media in the way they want and not in the way the media might want.
''That was one of the goals, to point out to the participants the possibility of some possibly unwanted moments during the interview when some tricky questions might be asked. I can confirm that our participants are ready to stand in front of the cameras and the media without any fear of doing anything wrong,'' Colonel Riković concluded.
Major Christos Smilianis, training manager for public relations of the Multinational Peace Support Operations Training Center (MPSOTC) from Greece, said that the cooperation between the Peace Support Operations Training Center (PSOTC) and MPSOTC has been going on for more than ten years.
''Since then, we have been exchanging experiences and I am glad to be a part of this training project. The training project here not only gave the participants essential communication skills, but also brought together participants from 15 countries and helped build cross-cultural communication and understanding in an environment like this. The excellent work done by the PSOTC is crucial in building lasting peace and prosperity for all,'' said Major Smilianis.
According to him, the participation of the University and the students of the Faculty of Political Sciences is important "because in this way we can build better relations between military and civilian institutions, exchange ideas and break stereotypes, and work to bring society together".
''Military institutions like all institutions in the world, need to communicate to pass their messages and to explain to the people what are they doing and how they are supposed to fulfill their missions. In such an environment it is even more important, because people's lives and their prosperity depend on a successful mission. For this reason, we must establish an understanding. Training people in such circumstances to be able to communicate can resolve many issues and improve understanding between different cultures and institutions,'' stated Major Smilianis.
This course is one of seven NATO-certified and four UN-certified programs conducted at the Peace Support Operations Training Center.
In addition to professors from the Faculty of Political Sciences, the course was attended by lecturers from various institutions and organizations as part of the cooperation program with PSOTC.
(FENA) A. B.
