KIT Royal Tropical Institute was hired by the Dutch police to provide training on culture and gender to police and Marechaussee personnel who were deployed to countries where the Netherlands was contributing to peacekeeping missions – such as Mali, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

Tailored training

KIT developed a tailored training for Dutch police and Marechaussee personnel who were part of the UN peacekeeping missions in countries such as Mali, Kosovo and Afghanistan. The training had two main components:

1. a cultural training provided by KIT Intercultural Professionals. This gave a context to the police and Marechaussee personnel on the culture, religion, environment, and other living conditions in countries of deployment; and
2. a gender component, as required by the Dutch police. KIT’s gender unit designed specific modules with relevant exercises to introduce gender as well as the legal framework for gender in peace and conflict situations, such as UN resolution 1325. It also provided gender assessment tools for the deployed personnel to implement and to report back on to their superiors in the Netherlands.

Fundamental knowledge and skills

This training provided the police and Marechaussee with fundamental knowledge and skills to meaningfully contribute to peacekeeping. This was done through understanding the realities on the ground, and the different gender concerns of both the local population that the peacekeepers worked with, but also of the local police and the UN peacekeeping operations.