Project Summary (current as of October 2006)

Peace Operations Monitor is a project of the Peace Operations Working Group (POWG), a working group of the Canadian Peacebuilding Coordinating Committee (CPCC). The POWG provides a platform for the engagement of Canadian individuals and civil society organizations related to complex peace operations. The Peace Operations Monitor is a web-based resource providing up-to-date factual information on complex peace operations. The website offers an "integrated mission perspective," i.e. compiling information on the governance arrangements as well as military, civilian, police, humanitarian, diplomatic, and other components of current peace operations.

Peace Operations Monitor has completed its first phase, related to peace operations in Afghanistan. Funding for this first phase has been provided by the World Federalist Movement - Canada (WFMC, which also chairs the POWG) and the University of Calgary Centre for Military and Strategic Studies (CMSS). Lara Olson and Dave Peabody at CMSS carried out research for the Afghanistan phase of the Peace Operations Monitor project.

WFM - Canada is a national non-profit organization advocating more effective and accountable global governance institutions, including a reformed United Nations system. WFM - Canada is a member of an international association, the World Federalist Movement (WFM - IGP), headquartered in New York.
http://www.worldfederalistscanada.org

The Centre for Military and Strategic Studies (CMSS) of the University of Calgary is dedicated to conducting research, providing graduate education, and disseminating public information on the world's pressing military, security and strategic issues. Its multidisciplinary faculty, research affiliates, and graduate students work on a wide range of contemporary issues in security studies - military history, Canadian defence policy, terrorism, intelligence, international law, strategic studies, media-military relations, NGO peacebuilding, and civil-military relations. CMSS is a member of the Peace Operations Working Group of the CPCC and has provided key funding for the Afghanistan phase of this project.
http://www.cmss.ucalgary.ca

Lara Olson directed the Afghanistan phase of the Peace Operations Monitor Project. She is a Research Fellow at CMSS, focusing on the role of NGO humanitarian, development and peacebuilding efforts in contemporary wars. She has worked for over 10 years with both specific NGO conflict resolution efforts and on international research projects on conflict resolution and peacemaking. Lara holds a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and has particular expertise on conflicts in the Caucasus.
lolson@ucalgary.ca

Dave Peabody is a Research Associate with the project and the principal researcher for the Afghanistan phase. He completed his master's in military and strategic studies at the University of Calgary in 2005, with his thesis on Canadian Forces civil-military cooperation (CIMIC) and NGO relations in Afghanistan and Bosnia. His articles on CIMIC have been published in several newspapers and his Masters thesis is profiled in the Journal of Military and Strategic Studies.
dave.peabody@gmail.com