OCCASIONAL PAPER NO. 8, AUGUST 2016 Implementing Uniting Our Strengths for Peace: An approach to benchmarking HIPPO recommendations in five key areas

In June 2015, the High-level Independent Panel on United Nations Peace Operations (HIPPO) issued the first comprehensive review of United Nations (UN) peace operations in 15 years. This occasional paper considers how to best track the implementation of the recommendations generated by the HIPPO Report. It does so by developing and discussing benchmarks for the recommendations, both listed and embedded in the HIPPO Report, in five substantive areas – Women, Peace and Security; UN Police; staff safety and security; strategic communication; and financing of peace operations.

The methodology used allows for tracking, rating and comparing the implementation of each recommendation. Moreover, it highlights which agencies are responsible for making sure that various goals are achieved. The paper provides an important toolkit for making sure that words are turned into action and that the present momentum to strengthen UN peace operations is sustained.

Dr William Durch is a Distinguished Fellow of the Stimson Center’s Future of Peace Operations program. He serves as a Senior Adviser to Challenges Forum and is a consultant for the UN on projects focused on improving the effectiveness of peacekeeping. Previous positions include Assistant Director at the Defense and Arms Control Studies Program at MIT, Foreign Affairs Officer with the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and Project Director for the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations (the Brahimi Report). Dr Durch holds a PhD from MIT (Political Science/Defense Studies), an M.A. from George Washington University, and BSFS from Georgetown University.