RESEARCH BRIEF: Optimising National Staff Contributions

Katharina Coleman, explores how the UN can optimise the contributions that locally recruited ‘national staff’ make to peacekeeping operations. Missions depend on national staff both for cost savings and for local expertise and access. Yet tensions arising from status inequalities between national and international
staff pose significant risks to individual staff performance and to unit effectiveness.

Joint brief series: The Performance of Peacekeeping

This is one of several research briefs, which is part of a joint initiative by the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA), the Challenges Forum International Secretariat (CFIS) and the Swedish Defence University (SEDU). The aim of the series is to contribute to policy development by bringing cutting-edge research on key issues within peacekeeping to the attention of policy makers and practitioners.

The views and opinions expressed in the brief series are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the collaborating partners.

All six research briefs in the series are listed below: