Since 2014, UNITAR has been collaborating with the African Contingency Operations Training and Advisory (ACOTA) program – now Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI) – in further improving the preparation of African military contingents prior to their deployment to MONUSCO, UNAMID, MINUSMA, UNMISS, MINUSCA and AMISOM.

Within the broader GPOI programme, UNITAR is responsible for the development and delivery of two orientation modules on UN peace operations – one addressing military officers, and one addressing the military formation in total.  The modules, based on the UN Department of Peace Operations Core Pre-deployment Training Materials (CPTM), are designed to provide the essential knowledge required by military personnel to function effectively in a UN peace operation, and to address highly important topics such as Protection of Civilians (POC) and Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA).