INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION:
The School's development is a joint NATO-Georgia responsibility. NATO plays an active role in the process via different programmes and Trust Funds:
Professional Development Program - Under the Professional Development Program, with the active support of the United Kingdom, the school has become the first educational institution in Georgia to be headed by the officials who have completed a year-and-a-half training program and got International Certification of Manager in Teaching and Development and the status of Associate Membership of CIPD London.
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development was founded in 1913 and today, it brings together more than 150,000 people worldwide.
The school plans to organize a workshop and a national conference on modern methods of teaching and development with the support of the PDP program. Within the program, innovative teaching methods are planned to be integrated.
The Building Integrity (BI) Program - Since its establishment, the School has been actively cooperating with the NATO Building Integrity Program to promote transparency and good governance.
Within the framework of close coordination, local and international courses, training of trainers programs, as well as activities focused on the development of training materials and various institutional capacities have been conducted.
Defence Capability Building Trust Fund - The fund is the school's biggest financial contributor.
Within the framework of the fund, financial resources have been allocated by the partner countries (Germany, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Slovakia, Turkey, Luxembourg, and Montenegro).
The DIBS has covered the expenses of the 4-year project of the Clingendael Institute with the accumulated funds and purchased simultaneous interpretation equipment and software for the School.
Currently, the events and activities are being organized to facilitate the development of distance learning capabilities and learning materials.
The school actively cooperates with NATO Centers of Excellence and educational institutions. The cooperation with the Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence which has supported the development of the NATO Basic Strategic Communications Course must be noted.
Cooperation with the following countries is particularly appreciated:
The Federal Republic of Germany is a project leader country. It has assigned an expert to help the School in its development process. Germany is also the main financial contributor to the School. An interesting format of collaboration between the School and the German Federal Academy for Security Policy (BAKS) has developed over the years.
The Slovak Republic. The assigned Slovak expert actively participates in the School's development process. The Armed Forces Academy of the Slovak Republic also supports the School by sharing experience on accreditation issues. Slovakia is also the financial contributor to the School.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands was the first country to express its willingness to render financial support to the School. The 4 -year School capacity building plan developed by the Netherlands Clingendael Institute of International Relations is being successfully fulfilled. The Clingendael Institute also plays an important role in the Training of Trainers: every year designated Georgian trainers undertake this course, enhancing teaching capabilities of not only the School but of the Georgian security sector as a whole.
The Republic of Italy: In cooperation with the Italian Army Post Conflict Operations Study Centre and Georgian experts, a "Stabilization and Reconstruction Orientation Course" was developed which is being successfully implemented.
The Kingdom of Norway: With the support of Norway, DIBS started a 3-year project on Advanced Distributed Learning Capacity Building. The Defence Ministry of Norway and the USA's Jefferson Institute are involved in the project.
The Republic of Estonia: With the support of the Republic of Estonia and the NATO Professional Development Programme, the School has been implementing the most demanded National Defence Executive Course for many years.
Romania: DIBS exchanges experience with the Romanian training institutions accredited by NATO.
The Republic of Turkey, Slovakia, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, and Montenegro contributed generously to the NATO Defence Capacity Building Trust Fund, thereby ensuring further development of DIBS.
United Kingdom: is actively involved in different activities in support of training of trainers. In this regard lectures delivered by the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI) are notable.
Contacts have been established with educational institutions in Austria, Finland, Sweden, and Germany, and NATO Centre of Excellence, Riga, Latvia. In cooperation with the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, DIBS conducted a course in Strategic Communications. The course was certified as NATO Selected in 2020.
Ukraine: National Defence Academy of Ukraine was actively involved in PDP DIBS Concept Conference.
Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) was actively involved in sharing the experience with DIBS and multiple visits were conducted.