Office for the Peacekeeping Strategic Partnership

The Office for the Peacekeeping Strategic Partnership (OPSP) was established by the General Assembly as a resource to advise the Under-Secretaries-General for Peacekeeping Operations and Field Support on issues affecting the participation of troop- and police-contributing countries in peacekeeping operations. Under the peace and security reform, the Office will be moved into the Department of Peace Operations.

Mandate
The mandate for OPSP is contained in resolution 67/287 of 28 June 2013. Paragraph 28 specified that the functions of OPSP would initially consist of: (a) Strengthening the peacekeeping partnership by assisting in identifying gaps that have an impact on the delivery of mandates by United Nations peacekeeping missions by making recommendations on systemic issues relating to United Nations peacekeeping operations;

(b) Making recommendations to ensure the safety, security and welfare of, and the Organization’s provision of adequate support services to, uniformed field personnel;

(c) Working closely with troop- and police-contributing countries and senior leadership, both in the field and at Headquarters;

(d) Making recommendations to incorporate lessons learned and best practices from peacekeeping missions into peacekeeping operations;

The General Assembly decided in paragraph 32 to review the mandate and functions of the Office during the 69th session. However, no changes were made to either the mandate and functions during the 69th session.

Legislative history
In 2013, the Secretary-General proposed the establishment of the "Office of the Director, Evaluation of Field Uniformed Personnel" reporting to the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations as "An independent evaluation function of field uniformed personnel…to assist the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations through the provision of objective and independent reviews, analysis, advice and recommendations on the effectiveness and efficiency of uniformed personnel in the field." The establishment of this Office was proposed as neither the Division for Policy, Evaluation and Training in DPKO–DFS nor the Office of Internal Oversight Services had the capacity or specialized expertise to perform these specialized functions.

Troop-contributing countries, however, were concerned about the similarities between the proposed functions of the Office and those of an inspector-general. To address these concerns, the name of the Office was changed and its functions specified in the text of the resolution, though the resources originally requested were approved. In addition, the General Assembly specified that the Director of the Office must come from a troop-contributing country and have leadership experience in a peacekeeping mission and—in a departure from the original proposal of the Secretary-General—a dual reporting line to the Under-Secretaries-General for Peacekeeping Operations and Field Support.