The Common Effort Community

CETE23 – “Resilience does not have a telephone number …”
The war in Ukraine shows how fragile peace and freedom are. Nations are under pressure and face multiple threats that require a comprehensive, whole-of-society approach. Societies need to prepare and increase their resilience to attacks on their infrastructure, their political…

Common Effort Conference 2023
Destabilization, propaganda narratives and comprehensive countermeasures were the topics of the Common Effort Conference 2023 WEST AFRICA AS AN ARENA OF GEOPOLITICAL CONFLICTS in Berlin, June 13th, 2023. The one-day high-level meeting brought together security experts, policy makers, development organizations, and…

The Platform

The Common Effort Community serves as a platform for organisations that share the vision of a comprehensive approach to improving stability, security and safety. The aim of the community is to foster a better understanding between development practitioners, diplomats, specialists from the public sector and the business community, experts from think tanks and the military. In line with the motto "Get to know each other before you need each other".

“What is essential is resilience across society – resilience in the event of a crisis beyond the military – i.e. politics, society and industry, for the common goal of defending our freedom and our security.”

Nico Tak

The Necessity

Conflict and fragility are generally the result of a complex interplay of diverse but often interrelated factors. These include economic, political, social, cultural and religious aspects. Only a comprehensive, whole-of-society approach can achieve sustainable solutions. This means that a wide range of actors, both governmental and non-governmental, must be involved, both at the international level and within the country in question.

The purpose of the comprehensive approach is to coordinate and maximise the resources of diplomacy, security policy, the economy, development cooperation and humanitarian aid across the boundaries of ministries, departments and institutions. The better the various actors and stakeholders understand and know each other, the better they will be able to coordinate and synchronise their planning and actions to achieve better and more sustainable results.

Having focused on crisis response in developing countries, the Common Effort Community is now also looking at hybrid threats and resilience. This new pillar will address current challenges to national and collective security and defence. These challenges are characterised by hybrid threats and nefarious activities by potential adversaries.

“The simultaneity of all conceivable manifestations of warlike confrontations is an essential component of this war picture – from archaic-looking war of attrition on land to drone warfare, fierce battles for superiority of effect in cyber and information space, and not least hybrid warfare.”

Carsten Breuer
Chief of Defense, German Armed Forces

The Two Pillar Approach

The two-pillar approach of the Common Effort Community focuses on Collective Defence, Hybrid Threats, and Resilience of our western nations as well as on Crisis Response Operations in southern hemisphere. It seeks to identify the bridging elements of both pillars and finding practical answers on current challenges in our inter-connected and complex world. This approach aligns with the community’s goal of promoting a comprehensive approach to improving stability, safety and security.

Collective Defence, Hybrid Threats and Resilience

The war in Ukraine shows how fragile peace and freedom are. Nations are under pressure and face multiple threats that require a comprehensive, whole-of-society approach. Societies need to prepare for and increase their resilience to attacks on their infrastructure, their political system, their government and, above all, their social and national cohesion. Building resilience in our complex world requires cooperation and mutual understanding between different actors and stakeholders.

The pillar will focus on the cross-sectoral and interdepartmental impact of attacks on critical infrastructure and ultimately on the resilience of state structures and societies.

Aim is, to develop and build a network of experts from the political, administrative, economic, military, social, infrastructure and information technology sectors and to get a better common understanding of the problems posed by hybrid threats.

Crisis Response Operations

It is striking to note that the same actors, who today are responsible for the deteriorated security situation and subsequent global food- and energy crisis, also threaten Europe’s interests in the G5 Sahel and in West Africa (Gulf of Guinea States).

This involves studying and addressing the challenges related to crisis response and stabilization efforts in the Sahel Region, which has become a priority for many European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands.

The aim of this pillar is to analyze crisis response operations, draw analytical conclusions, and develop effective strategies for managing and responding to crises in the region.

By focusing on spill-over areas, this pillar recognizes the interconnected nature of security challenges and seeks to address their broader implications, integrating both the policy and the working level.

The members of the Common Effort Community recognise that such interaction and cooperation between different actors is complex and challenging. It requires mutual understanding of their respective roles, mandates and operational activities.

Excercises and Conferences

In order to develop and apply a structured civil-military cooperation process for a comprehensive approach to realistic and timely crisis operations, Common Effort exercises and conferences have been initiated. Additional activities may be envisaged in the near future, such as informal meetings of interested stakeholders on a particular topic, country or region, to brainstorm on trends and define what could or should be done to mitigate negative impacts or enhance positive ones.

“With the latest developments, geopolitical developments, in the world, you can see that the security situation in West Africa is deteriorating. We have seen several coups in several countries. We’ve seen the insertion of private military companies like the Wagner Group into parts of West Africa, and all of that makes this particular conference very valid at this moment in time.” June 13th 2023

Lieutenant General Nico Tak

Commander
1 German-Netherlands Corps

“This is also a strength of this conference, that we have the higher profile people also together with the people who are working on the ground. So that we bring these different perspectives together, because very often we find that the political discourse takes place disengaged from what is happening on the ground.” June 13th 2023

Sabine Odhiambo

Secretary General
German Africa Foundation

“This is the first conference that we participate in with our partners in the Common Effort Initiative, so [that is] also a very happy and lucky occasion to team up with the 1 German-Netherlands Corps, with the Lighthouse Africa Project and also for this occasion with the German Africa Foundation.” June, 13th 2023

Dr. René Klaff

Head of the International Department
Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit

Common Effort Community members realize that interaction and cooperation between diverse actors is complex and difficult. Knowing each other before you need each other is the philosophy of the community. Understanding each other, building a trustfull relationship and network are essential for the success of multi-actor missions and operations.