Information management in a civilian mission EUCAP Somalia case study

The complexity of contemporary external action missions is increasing with a growing number of civilian and other non-military actors operating in a shared environment. There are currently not sufficient capabilities for civil-military cooperation in place which hinders operational effectiveness and the full exploitation of the information sharing potential. We contribute to the assessment of information exchange requirements by presenting findings from a case study which describes the current state of information sharing and management in a civilian led EU mission, namely EUCAP Somalia. These findings are foreseen to contribute to the development of a future interoperable `Situational Awareness, Information Exchange and Operational Control Platform' (OCP) for European civilian missions. We will argue that in order to meet the requirements an OCP should be designed as a general framework for mission support rather than a stand-alone system.