Ms. Hawwa Abdul Raheem
Expert Lecturer, Ministry of Defense and National Security
Maldives
ASC 17-2
A curriculum to address the role of women in countering extremism in the Maldives
Project timeline: 10/25/2017- 2/14/2023
Violent extremism emerged as a pressing issue in the security environment in the Maldives around 2017, increasingly undermining societal harmony through the spread of divisive religious ideologies. A new approach by extremist actors was enacted to target women as facilitators, recruiters, and moral supporters of men fighting on the front lines. The threat of extremism is a concern for the Maldives, given its strong reliance on tourism to support its economy.
An expert lecturer at the College of Defense and Security Studies, Ms. Hawwa Abdul Raheem recognized the significance of this threat and developed a curriculum on the role of women in countering extremism for her Fellows project. Her goals were to design and conduct awareness programs on women’s roles in countering extremism across the Maldives by June 2017 through the training of toddlers (TOTs), to ensure household women knew of the extremists' threats in the Maldives, and to equip women to look for good sources of information on the internet and to identify harmful sites that their children are exposed to. She has conducted several successful awareness programs with the assistance of the Maldives National Counter-Terrorism Center (NCTC). Six months after implementation, research was conducted to measure women in the Maldives' understanding of this subject.
Children in the country were better protected from recruitment brainwashing in terror-related activities as awareness had improved. In 2022 Ms. Hawwa Raheem expanded on her project to conduct more research on Women’s Involvement in Countering Violent Extremism and Recruitment to Terrorism in the Maldives.
Ms. Ruri Prabaswari
Doctoral Student, Indonesia National Cyber and Crypto Agency
Indonesia
CSC 22-2
Working Group for Indonesian Cyber Crisis Management
Project timeline: 6/17/2021- 1/1/2022
Indonesia experienced several massive cyberattacks in 2022, and the potential for cybersecurity to worsen rose with the outbreak of Covid-19. Ms. Ruri Prabaswari knew that national regulations regarding cyber crisis management and a national cyber crisis team were needed to anticipate and overcome this situation.
She formulated a plan that would protect her nation’s critical infrastructure sectors. The goal of her project was to develop the concept of a national cyber crisis team and identify its roles and responsibilities. Utilizing a qualitative analysis, including both primary data from direct, in-depth interviews and secondary data from literature reviews, she was able to recommend a National Cyber Crisis Management Team model. This model is intended to be used as a blueprint once Indonesia's National Cyber Crisis Management Team is established. Her proposed idea also led to the refinement of cybercrime detection tools.
She plans to continue building on this project, involving the community and other relevant private parties. Ms. Ruri Prabaswari does not limit her community ties to just her project; she has displayed remarkable fellowship with her coursemates by offering mentorship with their projects.
Ms. Amparo Pamela Fabe
Professor, National Police College
Philippines
CSC 22-3
Climate Change and National Security Training Program
Project timeline: 6/17/2021- 1/1/2022
Ms. Amparo Pamela Fabe, a professor at the National Police College of the Philippines, designed a program that integrates climate change issues into the national security discussion in the Philippines.
The National Security Strategy Plan of the Philippine government from 2017 to 2022 did not directly focus on the issue of climate change and its impact on national security despite the Philippines being affected by natural disasters, such as 20 typhoons and 2,000 earthquakes, annually. Ms. Fabe saw a clear need to address this gap and prioritize climate change in national security policy discussions among top security advisers.
She prepared a one-day training program and a one-semester Climate Change and National Security course at the National Police College. Ms. Fabe began with a trial run of both programs. After receiving positive feedback from uniformed personnel, she submitted the project for implementation for the August 2022 to April 2023 school year, aiming to reach an audience of 1,000 military uniformed personnel. After submitting the training program to the Philippine Public Safety College and the National Police College, she briefed the Philippine National Security Adviser on the impact of Climate Change on National Security. The adviser subsequently declared in a policy speech following that meeting that Climate Change and National Security is an important component of the Philippines' National Security Strategy Plan.
This initiative spread awareness of the importance of Climate Change among National Security practitioners, including senior officers of the Coast Guard, Philippine National Police, Bureau of Jail Management, Bureau of Corrections, and the Bureau of Fire Protection. In 2022, she trained 1,500 security professionals at the National Police College. Similarly, for the one-semester course on Climate Change and National Security, she reached 2,000 security professionals. It took a total of six months to complete the project. With the inauguration of the Climate Change and National Security Institute inside the National Police College, Ms. Fabe plans to expand this project to train security professionals in the private sector.
Ms. Kristina Camille Cablayan
Chief, Multilateral Cooperation Division, DND
Philippines
CSC 22-3
Improved the communication flow on the approval of individual military deployments to the United Nations Peace Operations
Project timeline: 10/26/2022- 3/6/2023
Upon reviewing all the United Nations Peace Operations (UNPO) related Department of National Defense (DND) policies through a SWOT analysis framework, Ms. Kristina Camille Cablayan discovered a lack of an implementing policy for the OP-issued Memorandum from December 23, 2019. This was selected to be Ms. Cablayan's Fellows Project due to the high probability of it being resolved at her level of the DND.
Ms. Cablayan set out to improve the communication flow of the guidelines on processing military deployments to the United Nations Peace Operations. With the OIC, DND’s approval, and signing of the DC No. 03, "Guidelines on the Processing of Military Deployments to United Nations Peace Operations," her Fellow Project was completed. The OHR, specifically it's Military Personnel Division (MPD), is strengthening its capacity to process military deployments to UNPOs. DC No. 03, s-2023 not only resolved the administrative aspect of processing the military deployments to UNPOs but also distinguished and discussed three different process flows. Those were on deployments to previously approved UNPOs by the OP, deployments to new UNPOs, and registration of the pool of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) peacekeepers to the UN Peacekeeping Capability Readiness System (PCRS). Another outcome of DC No. 03, s-2023 is that the AFP can now submit complete documentary requirements and transmit said documents to the appropriate Department of National Defense (DND) office. The OSAIA and the OHR work closely to ensure that the necessary UNPO-related policies and processes are crafted and implemented effectively and efficiently. This strong cooperation between the two offices is needed to increase military deployments, including a battalion-size contingent to a UNPO. The NCUNPO, which is led by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) with the DND and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) as members, is now able to endorse the military deployments to new UNPOs and registration to the UNPCRS in a timely manner due to the complete documentary submission. This also led to the OP's immediate approval of the NCUNPO endorsements, which in turn, allows the DND and the AFP to facilitate the deployments in accordance with the UN timeline.
Any plans to expand the project will depend on the result of the policy review. If it is found that DC No. 03, s-2023 is still lacking, the MCD, OSAIA will initiate the amendment of said policy to resolve any issue that will come up during its implementation.
Ms. Mahima Duggal
Researcher,
The Center for Air
Power Studies
India
CMSC 21-1
Policy Paper on National Security Strategy and Air Power
Project timeline: 6/17/2021 - 8/2/2022
Ms. Mahima Duggal came to DKI APCSS with the desire to reflect on India’s threat perception, how it has changed with the adoption of the Indo-Pacific strategy, and how air power fits into contemporary national security thinking. Air power remained a rather understudied area in the Indo-Pacific region, which is primarily a naval domain.
Her resolution to raise awareness and understanding of this topic was to write a policy paper on the National Security Strategy for Air Power titled “A New Air Power Doctrine for the New Era,” emphasizing the importance of a refined doctrine current with today’s opportunities and challenges. Ms. Duggal will incorporate the research paper into a book titled Air Power in the Indo-Pacific. On August 12, 2022, 14-months after graduating from the course, she completed her Fellows’ Project. The paper will be released in June 2023 with the book. Its intended audience is the strategic circles in New Delhi, including the Indian Armed Forces (IAF). Given that the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS), an independent think tank affiliated with the IAF, its publications are generally read widely by the Air Force community, and the paper should have a wide readership beyond its intended audience.
To build on her project, she is researching the air power of states like the other Quad states of the US, Australia, and Japan, as well as China and Taiwan. She is currently working on another related paper that looks at air power dynamics in East Asia, focusing on Japan’s changing security posture and South Korea’s tilt toward the Indo-Pacific, which will form a chapter of the Asian Defense Review 2023: Aerospace Power in Asia’s New Security Environment, a publication she is co-editing.
