Secretariat - Conflict Prevention Centre

Policy Support Service

The Policy Support Service (PSS) consists of four regional desks, one for each OSCE region of field operations: the Caucasus, Central Asia, South-Eastern Europe and Eastern-Europe. It is staffed by a Head, 13 Policy Support Officers and 2 Policy Support Assistants. The PSS is the primary point of co-ordination between the 18 OSCE Field Operations, the Secretariat and the OSCE Chairmanship, ensuring a regular information flow between the headquarters and the field. The Service constantly monitors the political developments in mission areas.

The Service is also responsible for the timely publication of mission reports to all OSCE participating States, as well as for issuing early warning signals emerging from developments in mission areas to the Chairmanship and delegations. Acting as regional experts, the Policy Support Officers play a key role in providing advice, under the political guidance of the Chairmanship, to field operations on programmatic, policy and management issues. They also assist the Chairman-in-Office, the Secretary General and other senior OSCE officials in the preparations of their visits to the field.

Regional co-operation

In order to stimulate regional co-operation, the CPC organizes and conducts a number of programmes and activities in field operations' areas and at headquarters, also in close co-ordination with other international and regional organizations. Areas of interaction include border security and management, regional seminars on Small Arms and Light Weapons, the return of refugees as well as war crime issues in South-Eastern Europe.