Who We Are
The Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre of Excellence (CMDR COE) is a multi-national NATO military body sponsored by the Hellenic Republic, Hungary, the Republic of Poland, Romania and the Republic of Bulgaria as a Framework Nation.
The Centre, located in Sofia, Bulgaria, currently has a team of both civilian and military experts who continuously tackle a wide range of CMDR-related issues with the ultimate goal of supporting NATO’s standardisation and transformation.
CMDR COE provides tailor-made education and training in the scope of its expertise for senior military and civilian leaders. In such regard, the Centre has capabilities to dispatch in place mobile training teams and subject matter experts to facilitate trainings of national and multinational military and/or civilian unit, dealing with crisis management and disaster response.
The CMDR COE was found on August 28, 2013 and received accreditation on March 31, 2015 as the 21st NATO COE with an international status under Article 14 of the Paris Protocol.
The Centre has granted a NATO Quality Assurance Accreditation Certificate for Unconditional Accreditation (No. ACT/JFD/HCEIT/TT+1548/Ser: NU) and all its certified courses are NATO-Approved as they meet the Alliance’s quality requirements.
Prior, in 2011, the Bulgarian Ministry of Defence initiated a project of development an expert entity, designed to assist national institutions and to provide specialised expertise for NATO nations in area of crisis management and disasters response. The project started with the establishing of a working group for development a Centre for high level of competences.
On March 22, 2012, in accordance with the NATO procedures for the construction of the centres, a team for the implementation of the project was composed by an order of the Bulgarian Minister of Defence. Taking into account the opinions of NATO Headquarters, the Joint Staff, member states and NATO centres, a second version of the Centre’s concept was developed.
The Centre was established as an independent legal entity under Article 60 of the Administration Act and a secondary budget appropriations officer under the Bulgarian Minister of Defence with Decree of the Council of Ministers No. 291/16.11.2012 (published in the State Gazette on 23.11.2012). The First Conference on the Establishment of the Centre was planned and held as results were agreed version of the Centre Concept, considered versions of the Centre’s Operational and Functional Memorandums of Understanding, proposed versions of job descriptions of the participating countries.
The Second Conference on the Construction of the Centre was held from March 25-27, 2013 where a support was received by the Hellenic Republic and the Republic of Poland to become the Centre’s Sponsoring countries as well as variants of the Operational and Functional Memoranda of Understanding have been agreed upon.
