A—05 Organisation & governance
A model is only as good as the structure behind it.
A workforce lifecycle that spans nine stages, two governments and a six-month re-certification cycle cannot be run informally. It requires a headquarters with named directorates, a delivery arm that recruits and trains, specialist training sub-structures, and a governance framework with the authority to stop a programme.
This page sets out the organisational design proposed for that purpose. Every structure described here is a design, not a description of an existing organisation.
01 Headquarters
The organisation that would design and govern programmes.
Headquarters does not recruit and does not train. It sets standards, holds the governments' relationships, owns the compliance framework and is accountable for everything the delivery arm does.
Tier 1 · Oversight
Governing Board
Ultimate authority. Appoints the executive, approves every programme, and holds the power to suspend or terminate one.
Tier 2 · Executive
Chief Executive
Accountable to the Board for lawful operation, programme delivery and the conduct of every directorate.
Tier 3 · Directorates
D1
Government Affairs & Programme Design
Holds relationships with government and institutional stakeholders; converts a stated requirement into a structured programme.
D2
Recruitment Operations
Owns stages 01–03 of the lifecycle: identification, screening and assessment, through the delivery arm.
D3
Training & Certification
Owns stages 04–05: coordination with authorised institutions, curriculum alignment and the certificate register.
D4
Compliance, Legal & Human Rights
Independent of delivery. Clears every programme before it starts and can halt one that falls out of compliance.
D5
Technology & Data Protection
Builds and secures the workforce platform; enforces role-based access, encryption and audit logging.
D6
Workforce Management & Welfare
Owns stages 08–09: service records, currency tracking, welfare, grievances and re-certification scheduling.
D7
Finance & Administration
Funding, procurement, audit and the financial controls that make cost transparency possible.
Separation of dutiesCompliance (D4) does not report to Recruitment (D2) or Training (D3), and is not measured on placement volume. Its clearance is a precondition for every programme, not a review of one already under way.
02 The delivery arm
The organisation that would hire and train the workforce.
A separate operating structure, established in-country under the law of the country it operates in, and answerable to headquarters for standards and to the host government for lawfulness.
U1
Country Recruitment Unit
One per participating country. Registers candidates, explains rights, obligations and conditions in the candidate's own language, and coordinates with national agencies. It charges candidates nothing at any stage.
Lifecycle 01–02
U2
Assessment Centre Network
Fixed and mobile centres delivering physical, cognitive, psychological, language and trade-aptitude assessment against the receiving government's published standards.
Lifecycle 03
U3
Training Coordination Office
Books, sequences and tracks training delivered by authorised institutions. It coordinates training; it does not deliver it, and it employs no instructors of its own.
Lifecycle 04–05
U4
Standards & Quality Cell
Audits institutions against the agreed standard, samples assessment decisions, and reports variance directly to the Compliance directorate rather than to delivery management.
All stages
U5
Welfare & Consular Liaison
The individual's route to help: welfare support, grievance intake, and liaison with the partner government's consular services throughout service.
Lifecycle 07–09
U6
Records & Re-certification Office
Maintains the single workforce record, issues advance notice of six-month cycles, and updates currency status when a cycle is completed or missed.
Lifecycle 08–09
03 Training sub-structures
Nine wings, each with a defined standard.
Training is not a single activity. The proposed model organises it into distinct wings so that each kind of training has its own curriculum, its own qualified instructors and its own certification — delivered, in every case, by an appropriately authorised institution.
- T1
Induction & Orientation Wing
Rights, obligations, conduct standards, chain of command, and what service will actually involve. Completed before any other training begins.
Delivered by: authorised institution or receiving-force training establishment
- T2
Foundation Military Wing
Basic military development common to every candidate: drill, discipline, physical conditioning, field craft and service regulations.
Delivered by: the receiving nation's armed forces or an establishment it authorises
- T3
Trade & Technical Wing
Mechanical, electrical, vehicle and equipment-maintenance trades leading to recognised technical qualifications.
Delivered by: accredited technical institutes under government endorsement
- T4
Medical & Health Wing
Combat first aid, field medicine, nursing and allied health roles, with credential recognition and bridging for qualified professionals.
Delivered by: licensed medical institutions; licensure remains a national matter
- T5
Engineering & Infrastructure Wing
Civil, mechanical and electrical engineering, construction, water, power and infrastructure project delivery.
Delivered by: accredited engineering institutions
- T6
Logistics & Supply Wing
Supply chain, transport, stores, maintenance planning and movement control — the disciplines that sustain any force.
Delivered by: accredited logistics institutions and service schools
- T7
Communications & Digital Wing
Signals, networks, data handling and cyber-defence fundamentals, with security clearance requirements set nationally.
Delivered by: authorised signals and technology institutions
- T8
Language & Cultural Wing
Working language of the receiving force, written and spoken, plus the cultural and legal context an individual will serve in.
Delivered by: accredited language institutions
- T9
Leadership & NCO Development Wing
Junior leadership, instructional technique and non-commissioned officer development for those the receiving force selects to advance.
Delivered by: the receiving nation's own leadership academies
Running across every wing
- Law of armed conflict and international humanitarian law
- Human rights, safeguarding and prohibited conduct
- Grievance routes and how to use them without penalty
- Health, safety and duty of care
Refresher & Re-certification Wing
A tenth structure exists across all nine: the wing that runs the six-month cycle. It does not teach new material. It revalidates what has already been certified, and returns anyone who falls short to the wing that originally trained them.
The six-month cycle04 Governance framework
Governance with the authority to stop things.
A business of this scale and sensitivity cannot be governed by good intentions. The proposed framework gives named bodies defined powers — including the power to suspend a programme over the objection of the executive.
-
G1
Governing Board
Approves programmes, appoints the executive, sets risk appetite and receives every compliance report.
Power to terminate any programme
-
G2
Ethics & Human Rights Committee
Independent members. Reviews every proposed programme against human-rights, anti-trafficking and IHL criteria before it may begin.
Veto before programme start
-
G3
Compliance & Audit Committee
Commissions internal and external audit of screening, training, certification and workforce records.
Power to suspend pending audit
-
G4
Joint Programme Oversight Committee
Constituted per programme, with representatives of both governments. The forum where the governments exercise supervision directly.
Government-held authority
-
G5
Data Protection Office
Independent oversight of personal data: lawful basis, minimisation, retention, access rights and breach reporting.
Power to block a data process
-
G6
Grievance & Whistle-blowing Office
A route for candidates, serving personnel and staff that does not pass through line management, with protection from retaliation.
Direct reporting to G1 and G2
05 Arms training & the law
Who may teach a person to use a weapon.
This is the question the model must answer most precisely, because it is the point at which training stops being a civilian matter and becomes an exercise of state authority.
ArmyExporter would provide no weapons training, weapons handling, marksmanship or combat instruction — directly or through any subsidiary, contractor or partner it controls.
The prohibition is structural rather than a matter of policy preference. In almost every jurisdiction, the lawful authority to arm and to train in arms belongs to the state and cannot be delegated to a commercial body. A company that offered such training would, in most legal systems, be operating as a private military company — which is precisely what this model is designed not to be.
Who may lawfully deliver it
- 01
The receiving state's armed forces
The primary and usual provider. Weapons training is delivered by the force the individual will serve in, at its own establishments, by its own qualified instructors.
- 02
A state military academy or service school
An establishment of the receiving state, or of a partner state acting under a formal government-to-government instrument that expressly authorises the training.
- 03
An institution expressly licensed by the state
Where national law permits it, a training establishment holding a specific licence for arms instruction, supervised by the defence or interior ministry and subject to inspection.
- 04
No one else
No commercial recruiter, workforce platform or coordination body — including ArmyExporter — may deliver, subcontract or arrange arms instruction outside those routes.
The legal provisions that would govern it
The only role the platform would have
- Record, not deliver. That a named module was completed, on a date, at a named authorised institution.
- Reference, not issue. The certificate is issued by the delivering authority; the platform stores a verifiable reference to it.
- Schedule, not instruct. Refresher dates are tracked and notified; the content is entirely the authority's.
- Sequence, not authorise. The platform can show that a prerequisite is unmet; it cannot grant permission for anything.
Would ArmyExporter ever supply weapons, ammunition or equipment?
No. The model contains no supply, brokerage, transport, financing or maintenance of weapons, ammunition or military equipment of any kind, and no arrangement under which a third party would do so on its behalf.
Could a receiving government ask ArmyExporter to arrange arms training?
It could ask, and the answer would be no. Coordination of scheduling and records for training delivered by an authorised institution is possible; arranging the instruction itself is not, because that would place a commercial body in a role national law reserves to the state.
Who is liable if something goes wrong during weapons training?
The delivering institution and the state that authorised it, under that state's law. ArmyExporter would neither deliver the training nor supervise it, and would hold only the record that it took place.
Does this mean the workforce would be untrained in arms?
No. It means the training would be delivered by the armed forces or institutions the state has authorised for that purpose — the same bodies that train that state's own citizens, to the same standard, under the same law.
Government enquiries
Structures are proposals until governments shape them.
Every structure on this page is a design put forward for discussion. The organisation that would eventually operate a programme would be shaped by the law and requirements of the governments concerned.