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Security Sector Governance
in Africa |
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This project seeks to launch an
African Research and Documentation Project on Security Sector Governance
(SSG), which will serve not only to advance our knowledge of the
dynamics of this sector, but also provide a basis for policy and other
forms of advocacy. Its objectives are essentially two: first, to
bridge the existing gap in the literature on the security sector by
initiating documentation and analysis of security sector governance
mechanisms in Africa; and second, establish an African network (under
the GFN-SSR) of scholars, security sector practitioners and civil
society activists to monitor SSG mechanisms in respective African
countries and regions, disseminate ‘best practices’ based on African as
well as international (and particularly Southern) experiences, and
otherwise work to transform the structure and quality of security sector
governance in Africa.
Three Workshops are contemplated: a first Workshop in November 2003 to
initiate the project and constitute networks; a second Workshop in
November or December 2004 to bring together the network and African
security sector managers and legislators to discuss challenges of
security sector governance, and chart strategies for overcoming these
challenges; and a third in 2005 to review the performance of the network
in addressing issues of SSG in Africa.
This project will feed into the work of the Africa
segment of the GFN, and will be conducted in collaboration with the
Steering Committee of the network. The task of organising formal
briefings for the Peace and Security Council/Directorate of the AU,
NEPAD, and sub-regional organizations (ECOWAS, SADC, IGAD) will be
performed through the Africa Security Sector Network (ASSN), as
elaborated in the ‘Short-Term Strategic Implementation Framework’
(STSIF) of the network. We also expect collaboration with the SIPRI/ASDR
project on ‘Military Budgeting in Africa’, funded by SIDA and the IDRC,
which is entering its dissemination phase and will also be targeting the
AU, sub-regional organizations and African governments.
However, the project described below will be expected to run as a
separate and autonomous entity, coordinated by the ASDR, but with
ongoing input from members of the two networks.
Additionally, the project includes a
partnership with CDD and the GFN-SSR for the dissemination of the
Handbook on Security Sector Governance in Africa,
published by CDD. Once published, the greatest challenge now faced by
the product is the need to ensure that it is distributed to a wider
spectrum of practitioners, policy makers, civil society workers and
academics, particularly in Africa, where there is a growing and sustained interest in
security sector governance.
This work synergizes under the current SSG
project run by ASDR, which will complement the SSG Handbook with its own
publication/book. Whilst the SSG Handbook deals primarily with
principles and critical issues on SSG, the ASDR publication ‘Governing
Security Establishments in Africa: Case Studies’ provides an analytical framework
illustrating specific problems through the inclusion of case studies
with a wide variety of scenarios.
Documents Below:
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Elmina report
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Benin report
