ASSN Feeds

Download our Brochure

Wed, 29 May 2013 09:30:58 GMT

On this page you can download our brochure, which summarises the ASSN's mission, vision, programmes and activities. It is available in English and French.

Download our brochure in English (PDF)

Téléchargez notre brochure en Français (PDF)

More updated information about our activities can be found on the ASSN News section or in theThe ASSN Quarterly newsletter.

The ASSN Quarterly Newsletter

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:10:19 GMT

The ASSN Quarterly newsletter is published four times a year in January, April, July and October. Its aim is to update you on the activities of the African Security Sector Network (ASSN), as well as to highlight the latest developments and trends in the fields of Security and Justice, both in Africa and elsewhere.

Latest Issue

January 2013 Issue.pdf

Past Issues

October 2012 Issue.pdf

July 2012 Issue.pdf

April 2012 Issue.pdf

January 2012 Issue.pdf

October 2011 Issue.pdf

Editorial Board

1. Editor: Philip Emase
2.

ASSN Quarterly Newsletter

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 01:34:26 GMT

The ASSN Read more...

Support Our Work

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 06:33:57 GMT

The African Security Sector Network (ASSN) is dedicated to the achievement of democratically governed and effective security for the peoples of Africa. In the years since its formation in 2003, ASSN has drawn attention to the need for improved security governance in Africa, thus helping advance prospects for future peace and development across the continent.

All of this has been made possible by the generous support of our partners, and friends like you.

If you wish to support our work by making a donation, you can send a cheque to our mailing address below or make a direct deposit into the ASSN’s account. If you prefer to get in touch first, please email us at info@africansecuritynetwork.org or alternatively call us on +233 (0)302 913 668, +233-30-251-0515 +233-26-301-1499.

Bank Details

African Security Sector Network,

Accra, Ghana.

Mailing/Street Address

African Security Sector Network,
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What is Security Sector Reform?

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 18:01:27 GMT

Security Sector Reform (SSR) refers to the process of transforming the 'security sector' those institutions that safeguard a country and its citizens from security threats – to ensure the provision of effective security to both the state and its people within a framework of accountability and democratic governance. A fairly recent concept, SSR emerged in the 1990s as the Cold War ended and security challenges become more complex.

The objective of SSR is to create a secure environment that facilitates development, poverty reduction, good governance and the consolidation of democracy based on the rule of law. Typically undertaken by a government with the support of international partners and civil society actors, SSR involves a systematic review of the policies, programmes and activities of a country’s security sector. It addresses both the core state providers of security (such as the military, police, intelligence community, border guard, judiciary and penal system) and non-state providers (like private security and military companies and non-state armed groups).

This holistic approach requires the participation of a broad spectrum of actors including the following:

1. Professional Security Providers: The Armed forces, police forces, paramilitary forces,

Staff Profiles

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:18:42 GMT

SECRETARIAT
The ASSN has its main secretariat in Accra, Ghana. There is also a smaller office attached to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Prof. Eboe Hutchful
Chair and Interim Executive Secretary
A Ghanaian political scientist, Prof Hutchful is the chair and Interim Executive Secretary of the ASSN. Prof Hutchful is a professor of African Studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He has taught at several other universities in Africa and North America, including the University of Toronto, the University of Ghana and the University of Port Harcourt. Prof Hutchful is a long-time researcher on civil-military relations, security sector reform, and international development issues. He is the author of Ghana's Adjustment Experience: The Paradox of Reform (James Currey, 2002), co-editor (with Wuyi Omitoogun) of Budgeting for the Military Sector in Africa: the Processes and Mechanisms of Control (Oxford University Press, 2006), and co-editor (with Abdoulaye Bathily) of The Military and Militarism in Africa (Codesria Books, 1998). He is a member of the UN International Policing Advisory Council (IPAC); the International Advisory Board of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of

Document Library

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 22:12:45 GMT

Welcome to our online Document Library, which gives you access to a collection of literature and other documents on the security sector in Africa and other subjects with close relevance.

A large part of the library consists of literature resulting from our own SSR activities and research programmes, as well as materials published by our affiliate organisations, peer networks and partners.

For quick access, each document is preceded by a brief summary to give you a quick idea of its content, followed by a link to the full document.

Recommend a Document

To recommend a document for inclusion in the library, please notify us on info africansecuritynetwork.org.

Remember to include a link to the document if it is available online. You can also attach a soft copy of the document to enable us review it for relevance, authenticity and copyright issues before we can consider including it in our library.

Network

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:12:33 GMT

ASSN runs an extensive network of organisations from across Africa. Its multidisciplinary networking model embraces both those organisations that are specifically focussed in the area of security and those from other directly relevant fields like peace, justice and development. The networking aspect serves to promote cooperation, exchange of experiences and lesson learning. It also lessens the duplication of efforts, overlap in core competencies, and relegation of certain important aspects of the continent’s peace and security agenda.

The network is coordinated by the central secretariat in conjunction with four Regional Hubs located in Addis Abba, Accra, Johannesburg and Nairobi. Each region has a focal organisation that hosts the regional hub and rallies its fellow member organisations into a regional chapter of the ASSN network.

Disclaimer Notice

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 12:42:10 GMT

The African Security Sector Network (ASSN) makes every effort, but does not guarantee, represent or make warranties of any kind, express or implied, general or specific, about the accuracy, completeness, suitability, reliability, or availability of any materials placed on its website, or on any other websites with which the ASSN may be hyperlinked or linked in any other manner. Reliance on any information on the ASSN or any website with which it is linked is at the user’s risk.

Member Organizations

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 10:19:07 GMT

Ten African organisations are currently members of the ASSN network. These organisational members are rallied into regional chapters of the network, with their activities pivoting at the Regional Hub. The list below shows ASSN’s current organisational members. Click on the links for the corresponding websites.

Oulie Keita - SSR Gender Advisor to the African Union

Sat, 12 Feb 2011 16:36:58 GMT

Oulie Keita is a graduate of the University of Regis, USA, (Master’s degree in NonProfit Management and Certificate in Program Management) and the University of Maryland, USA, (Bachelor of Science in International Relations). Over the years in her professional career, she has been active in various capacities, including project management, fundraising, proposal development, grant management, communications, advocacy, reporting, financial management, and research.

Prof. Robin Luckham - Member

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:59:08 GMT

Robin Luckham is a political sociologist with 45 years of professional experience. He began his academic career in Nigeria and Ghana, over the years establishing himself as an authority on the politics, security and political economy of Sub-Saharan Africa, with special reference to Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Somaliland, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Liberia, Senegal and Mali.

He has also held teaching positions at Manchester University, Harvard University and at the Australian National University. In 2006, he became the founding Chair of the Global Consortium on Security Transformation (GCST), and between 2002-2007 chaired the International Advisory Group of the Global Facilitation Network on Security Sector Reform (GFN-SSR). Prof Luckham is currently a post-retirement Research Associate at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex (UK).

Dr. Adedeji Ebo - Member

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:57:24 GMT

Adedeji Ebo is Chief of the Security Sector Reform Team at the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations. He joined the United Nations from the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), where he was a Senior Fellow and Head of the Africa Programme.

Before this, he was an Associate Professor and Head of Department at the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna, as well as a Guest Lecturer at the National Defence College in Abuja, Nigeria. He has been Consultant to the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD, West Africa); Small Arms Survey (Geneva); International Alert (London); and the Centre for Conflict Resolution and Peace Advocacy (Nigeria).

He was for several years Country Researcher for Landmine Monitor, a publication of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL); Team Leader, Small Arms Research Unit, African Strategic and Peace Research Group (AFSTRAG); Guest Lecturer and External Assessor at the National War College, Abuja, Nigeria; and Guest Lecturer, Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji-Kaduna, Nigeria.

Dr. Jibrin Ibrahim - Member

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:55:55 GMT

Jibrin Ibrahim is the director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), a regional research, advocacy and training NGO in West Africa. A political scientist and development expert with over thirty years of active engagement with the civil society, Dr. Ibrahim presently sits on the Nigerian Electoral Reform Committee and was the National Convenor of the Citizen's Forum for Constitutional Reform.

He was previously the Nigeria Country Director of Global Rights, and before that, he was Director of Research at the Centre for Research and Documentation in Kano, Nigeria, and Associate Professor of Political Science at Ahmadu Bello University. He has also held Visiting Professorships at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) and the University of Toronto (Canada).

Anicia Lalá - Member

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:54:53 GMT

Anicia Lalá was previously Deputy Director for Africa at the Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform project (GFN-SSR), based at Cranfield University in the UK. She has held a lecturing position in Conflict and Peace Studies at the Higher Institute for International Relations in Mozambique.

She also worked at the Mozambican Ministry of Defence with responsibilities in the fields of international cooperation, elaboration and revision of legislation, and was part of a commission appointed to establish a Military Academy. She is currently working on her PhD at Bradford University in the UK. Anicia is a member of the Southern Africa Defence & Security Management Network (SADSEM).

David Pulkol - Member

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:53:43 GMT

David Pulkol is the former Director-General of Uganda’s External Security Organisation (ESO), as well as the former Executive Chairman of the African Leadership Institute (AFLI), a public policy think tank based in Kampala.

Mr Pulkol has also served in the past as a minister in the Ugandan government, an elected Member of Parliament and a UNICEF Deputy Director in charge of East and Southern Africa.

Prof. Boubacar N’Diaye - Member

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:50:20 GMT

Boubacar N’Diaye is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Pan-African Studies at The College of Wooster, Ohio. He is a widely published scholar specializing in civil-military relations, security, and democratization. He is the author of numerous journal articles and academic papers on these subjects.

He is also the author, co-author or co-editor of several books, including The Challenge of Institutionalizing Civilian Control (2001), Not Yet Democracy: West Africa's Slow Farewell to Authoritarianism (2005), Challenges of Security Sector Governance in West Africa (2008). He has been a consultant to African, US and international agencies and organizations such as SIPRI, ACSS, ECOWAS, AU, UN, World Bank and the SSRC’s Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum. Prof N’Diaye is currently involved in the Civil-Military Training of the Trans-Saharan Symposium and is a member of a number of International Advisory Boards. He also contributes to various academic and advocacy initiatives designed to reform security establishments and institutionalize democratic governance in the security sector of African states.

Dr. Sandy Africa - Member

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:48:46 GMT

Sandy Africa is an Associate Professor in Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Prior to this she held several senior appointments in the South African security services. From 1995 to 2001, Africa headed South Africa’s civilian intelligence services’ Academy. From 2001 – 2004, she served as Deputy Director-General Corporate Services of the South African Secret Service.

And from 2004 – 2007, she was the Chief of Staff in the Ministry for Intelligence, after which she formally left the service to pursue an academic career. Recently, on the request of South Africa’s Minister for State Security, Africa was involved in the reorganization of the country’s civilian intelligence agencies into a single State Security Agency.

Her publications include Africa, S and Kwadjo (eds), 2009. Changing intelligence dynamics in Africa, published by the Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform (GFN-SSR), University of Birmingham, and Africa, S. 2009. Well kept secrets: the right of access to information and the South African intelligence services, published by the Institute for Global Dialogue and the Friedrich Ebert Stigtung.

She has also published

Dr. Niagalé Bagayoko-Penone - Member

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:47:22 GMT

Niagalé Bagayoko-Penone is the Programme Manager for the Maintenance and Consolidation of Peace Programme of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF). She has conducted extensive field research in several francophone African countries, much of it anchoring on the interface between security and development.

She has been a lecturer at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) - University of Sussex (UK) and the Institute of Political Studies in Paris; an Associate Fellow at the Centre for Research and Education on Strategy and Technology (US-CREST); and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Research for Development (IRD) in France. In 2003, she won the Prize for Scientific Research awarded by the French Ministry of Defence. She has also been a consultant for the African Union; the Department for International Aid (DFID); the International Security Sector Advisory Team (ISSAT); the Centre for Study of the Social Science of Defence (C2SD); and the French Ministry of Defence.

Prof. Gavin Cawthra - Southern Africa Regional Coordinator

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:44:32 GMT

Gavin Cawthra is the Director of the Centre for Defence and Security Management of the University of Witwatersrand, which coordinates a network of Southern African institutions engaged in education and research in the areas of security, peacekeeping and peace building.

He teaches policy studies and security studies at the Centre. He has previously been the Director of the Graduate School of Public and Development Management, University of Witwatersrand, as well as the Coordinator of the Military Research Group, Director of the Committee on South African War Resistance, and Research Officer at the International Defence and Aid Fund (UK). Prof Cawthra has lectured in over 20 countries, both in Africa and further afield, and has received a number of international scholarships, research grants and awards. He periodically consults for governments, international organisations and NGOs.

Dr. 'Funmi Olonisakin - West Africa Regional Coordinator

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:41:37 GMT

‘Funmi Olonisakin is the founding Director of the African Leadership Centre (ALC), as well as the Director of the Conflict, Security and Development Group (CSDG) at King’s College London. Prior to this, she worked at the United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (OSRSG/ CAAC), as Adviser on Africa.

She has held research and visiting positions at the University of Lagos (Nigeria) and the Institute of Strategic Studies, University of Pretoria (South Africa). Dr Olonisakin is an Associate Fellow of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, a member of the International Advisory Board of the Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and a member of the Advisory Board of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Training for Peace (TfP) Programme. She is also a co-founder and Trustee of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD).

Lt Col (Rtd) Jerry Kitiku - East Africa and the Great Lakes Regional Coordinator

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:39:17 GMT

Jerry Kitiku is the Director of the Security Research and Information Centre (SRIC-Kenya), a non-profit think tank that provides data and information on human security and the security sector in Kenya, the wider Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa.

He is a retired Kenya Navy officer who served for many years as a security attaché in various Kenyan diplomatic missions abroad.

Prof. Medhane Tedasse - Horn of Africa Regional Coordinator

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:37:30 GMT

Medhane Tadesse is a specialist on African Peace and Security. He has taught at various universities in Ethiopia and abroad and has written extensively on African security and related topics, spawning four books, over 160 briefing papers, articles, commentaries and policy memos.

A lot of his work has dwelt the pertinent issues of regime stability, vulnerability to conflict, ethnic conflict, armed violence, globalized security and diplomacy, militarization, governance and humanitarian crisis in Africa. Prof Tadesse has served as a consultant to several African governments, international and inter-governmental organisations on issues relating to peace and stability.

He runs the Peace and Security Studies Directorate at the Centre for Policy Research & Dialogue (CPRD) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He is also a columnist and frequent commentator on global and regional security issues, and editor of The Current Analyst, an online journal that examines issues relating to African peace and security.

Prof. Eboe Hutchful - Chair

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:25:06 GMT

Eboe Hutchful is the chair and Interim Executive Secretary of the ASSN. He is a professor of Africana Studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, USA, and has taught at several other universities in Africa and North America, including the University of Toronto, Trent and Waterloo Universities in Ontario, the University of Ghana and the University of Port Harcourt.

Prof Hutchful is a long-time researcher on civil-military relations, security sector reform, and international development issues. He is the author of Ghana’s Adjustment Experience: The Paradox of Reform (James Currey, 2002), co-editor (with Wuyi Omitoogun) of Budgeting for the Military Sector in Africa: the Processes and Mechanisms of Control (Oxford University Press, 2006), and co-editor (with Abdoulaye Bathily) of The Military and Militarism in Africa (Codesria Books, 1998).

He is a member of the following international organs: the International Advisory Board of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF); the UN International Policing Advisory Council (IPAC); the Governing Board of the Global Consortium for Security Transformation (GCST); and the Advisory Group of the (erstwhile) Global Facilitation Network for Security

ASSN Feeds

Download our Brochure

The ASSN Quarterly Newsletter

ASSN Quarterly Newsletter

Support Our Work

What is Security Sector Reform?

Staff Profiles

Related Links

Document Library

Recommend a Document

Network

Disclaimer Notice

Member Organizations

Oulie Keita - SSR Gender Advisor to the African Union

Prof. Robin Luckham - Member

Dr. Adedeji Ebo - Member

Dr. Jibrin Ibrahim - Member

Anicia Lalá - Member

David Pulkol - Member

Prof. Boubacar N’Diaye - Member

Dr. Sandy Africa - Member

Dr. Niagalé Bagayoko-Penone - Member

Prof. Gavin Cawthra - Southern Africa Regional Coordinator

Dr. 'Funmi Olonisakin - West Africa Regional Coordinator

Lt Col (Rtd) Jerry Kitiku - East Africa and the Great Lakes Regional Coordinator

Prof. Medhane Tedasse - Horn of Africa Regional Coordinator

Prof. Eboe Hutchful - Chair