CIC’s SSR project seeks to assess and strengthen international capacity for security sector reform (SSR). It is supporting SSR policy development by the UN and other actors; assessing the operational capacity of UN SSR programmes in peace operations; and examining the role of non-state actors in providing security during transition.

The project has undertaken an initial assessment of SSR capacity in the UN mission in the DR Congo (MONUC) in September 2007. Further assessments are planned in Timor-Leste and Afghanistan. CIC has also co-organized a presentation of the DCAF-UN INSTRAW-OSCE Gender and SSR toolkit on March 26, 2007 during the Special Committee on Peacekeeping at the UN. The toolkit provides practical, tangible ways for integrating gender issues into SSR policies and practices. It has also provided input to the UN Secretary General’s Report on Securing Peace and Development: the role of the UN in supporting security sector reform. Finally, in March 2008, we initiated a comparative study of Parliamentary Oversight of the Security Sector in West Africa: Security Sector Reform as Conflict Prevention? The study will seek to gauge the contribution to conflict prevention of efforts to strengthen parliamentary oversight of the security sector and to draw relevant lessons that may help to strengthen ongoing SSR processes at the national and regional level.

Lead Researcher: Jake Sherman

Project Staff: Gigja Sorensen

Funders: Government of Norway