Global Consortium Institutional Partners
African Security Sector Network (ASSN)
The ASSN was created at Elmina, Ghana in November 2003, out of a recognition of the need to harmonize the activities of the various African organizations working in the area of security sector reform (or transformation) and governance. The driving vision of the ASSN is that of an African security sector that is democratically governed, people-centered, well managed, effective and accountable, and continental, regional and national security communities that are self-reliant, and able to draw primarily upon indigenous resources and knowledge to support sustainable collective peace and security arrangements. ASSN carries out a wide range of activities, both at the corporate level and through its member organizations. Current activities include: delivery of high-level courses and seminars in Security Sector Governance and Management in Southern Africa; a variety of capacity-building programs for Parliamentarians across the continent; advisory and consultancy services for SSR policy development and design in Liberia, Sudan and Guyana (also collaboration on police reforms in Kenya, Nigeria and defense reforms in Ghana); and work on designing regional SSR strategies by network branches in the Horn and Great Lakes. ASSN also assists with recruitment of African consultants and experts in the SSR area. Although the ASSN has been directly involved in several activities on its own, its main mandate is facilitation (including funding) of the activities of its members.
Web page: www.africansecuritynetwork.org
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
The Arab Reform Initiative is a network of Arab research and policy institutes, with partners from the United States and Europe. It was founded in 2005. The purpose of this network is to mobilize the Arab research capacity to develop a program for reform in the Arab World that is realistic and home grown, and to produce policy recommendations that can help advance democratic reform in the region. Policy options produced by the Arab Reform Initiative are addressed to political leaders, elites and civil society groups in the Arab world in an attempt to deepen the ongoing debate on reform in the region. The Arab Reform Initiative also aims to promote a dialogue between policy institutes in the Arab world, the United States and Europe with the aim of forging a common vision for reform, which can inform the understanding of western policy makers on issues of reform in the Arab world. Finally, the Arab Reform Initiative aims to raise awareness in the Arab world about successful transitions to democracy in other parts of the world, and of the mechanisms and compromises, which made such successful transitions possible.
Web page: www.arab-reform.net/
Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO)-Chile
The Latin American Faculty of Social Science (FLACSO) is an academic, inter-governmental and autonomous institution created in 1957 as an UNESCO initiative. The FLACSO network currently operates in ten Latin American and Caribbean countries and its General Secretariat is based in Costa Rica.
FLACSO-Chile has a long tradition of working in the security field, with its research on democratization and peace and cooperation in the 1980s and its work on multilateralism and confidence-building measures in the 1990s standing out in particular. The institution’s current work on security issues is divided into three areas: (i) comparative research on institutional state capabilities in the security sector; (ii) measurement of civilian capabilities within the security sector, and (iii) inter-state conflict resolution mechanisms. Bearing this in mind, the Security and Citizenship Program was created in 2005 to combine the institution’s previous experience in areas traditionally linked to defense, armed forces, and public safety. Thus, a single program was created to take a specific and specialized look at the whole security sector, as well for in-depth analysis of comparative studies, particularly those connected to the region.
Web page: www.flacso.cl
Institute for Strategic and Development Studies (ISDS) - Philippines
ISDS is an independent policy research and advocacy institute. It was founded by a group of academics from the University of the Philippines in April 1991 in response to the need for an ongoing evaluation and interpretation of the changes in national and international affairs by serious international, regional, and national analysts. It was also aimed at responding to the need to provide academics a venue for research to enrich teaching and to provide inputs to policy making. ISDS aims to contribute to international and regional peace and cooperation, and human well-being through cooperative research and advocacy, discussion, publication, and training activities. Its approach is to identify and mobilize specialists in the fields of international relations, policy studies, and countryside development, who will generate a range of options in the formulation of international, regional, national, and local policies. The research outputs of the Institute are disseminated through a variety of local, regional, and international activities and publications such as roundtables, monographs, and books. The Institute considers roundtables a crucial technique for generating information and insights from informed sources, and for wider and immediate dissemination of results.
Web page: www.isdsphilippines.org/
Institute of Development Studies (IDS) - UK
The Institute of Development Studies is a leading global organization for research, teaching and communications on international development. IDS was founded in 1966 and enjoys an international reputation based on the quality of its work and its commitment to applying academic skills to real world challenges. Its purpose is to understand and explain the world, and to try to change it – to influence as well as to inform. IDS hosts five dynamic research teams, eight popular postgraduate courses, and a family of world-class knowledge services. These three spheres are integrated in a unique combination – as a development knowledge hub, IDS is connected into and is a convener of networks throughout the world. The Institute is home to approximately 100 researchers, 70 knowledge services staff, 65 support staff and about 150 students at any one time. But the IDS community extends far beyond, encompassing an extensive network of partners, former staff and students across the development community worldwide.
Web page: www.ids.ac.uk/ids/
Southern African Defence and Security Management Network (SADSEM)
The SADSEM network seeks to contribute to promoting peace and security in southern Africa, and developing a basis for common security in the region. It has done so by developing the capacity of governments in the region to: 1) manage their defence forces and other security organs in a democratic manner; 2) participate in regional security initiatives; 3) co-operate with multinational conflict resolution and peace missions. Its targeted training programmes have benefited some 3000 senior government officials, military officers, and civil society leaders in southern Africa. It also undertakes research on security issues, and helps governments in the region to develop defence policy. The SADSEM network comprises ten tertiary partner institutions, which implement the programme in the 14 member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). It is managed by the Centre for Defence and Security Management (CDSM) in the Graduate School of Public and Development Management of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Web page: www.sadsem.org
FACULTAD LATINOAMERICANA DE CIENCIAS SOCIALES (FLACSO- CHILE)
Av. Dag Hammarskjold 3269, Vitacura, Santiago de Chile.
Phones : (56 2) 2900200 - (56 2) 2900212
Email: securitytransformation@flacso.cl