The Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) is one of the world’s leading institutions in the areas of security sector reform (SSR) and security sector governance (SSG). DCAF provides in-country advisory support and practical assistance programmes, develops and promotes appropriate democratic norms at the international and national levels, advocates good practices and makes policy recommendations to ensure effective democratic governance of the security sector. DCAF’s partners include governments, parliaments, civil society, international organisations and a range of security sector actors such as police, judiciary, intelligence agencies, border security services and the military.
A number of different departments/units within DCAF facilitate work to develop SSR capacity. These include:
 
The International Security Sector Advisory Team (ISSAT)

The International Security System Advisory Team (ISSAT) is a multi-donor initiative, developed at DCAF. It brings together policy and operational security SSR expertise, from the developmental, security, defence and diplomatic domains, in order to provide donors and the international community with comprehensive advice both on the technical and the process aspects of supporting SSR.
The ISSAT seeks to encourage joint donor action and to facilitate a whole-of-government approach to SSR support. Its objective is to help bilateral and multilateral actors develop, design and implement SSR strategies, practices and programmes in line with international good practice. Working through the ISSAT, its members aim to enhance donor coordination and harmonization.
In pursuing these objectives, and based on the acknowledgement that one of the main challenges facing the international community is the lack of capacity to support SSR, the ISSAT provides, among other things, training and capacity development services. In this area the ISSAT is seeking to standardize training in SSR to help support SSR processes. In this regard, it is envisaged that there will be a series of training modules to build upon different levels of SSR capacity. Enumerated below are the training modules being developed and offered by the ISSAT.
Level 1 Training: An introduction to SSR principles, practices, approaches and methodologies;
Level 2: Programme Management for SSR;
Level 3: Governance and democratic control of the security system;
Level 4: Designing and Undertaking SSR Assessments;
Level 5: Monitoring, Review and Evaluation of SSR Activities.
 
The Special Programmes Division
 
Special Programmes is one of the DCAF’s main Divisions, together with the Research and Operations Divisions. The Special Programmes Division is currently running projects on the following issues: “Gender and SSR”, “Women in an Insecure World”, “Children and Security”, “Trafficking in Human Beings” and “Partnership for Peace –PfP” Consortium / ISF”
Among other things, the Special Programmes is currently working on the operationalization of the Gender and SSR Toolkit whose objective is to increase knowledge, capacities and exchange regarding the gender aspects of SSR amongst SSR researchers, policy-makers and practitioners. This is done namely through the development of training modules, as well as training and teaching materials, for particular key audiences worldwide: SSR practitioners, parliamentarians, civil society, etc. In doing so, the Special Programmes is collaborating with institutions such as the UNITAR.
 
Future Training
 
The ISSAT is looking to standardize training in SSR to aide supporting SSR processes. Based on identified capacity gaps it is envisaged that there will be different training modules to build upon the different levels of SSR capacity (managing SSR programmes, SSR designing, planning, undertaking, monitoring, reviewing and evaluating SSR activities).
 
Methodology of Training
 
The workshops to develop SSR capacity use a co-learning methodology that focuses on developing the skills required to support SSR, through practical exercises and using real life field examples. The co-learning methodology frames the training modules around the major issues or challenges faced at a policy, strategy and practical level when it comes to supporting SSR processes. The modules would serve a dual purpose of increasing awareness of the participants’ approaches to SSR, while also looking to deepen their knowledge of how to best utilise existing tools (and identify gaps) and approaches through utilising the combined knowledge and experience of those present.
 

Contact:
Point of Contact : James Cohen
Mailing Address:
Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF)
P.O.Box 1360
CH-1211 Geneva 1
Switzerland
Email:
issat@dcaf.ch, j.cohen@dcaf.ch
Tel:
+41 (0) 22 715 25 53
Fax No :
+41 (0) 22 715 25 69