SGG President Mark Sedra was recently awarded two research grants from European Foundations for projects focusing on different issues related to security sector reform (SSR). The projects will be undertaken through the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
The first project, conceived with SGG Associate Michael Lawrence, is titled “Non-State Security Providers and Political Formation in Conflict-Affected Societies” and received a grant of approximately US$125,000 from the German-based Gerda Henkel Foundation. The project will explore how the presence of non-state security providers impacts state-building and SSR processes in conflict-affected contexts. It will involve fieldwork in three case study countries — Afghanistan, Somalia and South Sudan — and will last for 13 months from February 2013 to March 2014. The project will end with a workshop that will seek to derive policy guidance for donor engagement with non-state security providers in the context of state building and SSR.
The second project, “Exploring the Transition from First to Second Generation” will examine the evolution of new approaches to SSR. Utilizing a common methodology for the project, field researchers will examine the impact and efficacy of conventional/orthodox SSR approaches in various conflict-affected societies. It will also seek to identify and breakdown emerging second generation approaches. The project received a seed grant of US$25,000 from the Sweden-based Folke Bernadotte Academy, which will help to fund the first two case studies for the project, whose locations have yet to be finalized. A central goal of the project is to define a second generation SSR framework that will help narrow the policy-practice divide that has hampered first generation approaches. The project will launch on March 1, 2013 and will run for 15 months.
If you want to learn more about these projects, please contact SGG President Mark Sedra at [email protected]
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