It should first be noted that only ‘grey literature’ was identified for this helpdesk. Some information is included from government websites. Much of the material is commentary, included to give an idea of what is being said on this area. It must be taken into account that this information is conjecture. This rapid review found information on Canada, India, Iran, Israel, Kenya, ...» more
Security sector
Safety, security and justice
Safety, security and justice are priorities for poor people and are associated with development outcomes. What do we know about what has – or hasn't – worked in safety, security and justice programming, and where? This updated Topic Guide for policymakers and practitioners synthesises the evidence, challenges and approaches that emerge from the literature. ...» more
Lessons learned from security-related programming in stabilisation and conflict-affected contexts
The challenging environment that ongoing conflict presents means that evidence based analysis of security sector initiatives is hard to find (Ball and Walker, 2015, p. 3) and the evidence base uncovered by this rapid literature review is small. Interviews with experts suggest that there may be more documented cases and lessons which are not publicly available. Security ...» more
Capacity building in the Ministry of Interior in fragile and post-conflict countries
This report reviews the literature engaging with a key issue, the reform of the Ministry of Interior (MoI) in fragile and post-conflict countries. While MoI reform is crucial to the success of Security Sector Reform (SSR), as it enables management and oversight of the internal security forces, it has often been neglected by international actors and by the SSR literature. The ...» more
Multi-agency stabilisation operations
While there is as yet limited empirical evidence of what works best in multi-agency – or ‘whole-of-government’ – approaches to stabilisation, the literature does identify some lessons learned and principles of good practice. These include: Overcoming common challenges: establishing transparent processes to identify and manage tensions and trade-offs between neutral humanitarian ...» more
Policy approaches and lessons from working with non-state actors in security and justice
DFID has a rule of law policy approach. Programming decisions are made by a context-based, problem solving approach and therefore the policy does not identify overarching actors or themes for engagement. Is one of few donors to have published a briefing (DFID, 2004) entirely focussed on engaging with non-state security and justice actors. Engaging with non-state actors is also ...» more
Donor policy approaches to security and justice
This rapid policy mapping gives an overview of security and justice policies from the following donors and development agencies: DFID; European Commission; USAID; AFD; SIDA; World Bank; BMZ; and JICA. In terms of the differences and similarities to DFID’s approach, it finds that DFID is one of the only donors that conceptualises security and justice as a joint policy area, ...» more
Lessons from Female Engagement Teams
Evaluations of Female Engagement Teams (FETs) used by the military to engage with women in Afghanistan that are available indicate that: Female soldiers have had a deescalating effect as Afghan males generally accepted females being searched as long as it was done by other females. FETs have had positive engagement with both women and men and were viewed as a kind of ‘third ...» more
Links between women’s empowerment (or lack of) and outbreaks of violent conflict
A number of studies quantitatively find a strong correlation between levels of gender inequality and conflict. They find that gender inequality increases the likelihood that a state will have internal conflict and international disputes. There is substantial evidence that traditional patriarchal gender identities lead to militaristic and violent conflict approaches. Women ...» more
Strategic communications and foreign fighters
Key Findings: There is limited coverage of strategic communications programmes specifically aiming to prevent the recruitment of citizens who travel to conflict zones to become foreign fighters. There is relatively more coverage of strategic communications with respect to broader counter-radicalisation or countering violent extremism (CVE) approaches, but there are few case ...» more
The role of security organisations in security sector reform
There is consensus that donor approaches to SSR have failed to achieve the ambitious goals and objectives espoused in policy documents. Debates in recent literature centre on the reasons for this ‘policy-practice gap’ (Sedra, 2010; Bakrania, 2014b). Key themes include: There is agreement in the literature that donor assistance has generally taken an apolitical and technical ...» more
Libya: border security and regional cooperation
This rapid literature review examines security-related developments that determine Libya’s relationships with its neighbours – Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Niger, Sudan and Tunisia. The report also looks at the incentives for neighbouring countries to maintain or develop regional relationships or cross-border mechanisms with Libya and the main challenges in implementing them. It also ...» more
Post-2015 governance and peace indicators
The post-2015 High Level Panel (HLP) produced a report in May 2013 which outlined their recommendations for moving the development agenda beyond the Millennium Development Goals. The report contained 11 illustrative goals which the UN might consider for adoption. This report considers potential indicators for the new Goals 10 and 11, which are: 10. Ensure Good Governance and ...» more
Community policing in fragile and conflict-affected states
Community policing is the idea of policing in partnership with community, and the strategy for implementing this partnership. Beyond this rudimentary definition, there is no common agreement on what community policing entails. Experience of various forms of community policing in different fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS) have had mixed results – there have been some ...» more
Responding to the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon – lessons learned
Three groups of lessons emerge from the literature: Political lessons include: understanding Lebanon’s historic refugee experience; understanding how sectarian divisions affect policy and decision-making; the limitations of excluding key stakeholders; and understanding historic relations between refugees and host communities. Strategic lessons include developing a medium-term ...» more
Recent literature on instability and intrastate conflict in Zimbabwe
There is consensus in the recent (2011-13) literature on Zimbabwe that although the country has stabilised considerably since the last elections in 2008, the risk of internal conflict during the period surrounding the 2013 elections is high. The principal factors underpinning the potential for conflict are: The bitter divisions among the main political parties, the apparent ...» more
Stability and stabilisation approaches in multinational interventions
This rapid report is based on quantitative discourse analysis of stability and stabilisation approaches in all current UN, EU and NATO missions. The analysis included a total of 49 missions (covering peacekeeping, civilian and political missions) and 107 mandates/resolutions linked to these missions. Key findings:Out of a total of 49 missions examined for this report, 30 ...» more
Border insecurity in North Africa
The literature on border security in North Africa has several key themes: security and terrorism; migration; and goods trafficking. These issues are all intertwined. Migration and trafficking tend to follow the same geographical routes, which or may not also include weapons smuggling for extremist groups. In addition, radicalists’ movements across borders frequently interact ...» more
Livelihoods in fragile contexts
There is strong literature on both livelihoods in general and livelihoods in fragile contexts, presenting conclusions and lessons from programmes and synthesising evidence from other contexts. This review draws mainly on lessons learned in the field, rather than rigorous evidence of impact. There are few impact studies conducted on programmes in fragile environments, as ...» more
The impact of integrated missions on humanitarian operations
Key findings Evidence remains scarce, problematic and contested. There is at least limited agreement on the following: Integration has had both negative and positive effects. Effects vary by individual actor, type of actor (UN agencies are more affected) and contexts (mission, country, point in time). Protection of civilians: Possible positive impacts: shared objectives ...» more
