Africa Security and Governance Project

A democratically governed security sector that is transparent and accountable is an important prerequisite for long-term peace and development. In Africa, this issue is garnering increased attention, and there is a movement towards greater self-reliance. 

External actors, nevertheless, continue to retain significant influence on developments in much of Africa, often providing assistance that is reflective of their economic and political interest. Yet, there is limited knowledge about the overall extent and nature of external security-related activities in Africa. Furthermore, there is limited discussion on how these activities affect the prospects for security, democratization and good governance in Africa.

The Africa Security and Governance project (ASG) is a capacity-building project with a strong research component that seeks to bridge that gap. It builds on the core analytical and data-gathering competencies of SIPRI, working in partnership with civil society organizations (CSOs) in sub-Saharan Africa, and on strong capacity-building, outreach and dissemination elements.

The main objectives of the Africa Security and Governance project are to:

• map and critically assess the security-related activities of external actors in sub-Saharan Africa;

• support African civil society organizations in analysing security- and governance-related issues and raising awareness about these at home and abroad; and 

• conduct outreach activities in African countries to disseminate project findings and recommendations.

A key component of the Africa Security and Governance project is the partnerships between SIPRI and CSOs in sub-Saharan Africa. These partnerships are an important basis for the continued generation of knowledge, exchange of experience and development of policy recommendations on the core issues related to security and democratization processes in African countries.

Through these partnerships, the Africa Security and Governance project seeks to establish a platform for much-needed dialogue on security sector issues in Africa, to support the participation of African CSOs in security debates and to interject civil-society perspectives into security sectors issues throughout Africa and beyond.

The Africa Security and Governance project’s African-partner CSOs work in six sub-Saharan African countries: Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mali and Zimbabwe.

To read more about mapping studies and assessments, go here. Fore more information about the technical support available to the partner CSOs through the ASG project, go here.

ASG is supported by The Open Society Institute (www.soros.org).