Every hour of every day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs promotes the interests of the Kingdom abroad. The Ministry coordinates and carries out Dutch foreign policy at its headquarters in The Hague and through its missions abroad. It is likewise the channel through which the Dutch Government communicates with foreign governments and international organisations.
As a country that looks beyond its borders, the Netherlands is committed to building a safe, stable and prosperous world. In The Hague, and at more than 150 embassies and consulates worldwide, staff are actively involved in addressing issues such as poverty reduction, climate change, respect for human rights and the rule of law and eliminating conflict. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also works closely with the other ministries to help shape the Europe of the future and ensure that the Netherlands speaks with one voice in the European Union.
Advanced Level 2 Training on Security Sector Reform (L2 SSR)
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the EU will organise a five-day advanced training course on “Security Sector Reform (SSR)”, at the CCOE in the Hague, Netherlands from 27 Nov – 01 Dec 2017. The course will be carried out in partnership with DCAF/ISSAT.
The course is primarily aimed at relevant policy makers, practitioners, military, policing as well as civilian participants working closely on issues related to Security and Justice Sector Reform (SJSR) or who are to be deployed in support of a bilateral, regional or multilateral missions supporting SJSR activity.
The training will aim to enhance the knowledge, skills, understanding and strategic thinking of participants on SSR principles through the sharing of views and experiences in SSR trends and practice, which will contribute to enhancing the effectiveness of their work. Exposed to practical tools and techniques applicable to use in mission, the participants will in particular, be supported in developing skills for effective advising.
Level 1 Training Session on SSR for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has requested the support of ISSAT to organise a 3-day sensitisation briefing on SSR in French. The briefing will take place from 22-24 November in The Hague, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Netherlands.
Through a combination of training sessions and hands-on exercises, this course will aim to enhance the skills, and knowledge of participants on SSR principles through the sharing of views and experiences related to SSR. It will highlight issues such as the principles and characteristics of SSR, enhancing governance and oversight of security and justice institutions, and sustainable capacity building.
SSR and Violent Extremism Training Course development project
The objective of the mandate is to develop and run a face-to-face training course on SSR and VE in French and in English, with the expectation that these would then be run on a yearly basis (one of each), potentially in field locations in order to maximise their accessibility for practitioners.
The anticipated outcomes of the development and delivery of the SSR and VE trainings are:
- 1. Enhanced implementation of VE-related activities within broader SSR contexts;
- 2. Enhanced understanding, competence and effectiveness of staff engaged in wider VE-related and SSR-related programming;
- 3. Personnel more effectively able to engage with local, national, regional and international actors and relevant good practice in supporting SSR and VE-related SSR activities;
- 4. Contribution to a coherent and operationally focused continuous professional development approach for military, police and civilian personnel engaged in SSR and VE-related activity;
In practical terms, increasing the capacity and capability of relevant staff in these fields, will improve the quality and relevance of specialist SSR training, which in turn will lead to more effective technical programming, support and implementation of preventative programmes in region.
SSR & VE course
For 2018 it was foreseen to develop and execute the SSR&VE pilot in the Hague.
The prep phase was done, however due to time constraints within ISSAT the pilot foreseen for 2018 was replaced to 4-8 February 2019.
The costs for this pilot were budgeted at around 30.000 for 2018. During a meeting with Victoria Walker the Dutch MFA requested if we could use that amount in 2019 for the pilot, since it was replaced. Ms. Walker shared with us that this is possible if we write up this new mandate.
Contribute to the identification of possible projects of members of the Common Effort Community in the Sahel G5
Common Effort training aims at creating a strategic knowledge platform for developing comprehensive approaches toward building effective interaction and cooperation between civil and military organizations in order to address the multiple dimensions of fragility and conflict.
DCAF-ISSAT to contribute and facilitate through interactive, panel-based sessions a strategic (and regional) SSG/R perspective into the programme.
Security Governance and Corruption Analysis (SGACA) in Kosovo
The Dutch government requested the assistance of ISSAT to support their Security Governance and Corruption Analysis (SGACA) in Kosovo. The ISSAT joined a broader Dutch team, and focused its contribution on covering the security and SSR component of this analysis, while other non-ISSAT personnel will cover other components. Specific tasks of the ISSAT included:
- Provision of an SSR advisor to the assessment team; and
- Provision of input into relevant sections of text on the security sector of Kosovo for the Power and Change Analysis.
The Security Governance and Corruption Analysis project was developed to assist embassies in addressing the challenges of governance and corruption by, specifically analysing the political and structural dynamics of drivers of change to increase the effectiveness of governance interventions. The SGACA consisted of an analysis exploring the underlying root causes of weak governance and local pressures for change. This analysis served as a basis to critically review governance strategies and priorities.
Scoping Mission for NL-Burundian SSD Programme
The Government of the Netherlands requested the assistance of ISSAT to support their Scoping Mission for the Netherlands-Burundian support to Burundian Parliamentary Oversight over Security and Defence. This was a follow-on to the previous request for assistance for the baseline study. ISSAT was requested to provide an expert with knowledge of ethnicity and the security/SSR context in Burundi.
In addition to the ongoing baseline study, the Netherlands came up with a number of quick win/confidence building projects for implementation between 2009 and 2010. The proposals included responding to the request to provide technical assistance from the Parliament, the Civil Society and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by:
- Supporting the Parliament in holding a hearing on the issues of ethnic balance within with security services;
- Organising a seminar for civil society on civil involvement in/oversight of the security forces;
- Organising a seminar on SSR for the Burundian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to assist their role as coordinators of the national SSR process.
Support to Dutch SSD Programme Burundi – Support to joint Burundi-Dutch Workshop to define Implementation Strategy for SSD Programme
The Netherlands and the Burundian government are developing a joint 8 year SSD programme, structured in four phases of 2 years each. The ongoing work deals with 3 different fields: defence, police, and governance. Both parties are currently working on the second phase of the project. They have requested ISSAT advisory field support to help integrate SSD good practise into present discussion.
Support to NL-Slovakia to support the EU in the development of an integrated EU SSR policy framework
Within the framework of the revision process of the EU SSR policy, the aim of this mandate was to support the Netherlands and Slovakia to organise a series of workshops and seminars together with the EU institutions (the European External Action Service, the Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development, and the Directorate-General for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations).These consultations were used to allow an exchange of views on SSR, the main challenges and current trends around the world and across organisations.
ISSAT provided:
- Expert advice to the content development of the meetings;
- Expert advice and input to the meetings, either through facilitating panels or as speakers;
- Support to the development of concept notes for the events;
- Support to the development of outcome documents, used to feed in the EU reflection on the new policy.
The Netherlands Sensitisation Briefing
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has requested the support of ISSAT to organise a 2-day sensitisation briefing on SSR. The briefing will take place on 14-15 April 2016 in the Hague (the Netherlands) and bring together approximately 20 representatives from various Dutch ministries, missions abroad as well as some representatives from civil society.
The sensitisation is aimed at familiarising participants to the concept of SSR and helping them understand the various actors and principles of SSR. Topics covered will include:
- the concept and policy framework of SSR
- gender mainstreaming
- strengthening governance and accountability
- the role of non-state actors
- ensuring coordination of SSR programmes.
- Through interactive, co-learning methodology, participants will be invited to engage in practical exercises and share their personal experience.
Evaluation of the SSD programme Phase II in Burundi
The Netherlands-Burundi cooperation was captured in a Memorandum of Understanding, signed in 2009. This MoU served as a framework for Netherlands-Burundi Security Sector Development programme (which included 3 pillars: Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Defence and Security Sector Governance) for a period of eight years (2009-2017). This period was divided into four phases, each lasting two years. A strategic plan was developed for each phase.
The objective of this mandate was to carry out an evaluation of the Burundi SSD programme Phase II and formulate recommendations for the preparation of the next phases.
More specifically, ISSAT was required to:
- Evaluate the relevance of the Phase II objectives and the activities implemented to reach those objectives, from an SSD perspective and within the Burundi context.
- Evaluate the impact of Phase II activities with regard to the principles of SSR. Formulate recommendations to improve the relevance and design of Phase III objectives, activities, including measurable indicators.
- Evaluate the process of the Defence review (taking into account the recent study on the Defence review commissioned by the DSS).
- Define lessons learned in Phase II so the international community of SSR can profit from the successes and less successful parts of the SSD programme until now.
- The evaluation will also contribute to the assessment of the functioning of the SSD programme structure (efficiency, ability of the existing structure design to achieve the desired objectives) and formulate recommendations to improve the programme structure for Phase III.
The target audience of this evaluation is the management units of the SSD, the responsible units of the programme within the Dutch MFA (Embassy and DSH). The report will also be made available to a wider external public in Burundi and abroad.
Policy and Research Papers
Developing the Security Sector. Security for Whom, by Whom. Security Sector Reform and Gender
This paper was drafted further to the Dutch policy framework for security sector reform (SSR). It examines the following three questions: 1) Why is it important to apply a gender perspective in SSR? 2) What commitments has the Netherlands made? 3) What opportunities for reform are presented by our partnerships with the various actors that make up the security sector?. It briefly examines the current situation with regard to gender and security sector reform and underscores the importance of devoting attention to equal rights and opportunities for both men and women within the security sector. The second chapter offers examples and some practical recommendations.
Other Documents
Netherlands Security Sector Governance and Reform (SSG/R) Strategy – Summary
In 2018, the NLD revised its Theory of Change for Security & Rule of Law (SROL), resulting in the need for more clarity on priorities to maximize the impact of NLD efforts in the field of SROL. In short, the focus of our new strategy is upon: individual and community security, local ownership, sustainable capacity-building, long-term, emphasis on governance-accountability-oversight-transparency (less train & equip), policy-influencing (EU/UN), knowledge building and learning. The SSG/R dossier is managed by the Department for Stabilization and Humanitarian Aid (DSH).
Please note that this document is only shared with Governing Board members.