Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)

In 2005, an intense national dialogue took place in Guatemala focusing on the dramatic increase of homicides - around 5 000 yearly - and several donors tried to strengthen the National Civil Police's and the Public Ministry's capacity to investigate and prosecute homicide cases. Still, there was a tremendous lack of knowledge regarding the weaknesses and strengths of the justice and security system in this area and no baseline to inform better programming. In collaboration with the government and in dialogue with the donor community through the coordination body “Petit Comité de Seguridad y Justica”, Sweden supported the production and political follow up of the baseline study “Crime Against Life – A Study of 553 Homicides Committed in 2005-2006 and the Performance of the Justice System” together with the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights (IIDH). The purpose was to create a basis for SSR and to foster a political dialogue on necessary changes.

The Swedish National Police Board (SNPB), Division for International Coordination, has conducted in March 2010 a feasibility study to analyse strategic support to the Serbian Ministry of Interior. They will also be developing a comprehensive programme to support both the Ministry of Interior and the Serbian Police. 

SIDA has requested ISSAT to support the design of a police assistance programme in Serbia ensuring police reform is tackled in the broader security and justice sector reform context, and aligning it with local needs and development principles. ISSAT has been tasked to conduct an analytical SSR desk study on the Serbian Ministry of Interior and police, and provide some concrete reform proposals to be used for input into the SNPB’s programme design.

As agreed with DCAF Operations Division I, ISSAT will carry out an analytical SSR desk study focusing on the Serbian MoI and police organization. The study addresses a variety of issues, including the identification of relevant actors, strategic frameworks, oversight mechanisms, and coordination linkages amongst various institutions.  The study proposed concrete recommendations to be considered in the programme design phase. 

The implementation of this project were coordinated with Operations Division I.

The Swedish National Police Board (SNPB), Division for International Coordination, conducted in March a feasibility study to analyse strategic support to the Serbian Ministry of Interior. They also developed a comprehensive programme to support both the MoI and the Serbian Police.

SIDA requested ISSAT to support Sweden design a police assistance programme in Serbia with a clear understanding of the need to ensure police reform is understood within the broader security and justice sector reform context, and is in line with local needs and development principles. ISSAT was tasked to conduct an analytical SSR desk study on the Serbian Ministry of Interior and police, and provide some concrete reform proposals to be used for input into the SNPB’s programme design. 

Sweden (SIDA and the Swedish National Police Board) requested ISSAT to support a baseline study into strategic management of the Serbian MoI, which provided a foundation for SIDA support to the Serbian Police reform process. The objectives of the project were the following:

1. To review how the Ministry currently undertakes long term planning, how it sets priorities. To map out the current strategic management processes within the Ministry of the Interior.
2. To assess the Ministry’s current capacity for strategic analysis, how it monitors the implementation of reform activities, reviews its services and reports on both of these issues to senior Management and other oversight bodies (such as the Parliament).
3. To assess the level of strategic management knowledge and capacity within the senior management of the Ministry of Interior, the approach to general management and to provide recommendation of training and capacity building requirements. 
4. Review the current system of performance assessment, and communication both vertically and horizontally within the Ministry and the police directorate/regional police directorates.
5. Undertake a basic functional analysis of the Ministry and provide inputs into the on-going review of the Ministry’s organisation structure.

The target audience was senior management staff at the Serbian MoI.

The mandate project would look into different the aspects of the programme implementation like general level of progress, effectiveness of the Project Managament Team set-op, level of ownership from the Albanian State Police and other relevant actors, relationships with the direct beneficiaries, level of programme adjustment to the changing environment, quality of communication with external actors and other ongoing programmes, efficiency in the use of resources, etc. The mandate project should look into possible ways to maximise the programme results and assess the overall quality of the programme by-products developed so far. This mandate is part of the programme Swedish Support to Community Policing in Albania.

The Swedish National Police, financed by the Swedish International Development Programme Cooperation Agency (SIDA) has requested assistance from DCAF to undertake an ISSAT assessment of the current situation regarding the implementation of the Ministry of Interior in Serbia Development Strategy 2011-2016 and particularly the so called “Action Plan”, related to the Swedish Police Assistance Programme. 

The Swedish Police Assistance Programme is going to its end in December 2014. The purpose of this requested mid-term assessment is to study the progress of the implementation of the MoI Action Plan in relevant areas, and as well the current working-situation and the relevant process within the MoI. The study is intended to identify short comings and delay of the actions and activities foreseen and agreed in the Action plan, building on the internal evaluation currently being undertaken by the Bureau of Strategic Planning. The study should include recommendations for additional actions and assistance for reaching the goals and aims in the Action Plan within the framework of the programme.

The review should examine, as a minimum, the areas listed below. The overall areas and specific questions will be elaborated during the detailed development of the methodology and will take into account the information contained in the 2011 Baseline Study on Strategic Management Capacities in the Serbian MoI.  In particular, the question areas will be narrowed down to ensure that the assignment is manageable.

• Relevance of the Action Plan to actual MoI priorities
• Effectiveness of the implementation of relevant areas of the Action Plan
• Efficiency of the MoI in implementing the Action Plan
• Ownership of the Action Plan by the MoI
• Communication and reporting on the Action Plan
• Coordination of implementation of the Action Plan and support provided
• Gender considerations

The study will include identification of specific obstacles to implementation, as well as highlighting successful approaches that may be transferred to other areas. The conclusions and recommendations provided by the review Team will be used as an advice to Sida/SNPB and the MoI in order to maximize the results of the Action Plan.

Moldova and EU aims to sign the Association Agreement in the summer of 2014, with the intention to make the EU association process irreversible. Important for further process of Moldovan integration to Europe is the Government’s ability to implement current national strategies, laws, reforms and EU standards related to the Association Agreement. Key reform lies under the responsibility of the Moldovan MIA where there is a need to strengthen the strategic management to facilitate above mentioned implementations and reforms.

Moldovan MIA has a broad range of tasks under its responsibility and works closely linked to the Police, combined they employ almost 18, 000 police officers and civilians.

-          Management of migration and asylum issues

-          Fighting organized crime, protection of the safety of society and the national security

-          Fighting the increased cross-border criminality and police corruption

-          Increase of and improvement of the cooperation between the Police and other law enforcement agencies

-          Adjustment to the relevant international and European standards and best practices, etc.

The current police cooperation with Albania it's  to be completed by March 2015 and the Government of Albania (GoA), through the Minister of Interior (MoI) has requested further support. ISSAT has designed the exisiting cooperation programme and conducted it's review in 2013. Both exercises have been conducted in an effective and professional way, therefore Sweden would like to rely on ISSAT expertise in the design for a 2nd phase of cooperation between Sweden and Albania in the police area. The 2nd phase is supposed to consolidate the current phase achievements in the Community Policing area, and if necessary and in response to the  GoA priorities expand into other police cooperation areas. The current leadership of the MoI has embarked into an ambitious program to increase safety levels and public order in the country and to reform the police service towards higher levels of effectiveness and professionalism. A new cooperation program phase is thus desired to bring the Swedish assistance in line with the new reform needs and the ambitions of the GoA in the field of justice and security.   ISSAT is mandated with the design of this 2nd phase.

SIDA, the Swedish Development Agency, has requested DCAF/ISSAT assistance to design a three-year programme in support of community policing in Albania. The target audience of the programme consists of: the State Police, the Ministry of Interior, civil society and communities, and, where relevant, local government structures. This mandate relates to the programme Swedish Support to Community Policing in Albania.

(Note - All mandate documents are available under the documents tab. Additional information such as lessons identified and feedback are also attached as documents under the documents tab, rather than filled in on line, due to the fact that this mandate took place before the on line options were available).

Team members were Victoria Walker, Ana Kantor, Everett Summerfield, Sabine Ymeri and Besnik Ahmetaj. 

The Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) requested for ISSAT support in further developing and supplementing the existing mapping of bilateral support to the SSR process, which was completed in June 2015 by ISSAT (see mandate Ukraine Mapping mandate from 01 May 2015). In this regard, ISSAT was requested to expand the mapping to cover additional actors and institutions in the sector, namely multilateral organisations and international/national non-state actors involved in SSR.

In addition, a mapping and synthetization of other SSR assessments was to be concluded. This mapping included a list of ongoing and planned assessments made by the international community (and recently finalized ones) and a summary of the key findings in these assessments.

Finally, ISSAT was requested to support a comprehensive mapping of the Ukrainian security sector. This information will complement the mapping of international initiatives and serve as a basis for the consultations in Ukraine and the final needs assessment of SSR in Ukraine.

ISSAT was requested to support a comprehensive needs-analysis of SSR in Ukraine that is being developed by the Swedish Agencies involved in international support to Security Sector Reform: the FBA, the Swedish Police, the Swedish Prosecution Authority, the Swedish National Courts Administration, the Swedish Armed Forces, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the Swedish Prison and Probation Service. The joint analysis was carried out through the Swedish National Contact Group for Security Sector Reform (NCSSR) with shared responsibility in line with respective agencies area of expertise. The needs-analysis was carried out in 3 phases. First, a desk study was performed to map the Ukrainian security sector and all relevant international engagements. Second, consultations in Ukraine were organised to verify and if necessary correct assumptions. A final report was subsequently produced and presented to the Swedish government. This mandate request only covers support to the first phase of the needs-analysis – the desk review. The first phase was expected to be completed by the beginning of August 2015.

The mandate contributed and complemented ongoing assessments and mappings conducted by other ISSAT Governing Board Members. It is noted that parallel processes are also being undertaken by the European Union, Netherlands, and Norway. The process of developing this needs assessment promoted and facilitated more active collaboration, information sharing and improve complementarity of efforts between ISSAT members and the wider international community. In addition, ISSAT was able to draw on the expertise and country experience of DCAF to help complete the mapping and needs-analysis.  

Norway and Sweden have requested ISSAT support to carry out an SSR Assessment in Liberia with a view to providing  recommendations on how these two countries can best contribute to the SSR process in Liberia. 

The assessment focused on two key aspects:

1. Potential areas/sectors for Swedish/Norwegian support.
2. Funding mechanism s in place that could potentially be used by Norway and Sweden to support Liberia’s SSR efforts.

To address these two issues, ISSAT considered the following sub-questions:

1. What are the challenges and opportunities for SSR in the short term (2012-13), medium term (next 5 years) and long term (10-15 years)?
2. To what extent are current donor engagements, including Norway’s and Sweden’s, addressing the above challenges and opportunities?
3. How can additional support complement and strengthen ongoing initiatives?
4. Are the funding mechanisms in place in Liberia efficient, and do the activities they support sufficiently address the Liberian people’s needs for access to security and justice?
5. How can the joint collaboration between Norway and Sweden in SSR bring about synergies and maximize resources/results?

The current police cooperation with Albania was completed in March 2015. The Government of Albania (GoA), through the Minister of Interior (MoI), has requested further support. ISSAT has designed the existing cooperation programme and conducted its review in 2013. Both exercises have been conducted in an effective and professional way, therefore Sweden requested ISSAT's expertise in the design for a 2nd phase of cooperation between Sweden and Albania in the police area.The 2nd phase is supposed to consolidate the current phase achievements in the Community Policing area and, if necessary and in response to the  GoA priorities, to expand into other police cooperation areas. The current leadership of the MoI has embarked into an ambitious program to increase safety levels and public order in the country and to reform the police service towards higher levels of effectiveness and professionalism. A new cooperation program phase is thus desired to bring Swedish assistance in line with the new reform needs and the ambitions of the GoA in the field of justice and security. ISSAT was mandated with the design of this 2nd phase.

The programme “Strengthening Community Policing in Albania", phase II, 2017-2020 (SCPA) started on 4th of January 2017 and will run for 4 years until December 2020.