Netherlands

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. 

In 2009, the Dutch government concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Burundian authorities to support security sector development (SSD) activities over the next 8 years.

As part of the activity portfolio under this MoU, two Dutch strategic advisors have been seconded to the Burundian ministries for Defence (MDNAC) and Public Security (MSP) – which is in charge of the police. The two strategic advisors provide support to the senior leadership of both ministries on matters pertaining to defence and police strategy, and security sector development processes.

The Netherlands has requested ISSAT to provide ongoing support to and mentoring for both of the Dutch strategic advisors in Burundi to facilitate learning from comparative experience in similar SSD processes elsewhere in Africa. Mentoring includes periodic missions to Burundi to provide face to face support. In addition, continuous assistance is provided through virtual means.

ISSAT will provide two mentors (one to be drawn from the ASSN expert roster) to assist the Dutch strategic advisors until September. These coaches will be backed-up by other members of the ISSAT team.

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. 

The Government of the Netherlands requested ISSAT assistance to support their Scoping Mission for the Netherlands-Burundian support to Burundian Parliamentary Oversight over Security and Defence. This is 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 to be implemented 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.  

The Government of the Netherlands requested the assistance of ISSAT to support their Baseline Study of the Security Sector in Burundi as part of the Netherlands-Burundian Security Sector Development (SSD) Programme. ISSAT was requested to provide a military specialist with knowledge of the security/SSR context in Burundi.

Burundi and the Netherlands have cooperated on security sector development issues since 2004, which was formalised through the signing of a long term Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). As part of the MoU, the Netherlands and Burundi agreed to execute a baseline study of the security sector, to be undertaken by independent experts in the field of SSD, in close cooperation with Burundian and Dutch representatives.

The baseline assessment served two purposes:

1. To improve the understanding of the real and perceived of security needs, from an individual, institutional and political perspective. The study should also at the implications this will have for security provision, potential risks and challenges.
2. To provide a basis against which the results of the Dutch-BurundianSSDprogramme can be evaluated on an annual basis as well as at the end of the programme, and against which future activities can take shape.