Thammy Evans's Page

By Mark Downes

There has been much discussion recently on the increasing role of the private sector when it comes to implementing security and justice programmes on the ground. For instance, large programmes supporting security and justice reforms are currently sub-contracted out to the private sector in Liberia, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The purpose of this blog post is not to label private sector engagement in SSR good…

By Mark Downes, Head of ISSAT

Returning from a recent mission in Rwanda where I was involved in undertaking a scoping study for one of ISSAT’s Governing Board members, I was reflecting on the constraints of, and presumptions made in, designing programmes to support SSR. It was precipitated by a discussion with a Dutch colleague, who in the course of the conversation quoted General Colin Powell in saying that ‘hope is not a…

Mark Downes, Head of the International Security Sector Advisory Team (ISSAT), wrote the following on the need for multidisciplinary capacity:

"You don't send a doctor to rebuild a…

Last month, I attended a presentation of DCAF’s new book Back to Roots: Security Sector Reform and Development  by Albrecht Schnabel et al . Having mostly worked at the coalface of SSR, I was buoyed by this book’s leap into some of the existential surroundings of SSR. It explores opportunities for strengthening positive reinforcement loops in the SSR-Development…