DEMOS

We are working with the SSR strategy team (made up of representatives from the FCO, MoD and DFID) which has become increasingly concerned about the growing divide between policy developed at home and its implementation in countries like Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, and the DRC. While there is no shortage of policy documents and guidelines on the subject, most of them go unread by practitioners, who complain that they bear little resemblance to the realities they face on the ground.

My initial reactions to the workshop are as follows

- There was a healthy appetite among policy makers and practitioners at the workshop to address the current difficulties in policy development and implementation.
- Institutional inertia cannot be used as an excuse for inaction. The responsibility of individuals to lead is an organisational imperative.
- Individuals working on SSR must take responsibility for creating the connections between their 'home departments' and the field- but to support them a mechanism must be developed to allow coordination and communication to happen at both the operational and strategic level.
- We know security underpins post conflict reconstruction and development but the lack of political leadership in the UK severely damages the success of many SSR programmes.

The report Creating a shared vision for security sector reform will be published in April. If you are interested in learning more about this project email Charlie.