Spotlight: Building skills to tackle Africa's security challenges

ISS is a trusted partner of choice for building capacity on counter-terrorism, international justice, peace operations and peacebuilding.

Published on 07 December 2016 in Impact

For Africa to deal effectively with evolving security threats like organised crime and extremism, those in a position to respond must be willing and able to do so. The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) partners to build knowledge and skills that can help secure Africa’s future.

The ISS provides training and technical assistance to in-service practitioners, government officials, policy makers and political leaders at all levels, from the United Nations (UN) to the African Union (AU); regional economic communities and national governments; provinces and cities.

In 2015, for example, the ISS partnered with the Africa Prosecutors Association and the AU to train prosecution heads from 10 African countries in counter-terrorism. In Ethiopia, police were trained by the ISS and the East African Standby Force before deployment to peace missions in South Sudan and Darfur. Police units in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania were trained on how to handle bomb disposal and explosives.

ISS training is practical and sustainable. Courses are developed and hosted in partnership with those that request training. Real-world case studies and exercises are used, and participants learn from the experiences of their colleagues. In Uganda, experienced African judges and prosecutors provided training and shaped the curriculum for an ISS course. Investigators and defence attorneys helped trainees study cases from different angles. Training typically involves simulations and debates among peers about practical challenges.

In 2015 the ISS spent 210 days training 809 people from 32 African countries. The training is highly rated and ISS is a trusted partner of choice for capacity building on African human security issues. In South Africa, for example, the ISS and the National Prosecuting Authority have together trained senior prosecutors on counter-terrorism and international justice for the past seven years.

ISS training achieves much more than providing the appropriate technical skills

In another long-standing and productive relationship, the ISS helped steer the development of AU policy on the police’s role in peace operations, and provided several in-depth training courses to police before deployment on peacekeeping missions. ‘I wish to extend my appreciation to the ISS for its dedication and support in enhancing police capacity for peace operations in Africa,’ said Crowd Chirenje, Police Coordinator of the AU’s Peace Support Operations Division.

ISS training achieves much more than providing the appropriate technical skills. It fosters networks and builds trust among senior officials who participate. Connections made between prosecutors and police, for example, enable problem solving across departments and borders when trainees are later faced with complex criminal cases.

This was the case in Uganda, a country faced with some of Africa’s most complex and long-running criminal trials. Al-Shabaab’s devastating 2010 suicide bombings in Kampala produced a trail of evidence across central and east Africa; 13 accused from three different countries eventually stood trial for the attack.

ISS training in Uganda was welcomed by law enforcement and judicial officers. ‘As a result of our training,’ says Jemima Njeri Kariri, a senior researcher at ISS who facilitated the courses, ‘police and prosecutors are working together more closely, and judges have a deeper understand of the challenges.’ Many officials reported that this was the best training they had received and Uganda continues to request ISS’ capacity building support.

Through its collaborative approach, the ISS is supporting those tasked with the difficult job of tackling Africa’s most pressing human security problems. 

For more information, contact:

Antoinette Louw, ISS: +27 82 883 5012, [email protected]

Picture:©AU UN IST PHOTO/David Mutua