Spotlight: Working with African and global partners to improve human security
The latest annual review reflects the ISS' achievements in 2014 through the voices of the people we work with.
Published on 01 October 2015 in
Impact
‘The ISS helped our officers to adapt to one of the world’s most difficult conflicts,’ says Fred Yiga, referring to training provided by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) to prepare police for the difficult task of protecting civilians in a conflict zone.
Yiga is Assistant Inspector General of the Uganda Police Force and current Police Commissioner to the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). He is among several decision makers who describe how the ISS improved human security in Africa in the latest annual review.
The 2014 report, launched this week, reflects the ISS’ accomplishments and impact through the voices of its beneficiaries and partners.
The aim of the ISS is to enhance human security in Africa by providing independent and authoritative research, expert policy advice and capacity building.
‘In 2014, we focused on the most pressing threats to human security,’ says ISS Managing Director Anton du Plessis. ‘Our continent is on the rise, but the good news story is under threat. Without improved human security, Africa will not reach its full potential and too many people will continue to suffer at the hands of bad leaders, local criminals, extremists and transnational organised crime groups.’
Among the ISS’ many achievements in 2014 were preparing police officials for deployment to continental and regional peace missions, shaping global counter-terrorism policy, and providing hundreds of police and prosecutors in East and West Africa with counter-terrorism skills.
‘The ISS strengthened the capacity of our people and helped us to prosecute terrorism cases and prepare documents for mutual legal assistance and extradition requests. It made a great difference and had great impact’, says Eliezer Feleshi, a Tanzanian high court judge and former director of public prosecutions about training provided for East African prosecutors.
The ISS helped our officers to adapt to one of the world's most difficult conflicts
Together with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the ISS helped developed the region’s counter-terrorism strategy and subsequent training, and the ECOWAS Integrated Maritime strategy. The Institute also fostered greater police accountability in South Africa, and launched violence prevention programmes at local level.
‘The ISS played an invaluable leadership role through its profound understanding of the importance of good parenting in violence prevention,’ says Solange Rosa, Head of the Western Cape policy unit in South Africa. In partnership with University of Cape Town, the ISS helped the provincial government to develop evidence-based parenting interventions that will reach 100 000 mothers and fathers through the public health system.
The ISS works with a diversity of stakeholders, several of whom are featured in the 2014 annual review. These African and global partners play a vital role in the ISS’ efforts to improve human security. The Institute has invested in its collaborative approach and, in 2014, signed of a memorandum of understanding with the African Union (AU) to expand cooperation on peace, security and governance matters.
‘Through our pan-African footprint we reached hundreds of stakeholders to achieve lasting impact’ says du Plessis. These stakeholders range from senior UN and AU officials to peacekeepers and judges, prosecutors and social workers. This approach enables the ISS to shape global decisions based on African perspectives and to improve policy and practice at the continental, regional and national level.
Improving human security: ISS Annual Review 2014 is available here.
For more information contact:
Antoinette Louw, ISS: +27 82 883 5012, [email protected]
