Security sector reform (SSR) is a nationally-owned process aimed at ensuring that security and justice providers are accountable to the state and its people; deliver effective, efficient and affordable security and justice services that meet the people’s needs; operate within a framework of good governance, rule of law, and respect for human rights; and are legitimate. SSR addresses a number of problems such as the ineffective provision of security and justice services; the inability of security and justice institutions to deliver their services equally in response to the needs of all groups of society; the lack or absence of independent and well-functioning accountability and oversight mechanisms.

The goal of the course is to offer an overview of the concept of SSR, highlight the key SSR actors and their roles and outline the implementation of SSR programmes.

At the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Define security sector reform;
• List the key SSR actors and describe their roles and responsibilities;
• Outline the implementation of SSR programmes.

The course is structured in four lessons that will be covered over three hours:

• Lesson 1: Introduction to the concept of SSR
• Lesson 2: Understanding the SSR context
• Lesson 3: Key actors and coordination of SSR processes
• Lesson 4: International support to an SSR process

UNITAR PTP adopts an approach to training that highlights experiential and collaborative learning. This approach focuses on the learning needs, interests and styles of participants to ensure the relevance and retention of content and puts particular emphasis on the active participation of learners through practice-oriented learning environments.   UNITAR PTP’s approach allows participants to share knowledge and experiences and contribute dynamically to the learning process. Through this process, participants not only acquire information but also contribute to the construction of knowledge in a way that is meaningful and directly applicable to the reality of peace operations. Instructors guide participants through this process, delivering and conveying information, clarifying doubts and supporting participants through different activities. UNITAR PTP’s approach to training puts particular emphasis on monitoring and evaluation. This process continuously develops course structure and activities to better suit participants’ areas of interest. This also allows for a review process that systematically improves course design and implementation for future versions of the course. 

Participants are not expected to have prior experience in or knowledge of protection of civilians. However, as this is an advanced course, participants must:

• Have a sound understanding of the structure and functioning of a peace operation;
• Have a university degree in a relevant area with proven interest in security sector reform (BA or equivalent) or the equivalent working experience in a relevant field (2 to 4 years);
• Have good command of English language (reading and writing);
• Be computer literate.

• Platform: Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, ME, XP or superior; MacOS 9 or MacOS X; Linux
• Hardware: 64 MB of RAM, 1 GB of free disk space
• Software:
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader (click here to download for free)
  • Adobe Flash Player (click here to download for free)
  • Microsoft Office (Windows or Mac) or Open Office (click here to download for free)
• Browser: Internet Explorer 7 or higher (click here to download for free); it works better with Firefox 3.6 or higher (click here to download for free) 
• Note that JavaScript, Cookies and Pop-ups must be enabled