a) Transition from conflict to stability -stability assessments: This covers both the situation in countries after war, as well the interventions necessary to render these countries stable in the long run. The latter interventions are often captured under the heading “peace-building”. To achieve stability after conflict, a country needs to work simultaneously on a broad range of challenges: political reconciliation, socio-economic development, governance and democracy, as well as security and military aspects. An approach that links these challenges is essential to maximize synergy and assure success, but difficult to achieve. An important tool in this regard is a country-level stability and policy options assessment, designed to facilitate the choice of Government and partners’ interventions and to ensure a maximum of synergy between these interventions. For the private sector, structured stability assessments and ratings help to determine and counter overall exposure of companies to socio-political risk. D2CL has been engaged in the development of the peacebuilding potential of the private sector in Nepal, a longer term project for GTZ (German Development Cooperation);

b) Security sector reform (SSR): This can defined -in short- as efforts designed to improve governance and democratic control over as well as service delivery by the security sector. This sector comprises organizations authorized to use force for the protection of the state and its population, as well as the civil management and democratic oversight bodies associated with such organizations. This includes military and paramilitary forces, intelligence services, police forces, border and coast guards as well as prison guards and correction officers. Reform usually addresses the legal and political framework, professionalism and conduct, budget management and procurement, as well as public relations. D2CL took part recently in an analysis of risks and opportunities associated with the reform of Palestinian security services, developed a paper on the links between security sector reform and counter-terrorism for a bilateral aid organization and contributed to security sector reform in the Central African republic.

c) Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants (DDR): These activities are part of peace processes that conclude a civil war and are designed to remove the threat to stability posed by large numbers of mostly unemployed young children, men and women, whose only skills are related to violence. Their demobilization and subsequent socio-economic reintegration are complex efforts that require significant political, organizational and financial commitments. D2CL understands the dynamics of DDR processes at all levels and can help design and implement DDR programs that address the direct concerns of ex-combatants as well as those of society at large. D2CL has provided senior level advice on DDR aspects of the peace process in Nepal to the United Nations as well as to independent peace facilitators.  It also took part in a review of integrated DDR components in peacekeeping operations in Sudan, Haiti and Nepal.

d) Integrating defense and security sector policies into poverty reduction strategies; Security sector expenditures consume very significant parts of national budgets of developing countries, that are already under strain from the competing priorities of investing in the social sector and dealing with the havoc wreaked by war and HIV-AIDS. Remarkably, development agencies and donor countries have shown interest mainly in bringing down the level of expenditures, but not in the process by which security budgets are determined and executed, or in the overall process of determining the appropriate level of expenditures in light of both security needs and development priorities. Similarly, there is little attention at the micro-level on how local police and security forces can help in community-driven development projects or the (re) building of industrial or commercial capacity.

e) Post-conflict or post-combat transitions D2CL consults to international organizations engaged in peacebuilding or peacekeeping operations as well as to the defense sectors of the US and other countries, which are increasingly engaged in mixed military-civilian partnerships to solve complex post-combat transition processes. Integrated partnership management to support institutional and other reform will thus be an important area of expertise. D2CL has led the design of a post-electoral stabilization program in Haiti, in particular with regard to the building blocks of democracy (parliament, courts, local governance and electoral capacity), that is now used by the new Government to set its priorities for development and stabilization. D2CL staff -on an individual basis- also contributed to a review of the practice of post-conflict needs assessment with view to better incorporate the security sector in such reviews.  (See e.g. http://www.undg.org/archive_docs/9217-PCNA_Review__ANNEXES_-_IV_Security_Sector_Issues.pdf)