Policy Brief: Security promotion seen from below

This policy brief is summarizes the report Security Promotion Seen from Below: Experiences in South Sudan (2011), written by Rens Willems (Centre for Conflict Studies, Utrecht University) and Hans Rouw (IKV Pax Christi).1 This report is based on seven weeks of field research in Jonglei, Western Equatoria State (WES) and Eastern Equatoria State (EES), and was undertaken shortly after the results of the referendum for independence were declared. South Sudan was preparing for its official independence on 9 July 2011, after decades of cataclysmal conflict in which tensions within the south were exacerbated, and development hardly took place. The focus of the report is on the dynamics between community security and security promotion initiatives, such as Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR), Security Sector Reform (SSR) and Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) control.

Peace, Security and Development Network 2011

This publication is an outcome of the in 2008 established ‘Network for Peace, Security and Development’. The Network aims to support and encourage the sharing of expertise and cooperation between the different Dutch sectors and organisations involved in fragile states. The PSD Network is an initiative under the Schokland Agreements in 2007.