About SADSEM
Aims & Objectives l Background l Management l Funding
The SADSEM network offers a range of services and activities, including:
- Training courses offered in all SADC countries, based on common curricula, but utilising teaching methods that are responsive to local requirements.
- Research and policy analysis, largely undertaken by network partners for SADC governments.
- An internship programme for students from SADC member states who wish to gain experience at institutions active in the fields of defence and security.
- Higher degree scholarships for all staff members of SADSEM network partners.
Aims and objectives
The vision of the SADSEM network is to contribute to the effective democratic management of defence and security functions in southern Africa, and to strengthen peace and common security in the region. It seeks to do this by:
- providing training and education for defence and security management and planning, civil-military relations, peace-building, and the management of peace missions;
- building scholarly capacity and developing a regional network of institutions to provide education, training, policy, and technical support and research output in these areas.
Background
Following the end of apartheid rule, South Africa's defence and security sector underwent a transformation process in which civil-military relations were normalised and the role of defence in a democracy re-established. The Graduate School for Public and Development Management of the University of the Witwatersrand set up a defence management programme to assist with these challlenging tasks. It assisted with transformation and helped to enhance the management skills of senior military officers and defence officials.
Countries in southern Africa simultaneously faced the challenge of managing complex security problems, and what started as a purely South African project was quickly widened to cover the whole SADC region.
At the end of 1999 the defence management programme was upgraded to include a Centre for Defence and Security Management (based at P&DM), as well as a regional network of programmes and centres for defence management. The network also maintains links with the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS).
Since then, the SADSEM network has played an important role in promoting peace and security in southern Africa, and developing a basis for common security in the region. It has done so by developing the capacity of governments in the region to:
- manage their defence forces and other security organs in a democratic manner;
- participate in regional security initiatives; and
- co-operate with multinational conflict resolution and peace missions.
Its targeted training programmes have benefited some 3 000 senior government officials, military officers, and civil society leaders in all 14 SADC member states.
It has also made an important contribution to building sustainable local research and policy capacity, and promoted the involvement of civil society in these activities.
Management
The SADSEM network is co-ordinated by Prof Gavin Cawthra, director of the Centre for Defence and Security Management (CDSM) in the Graduate School of Public and Development Management of the University of the Witwatersrand. CDSM provides the network with management and administrative support.
Network activities are overseen by a steering committee comprising representatives of all network partners, which meets four times a year. Oversight is provided by an advisory board comprising representatives of all SADC governments, which meets annually.
Funding
The SADSEM network is primarily funded by the Danish government through its funding agency DANIDA. However, the project is also attracting growing support from other institutions as well as governments in the region.
The programme has increasingly obtained research, project and other funding from a variety of sources and has been given some support by participating institutions and governments. These include the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), the British Department for International Development (DFID), and the Norwegian government.
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