Partners for Security in Guinea

Partners Global announces the Partners for Security in Guinea: Reforming the Police to Better Serve Citizens program. With partners COGINTA, CECIDE and Partners West Africa (PWA), the program will complement the current security sector reform initiatives led by the European Union and the United Nations in the urban communities of Dixinn and Kaloum, in the of capital Conakry.

As part of the nation’s security sector reform, the Partners West Africa’s program will provide institutional support and community-oriented police training for the Guinea National Police (GNP). The new regional program will complement Partners West Africa’s current work within the Guinea Citizen Security Project. Funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, PWA and Partners have engaged more than 500 local community members to successfully incorporate the perspectives of local-level citizens and security sector personnel into Guinea’s national SSR agenda.

Community Policing in Guinea. Photograph Anne Kennedy | UNDP Program. http://bit.ly/1IPV

Rebuilding community trust with police by increasing citizens’ knowledge about law enforcement’s role, as well as their security rights, are central elements to the country’s strategy for establishing a more peaceful, stable and democratic country. As a country previously ruled by authoritarian leaders and military regimes, these approaches are considered integral to creating transparency and legitimacy within law enforcement.

In Guinea, there are many challenges that attribute to the persistent instability and insecurity. Some of the primary contributions to the lack of development are the abundance of small arms and light weapons, widespread drug trafficking and other organized crime, high levels of domestic violence, and conflict between ethnic groups. These challenges are amplified in urban areas, and this is certainly the case in Conakry, where one out of four Guineans call home. It’s no coincidence that the disconnect between the population and the security sector is particularly significant in the country’s capital, where the security forces were most often used to forcefully quell dissent in the past.

Recognizing the centrality of these challenges and obstacles to development and stability, the Guinea Government began multinational partnerships in early 2011 to reform the country’s security sector. One of the five sectorial technical committees of the national Security Sector Reform’s (SSR) [i] includes a Police Sectorial Committee that have highlighted seven key challenges, three of these include: human resources and management capacity, police training and identification of the degraded links between the civilian population and the security services.[ii]

Common to the current work in Guinea by the government and local civil society organizations, Partners Global also embraces a comprehensive view of SSR. By working with militaries, police forces and other security stakeholders, Partners Global holds a steadfast belief that policies and programs are better designed and implemented when citizens are engaged. The collaborative process helps to improve citizen-security sector relations by providing a safe space to express shared concerns. With a strong background in SSR in Guinea, Partners’ Global work in the region also includes the Citizen Engagement in Security Sector Reform regional symposium. Supported by the State Department, the event enabled 80+ key government, security sector and civil society leaders from Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone to discuss efforts on improving communication, information-sharing and conflict resolution.

An integral piece of the police reform effort centers around the program, police de proximité (“proximity police” or “community police”). Supported by the UN, the program is creating a closer relationship between the police and communities, while also improving coordination between the GNP and local leaders. This initiative further validates the ultimate goals of the reform, which are to hold the police at the center of internal security issues, as well as the establishment of a security sector that is democratically accountable.

Within the Partners for Security in Guinea program, COGINTA will provide technical assistance on local security governance and community-oriented police training. With a long track record on security sector reform in Guinea, COGINTA has provided technical assistance to the Commission Nationale de Suivi to develop the National Programme on Security Sector Reform – Strategy and Plan of Action 2012-2015. The organization will also facilitate dialogue between police and communities through outreach activities, and to support the establishment of Community Security and Crime Prevention Councils in pilot areas. COGINTA’s security reform efforts includes the 2012 UNDP strategy and action plan to strengthen civilian and democratic control of defense and security forces. In 2013, COGINTA was also mandated by CIVI.POL, a consulting firm associated with the French Ministry of Interior, to support the Guinean authorities in conducting a comprehensive local security diagnostic in three municipalities of Conakry and[1] N’zerekore.

CECIDE’s (Centre du Commerce International Pour le Development), along with the support of the Community Security Council’s, will engage women and youth to address local security challenges and develop solutions with the police. As one of the leading organizations, CECIDE in Guinea is known for its security reform work and has previously partnered with Partners Global and Partners West Africa on the Guinea Citizen Security program.

Partners West Africa (PWA), a Dakar-based independent NGO and member of the Partners Global International network, is comprised with staff that have decades of experience in security issues, including Board Chair General Lamine Cissé, one of the continent’s foremost security reform experts and contributor in Guinea’s SSR process. In 2011, Partners with the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) and the Geneva based Democratic Control of the Armed Forces (DCAF) held a conference on Developing a Guinean National Security Policy. Participants included the Ministries of Defense, Security, the National Transition Council, and the Guinean civil society organizations.

These partnerships brings three strengths that will enable significant local buy-in at the grassroots and national levels. With strong working relationships with local CSOs and the Government, Partners and colleagues are excited to begin this two-year initiative. The funding for this program is provided by the United States Department of State  Office for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement.

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1. The other four committees were: Defense, Justice, Customs, and environment.
2. The other four challenges they identified are: 1) the number of police officers; 2) materials and equipment; 3) (unfinished) legal status, and; 4) marked rivalry and conflicts between security and defense services