About this website
This website is a product of cooperation between DCAF, Razumkov Centre and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and has been developed within the framework of DCAF’s prior and current programmes in Ukraine.
The website is an integral part of the “Ukraine – Security Governance Best Practice and Monitoring Platforms” project funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, which also includes conferences, opinion polls and other knowledge products. The aim of the project is to provide relevant stakeholders with knowledge and tools to address Ukraine’s current security sector governance issues.
Ukraine is one of DCAF’s founding members. DCAF’s programmes have assisted Ukraine’s democratisation process since 2001 with workshops, trainings and documentation focusing on parliamentary, civil society and security sector institution capacity development on democratic security governance issues.
DCAF has worked extensively on security governance issues with a wide range of Ukrainian stakeholders since 2001. The foundation for many activities was provided by a cooperation platform with the Defence and Security Committee of the Verkhovna Rada on security sector reform, legislative development, transparency, and accountability issues active between 2003 and 2009. This platform also included the Ministry of Defence, National Security and Defence Council (NSDC), National Institute for Strategic Studies (NISS), Border Guards department, Intelligence Services (SBU), Ombuds Institution and civil society organisations. DCAF has also cooperated with security sector institutions in bilateral and other cooperative formats.
DCAF has operated on a demand basis due to consistent engagement with Ukrainian stakeholders. At least five capacity development events have taken place per annum, incorporating relevant translations of key DCAF knowledge products and publication of a variety of mapping studies.
Activities have encompassed knowledge transfer and capacity development programming on oversight issues, including workshops on transparency, accountability and policy-making tools related to:
- Parliamentary Capacity Development
- Legislative Development & Assistance
- Defence, Intelligence and Law Enforcement Reform
- Ombuds Institution, Civil Society & Media Capacity Development
DCAF currently coordinates with the OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine (OSCE PCU) and NATO Liaison Office (NLO) on programming with the Razumkov Centre and Centre for Army Conversion and Disarmament Studies (CACDS) as notable local NGO partners, and has also coordinated with the EU Delegation and EU Advisory Mission. Throughout the last decade, many of DCAF’s programmes have been made possible by the support of the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports.
In particular, since late 2014 DCAF has also cooperated with the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) and, from 2015, the OSCE PCU to facilitate a multi-stakeholder programming on the development of Ukraine’s independent humanitarian demining capability. The aim of the project is to expedite the disposal of unexploded ordnance and explosive remnants of war via an independent demining (inc. UXO and ERW) service.
For an overview of prior 2001-2014 activities see DCAF activities in Ukraine.
BEST PRACTICES LIBRARY
An essential part of this project is the ‘Best Practices Library’ featured on this website. The library incorporates a collection of key publications on democratic security sector governance covering a wide range of topics related to democratic governance that are not only relevant to Ukraine but to all nations worldwide. This tool strives to be:
- a reference point for anyone interested in democratic governance, security sector reform and Ukraine’s Security Sector Governance issues;
- a source of knowledge and standard reference products for anyone involved in transparency and accountability of security policies and practices;
- an educational portal;
- a starting point for further research on a variety of thematic and programmatic security governance issues.
Disclaimer: The information contained on this website is for educational and reference purposes only. While the website administrators endeavour to keep all information up-to-date, the availability of external sources and links featured here cannot be guaranteed. DCAF does not claim any credit for, or ownership of, the information cited on this website that is not an original DCAF product. Original sources must be consulted for related copyright information. In order to preserve the user-friendliness of the content, original sources are made available on the website via external links, footnotes, and bibliographies.
