Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces

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Director	Ambassador Theodor H. Winkler[1] (since 2000)
Foundation	October 2000 by Swiss government
DCAF Member States	60 (incl. Canton of Geneva)[2]
Headquarters	Geneva (Switzerland)
Offices	Brussels, Ramallah and Beirut
Website	[3]

Mission

The Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) is one of the world’s leading institutions in the areas of security sector reform (SSR) and security sector governance (SSG). DCAF provides in-country advisory support and practical assistance programmes, develops and promotes appropriate democratic norms at the international and national levels, advocates good practices and makes policy recommendations to ensure effective democratic governance of the security sector.

DCAF’s advantages are:
- neutrality and impartiality;
- the combination of strong operational capability with policy-oriented research;
- flexibility and intergovernmental support;
- expertise across the entire spectrum of SSR / SSG issues.

Organisation

DCAF was established in 2000 at the initiative of the Swiss government. 60 governments have joined DCAF's Foundation Council (Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Canada, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Senegal, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the Canton of Geneva) as of August 2011. DCAF's main divisions are Operations Europe, Operations Middle East and Africa, Research, Special Programmes (of which there is currently only one: Gender and Security), and the International Security Sectorn Advisory Team (ISSAT). The staff numbers over 100 employees from some 30 countries. DCAF’s head office is located in Geneva, Switzerland. The Centre also has permanent offices in Brussels, Ljubljana, Ramallah and Beirut.

Thematic Programmes

1. Security Governance Programme
Assisting the international community in the development of SSG / SSR norms, concepts and policies.
2. Government Advisory Programme
Providing advice on the restructuring of security sector institutions.
3. Parliamentary Assistance Programme
Developing legal frameworks, advising parliaments and providing staff training to enhance parliamentary oversight of the security sector.
4. Defence Reform Programme
Developing programming and products to support defence reform in transition countries.
5. Border Security Programme
Providing assistance in organising professional border security structures.
6. Intelligence Reform Programme
Assisting the reform of intelligence services to embed accountability mechanisms.
7. Police Reform Programme
Assisting police reform in transition countries.
8. Civil Society Programme
Capacity-building on security sector oversight issues for civil society organisations and the media.
9. Gender and Security Programme
Integrating the gender dimension into the SSR / SSG agenda.

Regional Programmes

1. South-Eastern Europe Programme
Comprehensive SSR programming in the Western Balkans with emphasis on fostering regional security cooperation, border security and police reform, parliamentary oversight and intelligence accountability.
2. New Independent States Programme
Defence, intelligence and law enforcement reform programming and capacity-building for parliamentarians, ombuds institutions, civil society and security sector in the Caucasus, Central Asia, Ukraine and Moldova.
3. Middle East and North Africa Programme
Disseminating SSR / SSG standards and assisting the development of oversight capacity at executive, legislative and civil society level in the Arab region, in particular in Palestine and Lebanon.
4. Africa Programme
Setting norms and standards and building parliamentary and civil society oversight capacity in West and Southern Africa.

DCAF also conducts SSR-related projects in Asia (Afghanistan, Nepal, Southeast Asia, in particular Indonesia) and in Latin America

References

External links

• DCAF's Home Page
• DCAF's News & Events Page
• DCAF's Publications Page

Further reading

• DCAF's Annual Report 2009