Human Security Toolkit

Civil society, military and police all have roles to play in achieving human security. We recognise the need for such an integrated civil-military-police training to enable joint learning and relationship building. It provides an innovative, first of its kind integrated civil-military-police curriculum (the handbook), as well as the guidance and relevant additional resources (local ownership case studies, resources for trainers, and testimonials) to conduct effective human security coordination. The manuals have been developed together with Alliance for Peacebuilding and the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, and were funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Handbook on Human Security: A Civil-Military-Police Curriculum

The Handbook on Human Security: A Civil-Military-Policy Curriculum is an innovative, first-of-its-kind integrated civil-military-police training curriculum which aims to provide practical guidance and a shared set of terms and concepts to enable civil-military-police coordination to support human security. It explores ways to achieve meaningful local ownership in the security sector. It provides nearly forty case studies of civil society and security actors using the principles of peacebuilding to work together towards human security. The handbook includes 10 modules &  31 lessons with reading and training notes for each lesson, including exercises and scenarios. The handbook is developed by the Alliance for Peacebuilding, the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame and GPPAC.

Several modules of the Handbook on Human Security are now available in different languages. Check here the translations.

Local Ownership in Security: Case Studies of Peacebuilding Approaches

The report explores ways to achieve meaningful local ownership in the security sector. It provides nearly forty case studies of civil society and security actors using the principles of peacebuilding to work together towards human security.

Each case study highlights the efforts that civil society and security actors have undertaken in order to reach out to each other, create collaborative processes and participatory mechanisms to solve problems related to human security in particular local or national context. The report also tries to draw out lessons from these cases to help those who are seeking to engage with the civil society or security actors to improve human security to achieve better results.

Chapter 2-6 provide examples of civil society-military-police in five areas: capacity-building, policy-community platforms, peacebuilding approaches to DDR, gender mainstreaming, national-level platforms. Chapter 7 summarises some of the practical challenges of local ownership and coordination. It pulls out key themes, lessons learned and patterns across the case studies. The report is developed by the Alliance for Peacebuilding, the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame and GPPAC.

Empowerment and Protection: Stories of Human Security

The publication Empowerment and Protection: Stories of Human Security shares and analyses people's sense of threat and safety through the lens of human security. Spanning six regions of the world, it presents the accounts of people living in Afghanistan, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Zimbabwe, Ukraine, Mexico, and the Philippines. The chapters are based on interviews with community members, leaders and activists. Their words reveal the potential power of the state as a security provider through the rule of law, but also the ways the state can undermine human security through corruption, abuse of human rights, and failure to provide necessary goods and services. The stories also suggest the potential of civil society organisations to transform the citizen-state relationship and facilitate human security. The citizen-state relationship emerges as a primary tool and indicator of human security, where context-specific protection and empowerment strategies go hand in hand. The perspectives presented in the book demonstrate the power of the human security approach as both an analytical tool and as a method of engagement to promote individual safety and dignity.

Policy Brief: Local Ownership, Civil-Military-Police Coordination & Human Security

This policy brief results from a 3-year collaboration between the Alliance for Peacebuilding, the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, and the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) with funding from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. This policy brief accompanies two related publications: A “Handbook on Human Security: A Civil Society-Military-Police Curriculum” and “Local Ownership in Security: Case Studies of Peacebuilding Approaches.”