DCAF - ; Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

: ''Centre pour la gouvernance du secteur de la sécurité, Genève,''

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: ''Das Genfer Zentrum für die Gouvernanz des Sicherheitssektors'') is an intergovernmental foundation-based

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-govern ...

that provides research and project support to states and international actors in improving

security sector governance and reform The concepts of security sector governance and reform (SSG/R, or SSG and SSR) generally refer to a process in Western-based international development and democratization to amend the security sector of a state towards good governance and its princ ...

(SSG and SSR). DCAF was established in 2000 as the 'Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces' in the

Canton of Geneva The Canton of Geneva, officially the Republic and Canton of Geneva (french: link=no, République et canton de Genève; frp, Rèpublica et canton de Geneva; german: Republik und Kanton Genf; it, Repubblica e Cantone di Ginevra; rm, Republica e ...

by the Swiss government and as of 2018 employs around 170 staff, has seven permanent offices and 63 member states. The Centre's founding mandate was to assist security institutions to reform themselves in ways that would help stabilize the fragile peace following the 1990s Balkans conflicts and during the democratic transitions of Central and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

. At the time, ‘democratic control of armed and security forces' was considered a keystone of lasting peace and stability, under the

OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...

's 1994

Code of Conduct A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the norms, rules, and responsibilities or proper practices of an individual party or an organization. Companies' codes of conduct A company code of conduct is a set of rules which is commonly writt ...

on politico-military aspects of security. The Centre was renamed 'DCAF – Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance' on 2 May 2019, and took on new branding.

Mandate

DCAF was established in October 2000 under Swiss law as a foundation and on the initiative of the Swiss government. The organization states that it is a

good governance Good governance is the process of measuring how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for th ...

-promoting foundation focusing on a specific

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, inf ...

area—the security sector. DCAF is mandated by its intergovernmental Foundation Council to assist partner states and international actors in improving the governance of the security sector through

reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...

based on international norms and good practices.

Activities

DCAF states that it provides in‐country advisory support and practical assistance programmes, identifies recommendations and good practices, develops and promotes norms and standards, and conducts tailored policy research. In 2017, DCAF supported national and international partners in more than 70 countries. The think tank reports that it collaborates with international organizations, such as the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

, the

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...

, the

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, pro ...

(OSCE) and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

(EU). DCAF was ranked the 33rd (out of 65) in the Top Transparency and Good Governance Think Tanks and the 35th (out of 104) in the Top Defense and National Security Think Tanks on the 201
Global Go To Think Tank Index
The foundation is one of only seven institutions worldwide represented in both categories. Likewise, an external evaluation published in 2014 assessed that DCAF "has an excellent reputation as an organization with solid expertise".

Infrastructure, staff and budget

DCAF is headquartered at the Maison de la Paix complex in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

together with its "sister centres", the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), as well as the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) and other

peacebuilding Peacebuilding is an activity that aims to resolve injustice in nonviolent ways and to transform the cultural and structural conditions that generate deadly or destructive conflict. It revolves around developing constructive personal, group, and ...

-related institutions. In January 2018, DCAF became a member of th
Geneva Peacebuilding Platform
(GPP), a "a knowledge hub that connects the critical mass of peacebuilding actors, resources, and expertise in Geneva and worldwide". DCAF also maintains permanent offices in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ar, رام الله, , God's Height) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank that serves as the ''de facto'' administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerus ...

, Tripoli, and

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

. In 2020, DCAF employed 210 staff, of whom 60% were women, from 40 different nationalities. Its budget was 29 million

Swiss franc The Swiss franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the ...

s. Switzerland provided approximately 66% of the budget and DCAF's top donors in descending order are currently: Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, European Union, Luxembourg, Ireland. All funding to DCAF qualifies as

official development assistance Official development assistance (ODA) is a category used by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to measure foreign aid. The DAC first adopted the concept in 1969. It ...

Organization

The Foundation Council is DCAF's supreme decision-making body. As of 2016 it comprises 54 states and the

as well as four governments and two international organizations that hold observer status. DCAF is organized as a think-and-do tank and at the headquarters its work is carried out according to four pillars: * ** Policy & Research Division ** Gender & Security Division ** Business & Security Division * ** Europe & Central Asia Division ** Middle East & North Africa Division ** Sub-Saharan Africa Division ** Asia-Pacific Unit ** Latin America & Caribbean Unit * * ** Financial Resources ** Human Resources ** Administration & Support Services

References

{{Portal bar, Switzerland, Politics, Society Research institutes in Switzerland Research institutes of international relations Maison de la Paix Military education and training National security institutions Peace organisations based in Switzerland Public policy schools Security organizations Security sector governance and reform Foundations based in Switzerland International organisations based in Switzerland Organisations based in Geneva Think tanks established in 2000 2000 establishments in Switzerland Foreign policy and strategy think tanks in Europe

Mandate

Activities

Infrastructure, staff and budget

Organization

See also

References