Southern Africa Parliamentarians Forum 2023

Strengthening Relationships between Parliament and the Security Sector

Academic Program

November 13–17, 2023

 English | Français | Português

Information Note
Schedule
Syllabus
Biographies

Program Overview

Presented by:

Dr. Catherine Lena Kelly
Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Justice and Rule of Law,
Africa Center for Strategic Studies

Session 1  |  November 13, 2023

Security Sector Governance as an Executive Branch Oversight Tool

Presented by:

Dr. Boubacar N’diaye
Professor Emeritus, The College of Wooster

Objectives:

• Understand the range of executive branch, legislative, and judicial institutions that facilitate democratic and civilian oversight of the security sector, as well as why strengthening relationships between the security sector and parliamentary officials is important for making oversight effective.
• Explore how security sector governance can help to address the current security threats and emerging security trends in southern Africa that parliamentary and security sector officials encounter in their work.
• Get familiar with a practical framework for analyzing the quality of oversight of the security sector, based on assessing the “3As”: ability (whether legislators have the resources and capacity to conduct oversight), authority (whether legislators have the legal mandate and standing orders to conduct oversight), and attitude (whether legislators have the motivation and incentives to conduct oversight).

Session 2  |  November 13, 2023

Roles and Responsibilities of Parliaments and the Security Sector in Oversight

Presented by:

Honorable Inna Hengari
Member of the Public Accounts Committee – National Assembly of Namibia

Brigadier General (Professor) Dan Kuwali
Commandant, Malawi National Defence College

Objectives:

• Delineate parliamentarians’ key responsibilities in the domains of oversight, accountability, and outreach elements of security sector governance.
• Understand the core roles that various parts of the security sector play in democratic and civilian security sector governance.
• Analyze the range of successes and challenges that southern African parliamentary officials and defense/security sector officials have experienced in the exercise of their roles and responsibilities.

Session 3  |  November 14, 2023

Developing Inclusive Security Strategies

Presented by:

Joel Amegboh
Assistant Professor for African Security Studies, Africa Center for Strategic Studies

Fairlie Chappuis
Adjunct Professor, Africa Center for Strategic Studies

Objectives:

• Explore the seven cyclical stages of national security strategy development to identify where parliamentarians and defense/security officials can enhance opportunities to make the process inclusive for citizens and constituents.
• Analyze the ways and means that security sector officials have to engage with parliamentarians in order to develop and implement national security strategies and policies that facilitate the delivery of security and justice to citizens.
• Discuss how parliamentarians and parliamentary staff can work with national security advisory bodies to monitor and evaluate the implementation of strategy in ways that enhance citizen security and civilian oversight of the defense sector.

Session 4  |  November 14, 2023

Defense Budgeting

Presented by:

Dr. Emile Ouédraogo
Adjunct Professor of Practice, Africa Center for Strategic Studies

Dr. Mphatso Jones Bothi-Phiri
Member of Parliament, National Assembly of Malawi

Objectives:

• Assess the tools and techniques that parliamentarians can use to engage with the security sector to effectively oversee defense and security budgets throughout the budget cycle.
• Discuss how parliamentarians and security sector officials should deal with secret and classified information that is relevant to budgetary oversight.
• Analyze approaches and tools that parliamentarians have to ensure transparency in security and defense procurement, and how best they can use those tools to prevent corruption and improve the efficient and effective management of security resources.

Session 5  |  November 16, 2023

Professionalism and Ethics

Presented by:

Honorable Annelize van Wyk
Trustee and Deputy Chairperson – African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum

Brigadier General Joyce Sitienei
Director, IPSTC

Objectives:

• Explore similarities and differences in the professional norms and ethical codes of conduct that define the relationships of parliamentarians and the wider security sector to the citizens that they serve, identifying points of synergy and areas of tension in the approaches of different institutions to their respective missions.
• Analyze the ways and means that parliamentarians have to foster security service professionalism vis-à-vis citizens, and how best they can use those tools to address security actors’ abuses or breaches of ethics and conduct.
• Compare and contrast the tools that parliamentarians and security sector officials have to ensure transparency in security and defense procurement, and how they can best use those tools to improve the management of security resources.

Session 6  |  November 16, 2023

Building Relationships with Communities and Civil Society

Presented by:

Ms. Asafika Mpako
Communications Coordinator for Southern Africa, Afrobarometer

Mr. Ghalib Galant
Chair of the Board of the Parliamentary Monitoring Group

Objectives:

• Consider the approaches and tools that parliamentary and defense/security officials can use to help governments establish security policies that reflect the interests of an inclusive range of constituents and incorporate civil society expertise.
• Compare and contrast ways that parliamentarians and defense/security officials can learn from the citizens they serve, whether through site visits, research consultations, open days at government institutions, constituency funds, civil affairs work, etc.
• Analyze the tools that parliamentarians and security sector officials have to enhance their public media communications with constituents and communities about security issues and policies, so as to build trust with them.

Session 7  |  November 17, 2023

The Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) and its Role in Security Sector Governance

Presented by:

Ms. Boemo Sekgoma, Secretary General, SADC PF

Objectives:

• Understand the roles, responsibilities, and current initiatives related to security, defense, and democratic governance that the SADC PF is pursuing
• Examine SADC PF’s commitments to democracy, human rights, and governance that promote parliamentary roles in accountability and oversight
• Analyze how recent trends in African governance relate to the advancement of citizen security, and how SADC PF, as a regional parliament, fits into this agenda