The podcast series "Donors Talk SSR" highlights areas and practices that are important to the international community in their efforts to provide strategic and operational assistance to support governance, security, and justice reforms in fragile and conflict-affected environments.

Each episode hosts an international expert. Together we explore good practices and identify gaps in both new and old SSG/R themes.

This episode features Petra van Oijen, security sector governance and reform expert. It reflects on Petra’s significant contribution over the past 20 years to our sector, through national security strategy development, gender equality, civil-military relations, trainings, and beyond - as one of the women who has helped build the field that we work in today.

This two-part episode explores how trauma in security institutions, in particular the police, affects the wellbeing of its individual members, the organization as a whole, and relationships between communities and security forces.
Featured on the episode are Abigail Robinson (independent expert in security sector governance and reform), Dan Hales (Head of the DCAF Honduras Office), and Dr. Karen Treisman (clinical psychologist, organisational consultant, trainer and author).

Part 1

Part 2

Featuring Michal Mlynár, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Acting Executive Director of UN-Habitat, this episode recognises his significant contributions to the field - spanning almost 30 years - working on issues related to international organisations, security sector governance, development cooperation, and humanitarian aid.

This episode features Thammy Evans, Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council GeoTech Center, and reflects on Thammy’s significant contribution over the past 20 years to the fields of defence reform and governance, conflict prevention, and climate security - as one of the women who has helped build the field that we work in today.

Featuring Brendan Schulman, Vice President of Policy and Government Relations at Boston Dynamics, this episode unpacks the potential and challenges of integrating robotics and AI in law enforcement.

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This episode features Ville Savoranta, Policy Officer with the Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability of the European External Action Service. Reflecting on youth, peace, and security, Ville recalls his experience working on the Finnish National Action Plan on youth, peace, and security at the Crisis Management Center in Finland, and the importance for youth organizations to drive forward negotiations, as well as how critical it is to integrate youth, peace, and security in the planning and design of EU civilian CSDP missions, including identifying opportunities for entry-level experts in missions.

 

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This episode features Georgia Hinds, Legal Adviser on New Technologies of Warfare in the Arms and Conduct of Hostilities Unit at the ICRC. Through the lens of her work at the ICRC, Georgia unpacks the “black box” of artificial intelligence, looking at the challenges of integrating AI in autonomous weapons systems, and what this means for the conduct of warfare and security governance.

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This episode features our Justice Advisor, Shahzada Ahmad. Shahzada has over 15 years of experience in development and has worked across many contexts on legal framework reforms, rule of law, and access to justice. In this episode, Shahzada explores the emerging role of digitalisation and new technologies in justice reform, looking at success stories, challenges, and what international partners need to consider when supporting digitalisation projects related to justice reform.

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This episode features DCAF ISSAT’s Head of Advisory Field Support and Senior SSR Advisor, Dr. Anicia Lala.  It recognizes her significant contributions over the past 25 years to the fields of security, justice, governance, democratisation, peacebuilding, and conflict prevention, particularly in Africa. Through this podcast, Dr. Lala reflects on how SSR has developed in the African continent, including the persisting opportunities to continue to build momentum for change, and create opportunities for innovative solutions.

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This episode features our SSR Advisor, Viola Csordas. Viola’s work has focused on the link between SSG/R and livelihood issues such as climate and environmental security, disaster reduction, and food security. In this episode, Viola shares insights and on-the-ground examples to highlight the important role the security and justice sector must play in ensuring basic human needs as well as ways in which the international community can operationalise the triple nexus.

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This episode features our Senior SSR Advisor, Hervé Auffret. Hervé's 33-year old military career, served his home-country, France, as well as multiple nations across Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East to support human security and defence strategy design. In this episode, Hervé shares insights on the importance of the "human factor" in any defence institution.

More episodes soon available on DCAF Spotify channel