Madagascar
For over forty years, Madagascar has been caught up in a succession of political crises that have undermined the country’s social and institutional fabric. The security sector faces numerous governance challenges, including interference of defence and security forces in politics, increased distrust from the public towards law enforcement agencies, and insufficient oversight of the justice and security sectors.
In 2014, Madagascar embarked on a process to reform its security sector and the next year became a member state of DCAF’s Foundation Council. Since then, DCAF has supported Madagascar in implementing reforms towards improved accountability and oversight of the police, gendarmerie, and armed forces.
Workstreams/Projects
- a project to improve accountability of the National Police through targeted support to the Inspectorate-General of the National Police (IGPN) (funded by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, 2017-2018)
- a project to incorporate the concept of "community policing" into police and gendarmerie academies (funded by the UN Development Programme, 2018)
- a project to promote a culture of ethical behaviour within the National Police and Gendarmerie forces through an effort to increase internal control (funded by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France and the International Organisation of Francophonie, 2019-2021)
Our current work builds on the achievements listed above. It is focused on establishing robust internal control mechanisms within the armed forces and is made possible with funding from the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France.
In 2021, the Ministry of Defence announced an implementation plan (2021-2023) for the restructuring of the armed forces. Among the different strategic areas concerned, it prioritizes the strengthening of good governance, including the creation of an internal control and risk management system. This encompasses the rules and processes to ensure staff perform professionally and effectively, and to prevent, report and investigate misconduct.
DCAF has delivered technical training to members of the Ministry of Defence and various divisions (air, land, sea) of the armed forces of Madagascar to establish an internal control and risk management system. The areas of administrative responsibility of the trained individuals range from human resources to ethics, military investigations, finance, and operations. All individuals have been trained for the purpose of transmitting their skills to their peers through dedicated training programs facilitated by the Military Academy.
A ministerial directive that was drafted with technical support from DCAF will further anchor the establishment of the internal control system by laying a legal basis for the introduction of guiding principles, processes, and prerequisites.
PUBLICATIONS
Contacts
Sophie Frediani, SSR Adviser (s.frediani@dcaf.ch)
Anne Bennett, Head of Sub-Saharan Africa Division(a.bennett@dcaf.ch)