The outcomes of programs for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) are affected by the way in which they are implemented. More participatory approaches, where ex-combatants feel they have had more say and greater ownership, lead to better results. This is important for how DDR can contribute to the wider peace process and to peacebuilding itself. 
SSR Blog
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Tag | Sierra Leone
Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration: Does ownership actually matter?
By: Walt Kilroy | Friday, December 4th, 2015Does research influence security sector reform policy? Evidence from a Sierra Leone case-study
By: Andrea Edoardo Varisco | Friday, August 21st, 2015A recent article from Conflict, Security & Development focuses on the influence of research on British-led security sector reform (SSR) in Sierra Leone, examining some general issues and themes that characterize the use of research in SSR policy in fragile, conflict-affected environments.
Policing Engendered Security Sector Reform
By: Heather Murphy | Tuesday, October 28th, 2014Police reform is a primary component of any security sector reform (SSR) effort, especially since police are seen as the central institution for the protection and security of the population in most nations. Often, police are viewed negatively as agents of the state in times of conflict, frequently serving as enforcers or informants and thus
Transitional Justice and SSR: The case of Sierra Leone
By: Chris Bordeleau | Monday, April 8th, 2013Academics, think tanks, and non-government organizations (NGOs) alike are starting to take notice of the relationship between transitional justice and security sector reform (SSR).[1]
Disenfranchised youth in Sierra Leone: A Visit to a Diamond Mine in Kono
By: Michael Lawrence | Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013The brutal struggle over ‘blood diamonds’ in Sierra Leone is often characterized as a paradigmatic example of a resource war fuelled by greed, rather than grievance. Much scholarly work, however, challenges this account of the war’s causation. The country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that the war most likely would have occurred even in the
Bottom Up DDR: Sierra Leone’s Okada Riders
By: Michael Lawrence | Tuesday, March 19th, 2013In 2001-2, the United Nations supervised a disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) program in Sierra Leone that processed 72,000 individuals, the majority of whom were youth. The program was a great success in its ability to disarm society, dissolve the military ranks of the Revolutionary United Front and reduce the size of the Sierra Leonean
CIGI workshop on SSR highlights new trends and tensions
By: Mark Sedra | Monday, April 12th, 2010From March 11-12, 2010, CIGI held a workshop in Ottawa, sponsored by the Canadian Ministry of Public Safety, on “Security Sector Reform: Principles and Practice” (see description of workshop here). Attended by officials from across the Canadian government and a collection of SSR experts and practitioners from throughout the world, the aim of the workshop
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