Measuring Security Progress: Politics, Challenges and Solutions

Measuring security in fragile contexts is both politically laden and operationally challenging. The purpose of this expert event is to explore both these facets, while providing an opportunity to showcase examples of innovative practices from the field.

At the core of this discussion is the reality that the measurement of security, just like its definition, its provision and its oversight, is innately political. That is, it can be configured to serve particular interests and ambitions. So when discussing how to measure security, we begin with the question: To what end? Who is demanding this ‘evidence’ of progress, and for what purpose do they intend to use the information gathered? The first session will take a candid look the distinct audiences that different indicators serve, and how this influences the selection or promotion of certain measures.

Moving from the conceptual to the practical, the second half of the day will showcase innovative ways of capturing security progress. The unpredictable collection environment typical of most post-conflict contexts requires practitioners to employ an element of creativity and comprehensive context awareness in designing ways to measure security progress. It is likely that – compared to externally designed programs – locally defined methods for measurement will have a better understanding of what is feasible, what is relevant, and can prompt useful (and, ideally, locally-driven) responses. This is not to assume that local populations are monolithic or security is equitably distributed; attention must also be given to understanding how certain groups’ security perceptions may be promoted, while others’ are neglected.

Program | 20 November 2014