Just Future Programme

The African Security Sector Network (ASSN) is part of the ‘Just Future’ Programme, a consortium of six established CSOs and networks from the Global North and South. The programme seeks to strengthen the capacity of CSOs in six fragile and conflict-affected countries to enable their collective action towards more inclusive and peaceful societies.

The Just Future Alliance (JFA) is a consortium led by Cordaid and consisting of 6 established CSOs and networks from the Global North and South. The JFA will work to strengthen the capacity of CSOs in a number of fragile and conflict-affected states and enable their collective action to bring about more inclusive and peaceful societies, inspired in large part by the vision of SDG16+.

The programme will be implemented across 6 countries: Afghanistan, Burundi, DRC, Mali, Niger and South Sudan, as well as at the regional and global level, with generous funding from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Just Future programme is informed by the following long-term impact:

Improved accessibility, responsiveness and accountability of security and justice institutions, and inclusive political decision-making and peace processes, achieved by mobilizing civil society for collective action and advocacy that contributes to acceleration and localization of SDG16+ in the 6 fragile countries.

This impact will be delivered through achievement of 3 programme outcomes (POs), specifically:

  1. Security providers are more responsive, accountable and people-centred, and take action enabling the most excluded constituencies to enjoy safety, protection and enforcement of the law (PO1);
  2. Justice providers are more accessible, responsive and accountable, and take action enabling the most excluded constituencies, to defend and enforce their rights, redress grievances and resolve disputes through diverse pathways to justice (PO2);
  3. Political decision-making, especially in regards to peace processes, is more inclusive of and accountable to the most excluded constituencies, which are able to influence and negotiate collectively with duty-bearers and power-holders in a context of adequate civic space and respect for human rights (PO3).

The ASSN’s role in the programme focuses largely on PO1 (‘People-centred Security’), and broadly categorized under Training and Capacity Strengthening, Research and Advocacy. We will be active in 4 out of the 6 project countries (South Sudan, DRC, Mali, Niger) as well as at the regional level with the African Union (AU), and RECs (IGAD, ECCAS and ECOWAS).

The Just Future Consortium consists of the African Security Sector Network (ASSN), Women’s International Peace Centre (WIPC), West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), The Liaison Office Afghanistan (TLO), Search for Common Ground and Cordaid. Next to the Consortium, the Alliance consists of 3 research partners: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Rift Valley Institute (RVI) and Van Vollenhoven Institute of Leiden University (VVI). Finally, the Civil Society Platform for Peacebuilding and Statebuilding (CSPPS) is the network partner of the Alliance.

For more information about Just Future, please click for the Project’s kick off document, Theory of Change full narrative in both English and French .