Community Safety or Community Security (CS) is, according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), a concept that seeks to operationalize human security, human development and state-building paradigms at the local level. The contemporary concept of community security, narrowly defined, includes both group and personal security. The approach focuses on ensuring that communities and their members are "free from fear". Yet, a broader contemporary definition also includes action on a wider range of social issues to ensure "freedom from want". Like community safety and citizen security, it promotes a multi-stakeholder approach that is driven by an analysis of local needs. [1] By emphasizing the "community" aspect the concept seeks to embrace both cultures and contexts that are "individual-oriented", including many in Latin America, and cultures and contexts that are "group oriented", as are many in Africa and South Asia.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the United Nations' global development network.
The customization of CS programs depends on the specific context, but a core characteristic of the approach is a bottom-up focus on security creation and stabilization. As an approach, CS is not dealing with security creation on a national level, for instance through top-down legislation or peace agreements on a government level. Instead it focuses on short- and long term solutions to security problems in specific communities.
"Community" does not just refer to individual community members, but refers to all actors, groups and institutions within the specific geographic space. It therefore also includes civil society organizations, the police and the local authorities that are responsible for delivering security and other services in that area.
Examples of agencies working with a Community Safety approach are Saferworld, Danish Demining Group and the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF).
Saferworld is an international non-governmental organisation with conflict prevention and peacebuilding programmes in over 20 countries and territories in the Horn of Africa, the African Great Lakes region, Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasus. It was founded in Bristol, UK in 1989 and now has its main office in London.
Danish Demining Group (DDG) is the Human Security Unit under the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), specialised in clearing landmines and unexploded ordnance and reducing armed violence.
Biosafety is the prevention of large-scale loss of biological integrity, focusing both on ecology and human health. These prevention mechanisms include conduction of regular reviews of the biosafety in laboratory settings, as well as strict guidelines to follow. Biosafety is used to protect from harmful incidents. Many laboratories handling biohazards employ an ongoing risk management assessment and enforcement process for biosafety. Failures to follow such protocols can lead to increased risk of exposure to biohazards or pathogens. Human error and poor technique contribute to unnecessary exposure and compromise the best safeguards set into place for protection.
International development or global development is a broad concept denoting the idea that societies and countries have differing levels of 'development' on an international scale. It is the basis for international classifications such as developed country, developing country and least developed country, and for a field of practice and research that in various ways engages with international development processes. There are, however, many schools of thought and conventions regarding which are the exact features constituting the 'development' of a country.
Program evaluation is a systematic method for collecting, analyzing, and using information to answer questions about projects, policies and programs, particularly about their effectiveness and efficiency. In both the public and private sectors, stakeholders often want to know whether the programs they are funding, implementing, voting for, receiving or objecting to are producing the intended effect. While program evaluation first focuses around this definition, important considerations often include how much the program costs per participant, how the program could be improved, whether the program is worthwhile, whether there are better alternatives, if there are unintended outcomes, and whether the program goals are appropriate and useful. Evaluators help to answer these questions, but the best way to answer the questions is for the evaluation to be a joint project between evaluators and stakeholders.
The United Nations defines community development as "a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems." It is a broad term given to the practices of civic leaders, activists, involved citizens and professionals to improve various aspects of communities, typically aiming to build stronger and more resilient local communities.
Human security is an emerging paradigm for understanding global vulnerabilities whose proponents challenge the traditional notion of national security by arguing that the proper referent for security should be at the human rather than national level. Human security reveals a people-centred and multi-disciplinary understanding of security involves a number of research fields, including development studies, international relations, strategic studies, and human rights. The United Nations Development Programme's 1994 Human Development Report is considered a milestone publication in the field of human security, with its argument that insuring "freedom from want" and "freedom from fear" for all persons is the best path to tackle the problem of global insecurity.
Capacity building is the process by which individuals and organizations obtain, improve, and retain the skills, knowledge, tools, equipment and other resources needed to do their jobs competently or to a greater capacity. Capacity building and capacity development are often used interchangeably.
The concepts of security sector governance and reform generally refer to a process in Western-based international development and democratization to amend the security sector of a state towards good governance and its principles, such as freedom of information and the rule of law.
DCAF is an intergovernmental foundation-based think tank that provides research and project support to states and international actors in improving security sector governance and reform.
Mine action is a combination of humanitarian aid and development studies that aim to reduce the social, economic and environmental impact of landmines and the explosive remnants of war (ERW).
In computing, aspect-oriented software development (AOSD) is a software development technology that seeks new modularizations of software systems in order to isolate secondary or supporting functions from the main program's business logic. AOSD allows multiple concerns to be expressed separately and automatically unified into working systems.
Chernobyl Recovery and Development Programme (CRDP) is developed by the United Nations Development Programme and aims at ensuring return to normal life as a realistic prospect for people living in regions affected by Chernobyl disaster. The Programme provides continuing support to the Government of Ukraine for elaboration and implementation of development-oriented solutions for the regions. The CRDP, part of the United Nations Development Programme activities in Ukraine, has been launched based on the recommendations of “The Human Consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident. A strategy for Recovery”, the joint report by UN agencies initiated in February 2002. Since 2003 the CRDP is constantly working to mitigate long-term social, economic and environmental consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe, to create more favorable living conditions and to promote sustainable human development in the Chernobyl-affected regions. In partnerships with international organizations, oblast, rayon and state administrations, village councils, scientific institutions, non-governmental organizations and private business, CRDP supports community organizations and helps them to implement their initiatives on economic, social development and environmental recovery. In addition, the CRDP distributes information about the Chernobyl catastrophe internationally and within Ukraine.
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) is a service located within the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations that specializes in coordinating and implementing activities to limit the threat posed by mines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices.
Promoting recovery from conflict is not limited to simply a humanitarian, security or development issue and often involves a combination of all three. Stabilization of fragile states is an approach and a process regarding the fragility and security of said states. Hence, stabilization is an essential concept in relation to fragile and failed states, where basic institutions and services are lacking and where conflict is an influential factor. OECD uses the term from fragility to resilient to describe the process of stabilization.
The Social Protection Floor (SPF), is the first level of social protection in a national social protection system. It is a basic set of social rights derived from human right treaties, including access to essential services and social transfers, in cash or in kind, to guarantee income security, food security, adequate nutrition and access to essential services.
Communication for social change, referred to as communication for sustainable social change and development, involves the use of variety of communication techniques to address inefficient systems, processes, or modes of production within a specific location that has not incurred major technological advances. Different mediums and approaches are used to help individuals among the targeted society to acquire new knowledge and skills. This will allow communities not only to experience change but to guide it as well.
Gender and security sector reform is an emerging subfield of security sector reform (SSR) that is both practical and conceptual. SSR generally is a comprehensive framework within which all or part of a state's security sector undergoes a process of transformation in order to bring it more into line with principles such as democratic oversight, good governance and the rule of law. The overall objectives of SSR programmes – as defined both by the state in question and any international donors supporting the process – tend to include improving service delivery, enhancing local ownership and ensuring the sustainability of security sector institutions. As gender-specific approaches take into account the specific needs of men, women, boys and girls through gender mainstreaming and by promoting the equal participation of people of all genders in decision-making processes, states and international organisations increasingly consider them to be a necessary component of SSR programmes.
The Republic of Armenia was admitted into the United Nations on March 2, 1992. Since December 1992 when UN opened its first office in Yerevan, Armenia signed and ratified many international treaties. There are fifteen specialized agencies, programs and funds in the UN Country Team under the supervision of the UN Resident Coordinator. Besides, the World Bank (WB), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have offices in the country. The focus is drawn to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) stipulated by the Millennium Declaration adopted during the Millennium Summit in 2000. The MDGs have simulated never before practiced actions to meet the needs of the world's poorest. As the MDG achievement date of December 2015 draws closer a new set of global sustainable development goals is consulted worldwide, to be adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015. Armenia was included in the initial group of 50 countries to conduct national consultations on the global Post-2015 development agenda.