DCAF's Asia-Pacific Unit (APU) has partnerships with institutions from eight countries in South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. APU's SSG network thus spans every single country in the region. It is working hard to maintain and intensify its presence in the region. 

From 5 to 7 September 2019 the first SSG Forum in South Asia was held in Dhulikhel, Nepal. The forum provided a platform for constructive conversations about the SSG/R challenges that the region faces, and discussed a wide range of topics. Examples are gender and security, cybersecurity, disaster preparedness, legal frameworks for security actors, climate change, P/CVE and border control.

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Since then, more than 10 national working group meetings have been held, including in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Representatives from various parts of security sectors (e.g. civil society, military, parliament, justice system) discuss challenges and opportunities in these national working group meetings. They provide a platform for discussion on how to move forward with improving security sector governance at the national level. You can read more about these on our activities feed.