Exporting security to Africa at its most volatile: the GAR-SI Sahel project and the role of Spain’s Guardia Civil in rebuilding Sahelian security

Abstract

ABSTRACT Through research based on participant observations, interviews, the application of the Delphi technique and a SWOT analysis, this paper presents a qualitative evaluation of the first phase of the GAR-SI Sahel project, a major project that aims to bring security to the world’s poorest, as well as most volatile, region: the Sahel. Seven experts from military institutes in France, Portugal and Italy participated in the study, as well as six instructors from the Special Training Center of the Guardia Civil based in Logroño, Spain. Phase I of the GAR-SI Sahel project consists of a two-month training program, developed entirely at the Center, with the aim of training future commanders and trainers of the GAR-SI Sahel units of the project’s beneficiary countries Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal. Through several rounds of semi-structured interviews and a categorical classification of the information obtained, this article offers an exploratory and evaluative description of the initial starting situation of Phase I of the project, as well as the progress of some proposals for improvement aimed at consolidating the GAR-SI Sahel project, as well as in its objective, the Sahel region as such, over time.