Beyond the rhetoric - Improving security outcomes through joined-up government solutions

Yonique Campbell, Contributor

Has the state cultivated sufficient and meaningful inter-agency strategies to address our major security threats? Security is a multifaceted challenge that cuts across various issues and sectors.

This means the creation of networks across government is an indispensable tool for creating solutions to our security problems: arguably, crime, social and economic depri-vation, gangs and gang-related activities, drug trafficking, human trafficking and natural disasters. Evidently, most ministries and departments of govern-ment have a role to play in tackling these broad problems. The issue is not whether they are playing a role, but whether they are joining up to play their part.

There is a sense that much more joining-up should take place in the public sector in order to improve the outcomes of our security strategies, and ensure more comprehensive and sustainable solutions. Joined-up government is, however, a difficult job to get done - there is confusion about what the rhetoric really means, and how to actually implement security policies across agencies with different goals and priorities. In light of these and other problems, most agencies seem inclined to use narrow departmental approaches, or very minimal collaboration. Undoubtedly, this reduces the impact of our efforts, and prevents the cultivation of optimal solutions at the organisational and community level to address our main security concerns.

Joined-up Government

Joined-up government (JUG) is not the panacea for our national-security problems, but it is an important step. JUG is premised on the idea that the critical objectives of public policy cannot be delivered through the separate activities of existing organisations, given the interconnected nature of the challenges we face as a society. It emphasises the need for government agencies - both central and local - to work together at multiple levels to harness the resources and expertise of a wide array of actors, and to stay focused on the 'big picture'.

JUG aims to develop strategies that bring together the entire government, or significant parts of the whole. It requires, in most instances, a renegotiation of established lines of accountability, and the provision of mechanisms to resolve conflicts that naturally arise when institutions with different goals are mandated to work towards a national priority, such as security.

Joining up to solve security problems

The Ministry of National Security assumes responsibility for issues pertaining to national security, but owing to the interconnected, complex and changing dynamics of our security challenges, the ministry's success in curbing crime depends on the timely and inclusive work of a number of other agencies. It is usually through consultation and ongoing dialogue that each agency comes to appreciate this fact. The case for joining-up government has become even more pressing in light of the realisation that Jamaica also has a human-security problem. By focusing on human security,  the 1997 Human Development Report instigated a radical shift inthe security debates and challenged local policymakers to view and approach security in much broader terms.

Unlike traditional notions of security, human security recognises that threats to the individual can take non-violent, as well as violent, forms - it recognises the critical intersection between freedom from fear and freedom from want. In this dispensation, poverty and other extreme social ills are treated not merely as underpinning causes of insecurities, but also as funda-mental security threats. JUG offers a way of effectively combining hard and soft strategies to address these varied threats. It ensures that the human and financial resources of all government agencies are brought together simultaneously to deal with the interconnected national and human security issues that continue to threaten the safety and well-being of all Jamaicans. The poverty that threatens the survival and dignity of lower-class communities must be attended to at the same time that we deal with the violent threats some of them pose to our society.

Difficulties with implementing JUG

Although security is one of the most significant developmental issues facing Jamaica, there are a number of reasons JUG may be resisted as a viable solution. The pervasiveness of 'silo mentalities' makes it hard to harness resources across the security and other sectors. While the work of the core security agencies is complemented by a myriad of social-intervention programmes, both governmental and non-governmental, there is limited space created for joint efforts. Consequently, each agency appears to be pursuing its own mandate, without considering how to create sustainable synergies and work in tandem with other institutions on issues that obviously impact on the outcome of its programmes. The work of organisations such as the Social Development Commission, the Jamaica Social Investment Fund, HEART Trust/NTA, the Community Safety Initiative and the Citizen Security and Justice Programme must be more aligned at the organisational and community level, since they all appear to be working towards somewhat related, if not similar, goals.

Understandably, too, it might be difficult to cultivate JUG in a sector where there is no ingrained culture of interagency cooperation. Many have complained that self-interest and the protection of turf often take precedence over concerns with building critical relationships with other agencies. Given limited resources, departments and agencies are also reluctant to join-up as they see this as a distraction from the provision of their core activities. Different institutions also have varied ideas about how to approach security problems - as a first step, even a collective agreement on the role that each agency should play in achieving our security priorities can prove a daunting task.

Possible Solutions

Failure to institute JUG to deal with issues affecting national security is not only a Jamaican problem; after more than 10 years of attempting to successfully join up, the United Kingdom is still struggling to make good on its intentions. JUG requires joint security budgets, which are only accessible to agencies involved in the implementation of cross-sector programmes. This creates an incentive for agencies to contribute to the implementation of security programmes, which are not necessarily viewed as part of their core mandate, and for which they would otherwise not have sufficient financial resources to commit.

Policymakers are also more likely to participate in joint efforts when they see clear benefits for their organisations. This can be a problem, since joint efforts may not help in the achievement of the major goals of all organisations involved. This is why it is important for joined-up government to be mandated, and consistently supported at the highest levels when dealing with issues pertaining to our national priorities.

The need for leadership and capacity cannot be overstated. People placed in positions to lead coordinated efforts must be people with technical capacities, who are committed to the task and able to build trust with other agencies, and who have the core competencies to bring people together from diverse portfolios. The capacity must exist to link funding and programmatic goals with objectives at the management and operational levels across institutions. Interagency cooperation has to get beyond joining up to write security policies and programmes, to actually delivering important policy outcomes on the ground where it matters most.

While the present level of coordination in the security sector is promising, albeit limited, protocols and rules around data sharing should be improved and formalised to ensure that our systems are well connected, and unintended consequences of not efficiently sharing information are avoided. There are notable initiatives to create more joined-up structures in the security sector: the work of the National Security Council, holistic policy frameworks such as the National Security Policy for Jamaica, and public-private committees are all important steps.

The current Public Sector Transformation Programme (PTSP) presents an opportunity that should be seized with alacrity to strengthen these structures, and to build important relationships among all agencies that have a critical role to play in creating a safer, more secure Jamaica, broadly conceived. The PSTP has to find ways of ensuring that it strengthens available mechanisms such as interministerial committees, and also find innovative ways of joining up to tackle our institutionally boundless security threats.

Yonique Campbell, a Jamaican Commonwealth Scholar, is a DPhil student at Oxford University. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and yoniquecampbell@gmail.com.