and victim support groups and prisoner assistance organisations like ZACRO. Finally in the non-state sector we have various oversight organisations including human rights organisations and other NGOs, academic and research institutions, women’s associations, trade unions and the media. We should also in this context add citizens, not just as recipients of security services, but as partners in developing policy and implementing safety and security measures. Thus the actors involved in a broader definition of the security sector and in security sector transformation must include both traditional state actors and a range of non-state actors who have previously been excluded from policy formulation and implementation in the security sector. It is this broader definition of the security sector that I will largely refer to in addressing the challenges of transforming the security sector in Zimbabwe. What is security sector reform (or transformation)? In 2013 the African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government adopted an AU “Policy Framework on Security Sector Reform (SSR)” which closely follows this broader definition of the security sector, and which as I have asserted is clearly reflected in the new Zimbabwe Constitution adopted in the same year, although without using any of the security sector reform or transformation terminology. The AU SSR policy framework locates itself within the logic of necessary institutional transformation, which “should be part of a broader reform effort and an essential element of peace-making, early recovery, peace-building and sustainable development agendas” but also requires that “the security sector should be subject to regular institutional review”. The latter element is of course perhaps obvious. All institutions and processes benefit from regular assessment and review and the incorporation of new information, technologies, challenges and opportunities. The AU framework itself conforms to the core elements of the global conceptual framework on SSR, reflected for example in the United Nations formulation, which essentially requires a holistic and integrated approach taking account of the full range of factors and actors impacting on citizen safety and security and bringing human security into a more balanced relationship with state security. Other key elements of both the AU and global frameworks address issues of modernization, professionalization, effective delivery of security and democratic oversight. Establishing a clear set of “core African principles” the AU Policy Framework strongly emphasizes national ownership and context specificity, noting that: “Current African security sectors are a result of very diverse backgrounds that have 5