The Security Management Initiative (SMI) is a research and training project designed to serve the international aid community and its national and international staff. Originally launched in 2004 by the Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research at Harvard University, SMI is currently based in Geneva, Switzerland, as a project of HPCR International.

Aid agency staff members with humanitarian, development or peacebuilding missions face increasingly dangerous and difficult working conditions. Conflict and post-conflict environments present a number of unique challenges to the occupational health, security and safety of international agencies’ staff.

SMI was created to addresses the challenges faced by international organizations by providing authoritative research, training and advisory services in risk and security management. It was developed as a follow-up to inquiries that highlighted serious challenges for security management in conflict areas.

The Initiative offers training programs and policy tools that emphasize building common practices for risk and security management, and provides advisory services.

SMI aims to enhance the capacity of non-profit and international agencies to improve risk and security management in hostile environments, and reduce the human and program costs for agencies and their staff operating under extreme workplace hazards.

A core objective of the SMI mission is the development and promotion of a robust security management culture among mid- to senior level professionals of aid agencies. In close cooperation with agencies, donors and other key stakeholders, the Initiative seeks to support a widely accepted and applied standard for the risk and security management of international aid agencies.

The SMI approach to the safety and security of personnel recognizes that:

• The challenges confronting staff security are systemic, affecting all aid agencies
• No individual aid agency has the means and methods to address these challenges on its own
• The gaps in security management are not only technical in nature but are strategic in their implications in terms of modus operandi of aid agencies and their professional culture
• The basic, authoritative knowledge of security management is often not available as yet and has to be generated, in particular using comparative studies of practice within the aid community and within other industries.
• Identifying and bridging gaps will require broad collaboration with all concerned stakeholders, including intergovernmental organizations, NGOs and NGO consortia, military, academia, private security companies, donor governments, and development agencies, as well as private sector companies.

With the aim of fostering common views to improve risk and security management in hazardous environments, SMI activities include:

• Building a network of risk and security management professionals through the provision of web-based policy tools and distance learning.
• Hosting expert conferences and advanced training in cooperation with academic and private sector providers to share best practices in risk and security environments.
• Providing advisory and consulting services to meet targeted needs of operational and security managers.

HPCR International’s Security Management Initiative works closely with the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland; the Swiss Ministry for Defense, Civil Protection, and Sports; the Geneva Centre for Security Policy; and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. It has benefited from the generous support of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

Third Senior Security Management Seminar

Geneva, Switzerland, November 10-12

This senior-level seminar aims to continue the discussion about key security issues for non-profit organizations / international organizations / international non-governmental organizations and their staff in hazardous environments. Seeking to identify strategic issues that affect the entire security community, this annual seminar focuses on current problems confronting senior operational and security managers. The seminar will take place at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. To learn more, please click on

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