gradually taking root. This is proved by the communities' suddenly rediscovered inclination to get organised and participate in the local management of security issues. Certainly, if this communities' trend to ensure their own security is maintained and consolidated, the security system in Mali would increasingly become efficient. This is probably one of the best and most pertinent indicators of advancement in the area of security in modern Mali. · Secondly, t he financial and technical supports given to the public administration, local authorities and civil society organisations intervening in the areas of peace and security, as well as to the capacity-building of defence and security agencies, contributed to a large extent in reducing tensions between the civilian populations and the military, subdueing social unrest and smouldering anti-social behaviours. At the communities' level in particular, there is a gradual renewal of confidence, while security actors have been made aware of the need to focus efforts on preventive approach as a general strategy to entrench peace and security. It is true that security, in a country, cannot be evaluated in terms of arrested criminals or quelled riots. It can rather be measured by the number of dangerous situations that are successfully prevented. Actually, one of the Programme's approaches consists in assisting actors of the Security Sector to manage, upstream, situations likely to degenerate and thus preventing them from playing the role of fire fighters once the crisis breaks out and conflict erupts. · Thirdly, the Programme implementation did speed up the Security Sector's reform process. The latter was started right from the 1991 Revolution, with uncoordinated actions, particularly think-tank 82