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Civil society has become an indispensable part of the global discourses on democratization, good governance, sustainable development, and security. Differing perspectives view civil society as a legitimizing actor, a critical partner, and even a serious challenger in these discourses. This paper examines the ways in which civil society actions contribute to Security Sector Governance and Reform (SSG/R) and Sustainable Development Goal-16 (SDG-16). It argues that civil society’s ability to make significant contributions to SSG/R and SDG-16 rests on the interplay between endogenous factors such as its plurality, robustness, and civility and exogenous variables such as the regime type, state capacity, and relations with security providers. The differing combinations of these factors enable civil society to perform three major roles: (1) an agent of democratic accountability and civilian oversight; (2) a space for new discourses on security and development; and (3) an alternative provider of people-oriented security. This paper uses case studies of the Philippines, Tunisia, and Somalia, among others, to show the variation in the performance of these roles, the gains achieved by civil society organizations (CSOs), and the limitations and challenges posed by their involvement. It argues that efforts of civil society to improve SSG help meet some of the targets of SDG-16 that relate to improving accountability, transparency, and participation. This paper concludes by examining the implications of civil society’s participation in the future sustainability of SSG/R as a framework and the progress toward the realization of SDG-16 and providing viable policy recommendations for actors at the international, state, and societal levels.

This open access book constitutes papers from the research workshops presented at XP 2022 and XP 2023, respectively the 23rd and 24th International Conferences on Agile Software Development, held on June 13-17, 2022 at the IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark and June 13-16, 2023 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. XP is the premier agile software development conference combining research and practice. It is a unique forum where agile researchers, practitioners, thought leaders, coaches, and trainers get together to present and discuss their most recent innovations, research results, experiences, concerns, challenges, and trends. XP conferences provide an informal environment to learn and trigger discussions and welcome both people new to agile and seasoned agile practitioners. In 2022, the following workshops took place: ● 3rd International Workshop on Agility with Microservices Programming ● 2nd International Workshop on Agile Sustainability ● Agile and Education In 2023, six workshops were held: ● Workshop on Organisational Debt and Large-Scale Agile ● Workshop on Software-Intensive Business ● Workshop on Global and Hybrid Work ● Workshop on Fear-Based Agile Transformation ● Workshop on AI-assisted Agile ● Workshop on Agile-Quantum Software Engineering In 2022, 6 workshop papers were accepted for publication in these post-proceedings, out of 11 submissions, and in 2023, 15 papers were accepted for publication out of 38 submissions.

This open access book constitutes the revised selected papers of the First International Symposium on AI, Data and Digitalization, SAIDD 2023, held in Sogndal, Norway, during May 9–10, 2023. The 13 full papers included in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 42 submissions. The papers deal with the impact of data and AI on the digital revolution and their contribution to solving societal challenges.