The United Nations system funds significant public safety and security policy research for Small Island Developing States. The United Nations Development Programme runs active programs across 39 SIDS nations in the Caribbean, Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Atlantic regions. The UN Climate Security Mechanism is actively developing climate-security frameworks for Pacific Island nations. The Commonwealth Secretariat provides governance and rule of law technical assistance to 54 member states — the majority of which are island and coastal nations.
These organizations share a structural challenge: they commission research to support program design and policy development for island communities, but the research institutions available to them were built for continental policy environments. The academic institutions that produce the research UN bodies rely on conduct their fieldwork in urban continental settings. Their theoretical frameworks assume organizational scale, geographic redundancy, and mutual aid infrastructure that island communities do not have.
ISPI fills this gap as a research institution dedicated to island and coastal-state public safety and security policy. ISPI commissions from international organizations typically take the form of research reports or assessment reports covering specific SIDS policy questions across ISPI's seven research domains.
Current international commission opportunities
The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat's Peace and Security Division commissioned the 2025 Pacific Security Outlook Report and regularly develops research on Pacific security priorities. ISPI's governance, emergency management, and law enforcement research is directly aligned with PIF security program priorities.
UNDP's ISLANDS project spans 33 SIDS across Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific regions with active funding for island resilience research. ISPI's supply chain security and emergency management research maps directly to UNDP SIDS program priorities.
The Commonwealth Secretariat's Rule of Law and Public Security Division supports governance and security capacity development for 54 Commonwealth member states — predominantly island and coastal nations. ISPI's democratic resilience and governance research is directly applicable to Commonwealth island member security programs.
CARICOM's Implementation Agency for Crime and Security and the Regional Security System coordinate Caribbean island security policy and commission independent research from international institutions. ISPI's law enforcement workforce and community policing research maps to Caribbean security challenges documented across CARICOM member states.
International organizations commissioning island security research are invited to contact ISPI at ISPIGlobal@proton.me.
