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Africa Up Close

Africa Up Close is the blog of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars' Africa Up Close.
Showing posts from category Lessons from the Field. Show all posts
  • Lessons from the Field:

    Is South Africa’s “Born Free” Generation Truly Free?

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    By Joseph Mullen  // Tuesday, September 10, 2019

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    Nobel Square in Cape Town, South Africa. Photo courtesy of FedericoLukkini via Flickr Commons. 

    On the 18th of July, the cavalry came to Cape Town.

    In a surprise move, the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) arrived in Manenberg and began conducting search and seizure operations—their mission—combating the startling rise of gang-related violence in Cape Town.

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    Topics: Lessons from the Field, Southern Africa
  • Lessons from the Field:

    The Politics of Land and State Stability in Africa

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    By Matt Kandel  // Monday, November 27, 2017

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    Pictured here is a rural scene in Uganda, taken in 2010. Photo courtesy of the US Army via Flickr Commons. 

    In October of 2012, I was seated with a small group of residents in a village in rural eastern Uganda. These residents were participants in my focus group interview, and the matter of discussion was land. Those present accused certain local government officials of “grabbing” land from their village and complained that their voices were not being heard by the central government. The words used by one middle-aged man to express the prevailing sentiments at the meeting were concise and without need for parsing: “We are refugees in our own homeland.”

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    Topics: Eastern Africa, Governance and Emerging Global Challenges, Human Security, Lessons from the Field
  • Lessons from the Field / Southern Voices:

    Localizing African Structural Transformation: Voicing Lessons from Madagascar

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    By Olivia K. Lwabukuna & Nicasius Check Achu  // Thursday, September 8, 2016

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    The 2009 uprising in Madagascar that led to the overthrow of President Marc Ravalomanana and the subsequent intervention of the African Union (AU) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) shook Madagascar to its core. The political crisis, which began with tensions and protests, culminated in violence against the opposition, a Malagasy military intervention, and the ousting of the president. President Ravalomanana’s removal was followed by an AU and SADC intervention to mediate and resolve the conflict.

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    Topics: Lessons from the Field, Peacebuilding, Development and the New Economic Paradigm, Southern Voices
  • Lessons from the Field:

    Mauritania: Continued Progress, or Stuck in the Sand?

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    By Scott Mastic  // Monday, May 23, 2016
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    STUCK IN THE SAND: Mauritania’s continued democratic development depends on a few key decisions. A car lodged in the desert in Tunisia. Photo by fjaviernunez, Creative Commons via Pixabay.

    Mauritania has reached a pivotal point in its post-2008 coup political transformation, when military officers overthrew the country’s first democratically elected government. The country is situated where the Maghreb states of North Africa meet the Sahel states south of the Sahara. Neither wholly Arab/Berber nor wholly Black West African, its history and culture are deeply entwined with both regions. Outsiders often mistakenly relegate the country to a secondary status; however, if Mauritanian leaders make the right decisions on three important issues, the country can become a democratic development leader in the greater Maghreb-Sahel region, just as it has been a leader on counterterrorism. These three issues are the government’s continued fidelity to Mauritania’s constitution, full government partnership with civil society, and renewal of the country’s institutions by full political participation in fresh elections by all democratically-inclined parties.

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    Topics: Lessons from the Field, Northern Africa, Western Africa
  • Lessons from the Field:

    What Works and What’s Wasteful: An Insider Perspective on Funding the African Environmental Sector

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    By Devon Knudsen  // Monday, June 1, 2015
    Photo by Devon Knudsen

    Photo by Devon Knudsen
    Buckets of charcoal in Kenya

    Partially in response to being a hub of environmental conflict, Kenya is also a hub of environmental activity. As the home of Wangari Maathai and the U.N. Environment Program, Kenya is also a founding member of IGAD, originally IGADD, when the DD’s stood for drought and development. Expansively mandated, IGADD was an impressive African environmental initiative to respond to what, even in the 1980s, was recognized as a major impending crisis. More recently, CNN Hero Evans Wadongo, Goldman Prize winner Ikal Angelei, and Global Energy Award finalist Teddy Kinyanjui are proof of how Kenyan youth are using their renowned entrepreneurship to help their communities.

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    Topics: Lessons from the Field
  • Lessons from the Field:

    The Role of Science, Technology, and Innovation in Africa’s Growth [1]

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    By Joseph Atta-Mensah  // Friday, May 22, 2015

    5893999448_914b072633_zAfrica’s growth performance remains relatively impressive, growing at 3.3 percent in 2014 up from 3.2 per cent in 2013,[2] driven mainly by improving regional business environment, good governance, sound macroeconomic management, increasing investments in infrastructure, and increasing trade and investment ties with emerging economies .

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    Topics: Lessons from the Field
  • Lessons from the Field:

    China Integrates the African Continent

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    By Robert I. Rotberg  // Thursday, February 26, 2015

    8034628815_9113275eb2_zDeclaring it “the most substantive project the AU has ever signed with a partner,” Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chairperson of the African Union Commission, praised China late last month for agreeing to help the African continent knit its disparate infrastructure together.

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    Topics: Lessons from the Field
  • Lessons from the Field:

    Nigeria’s Uncertain Elections

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    By Belinda O'Donnell  // Monday, February 23, 2015

    16217447877_db5d399bd8_zThe Young Professionals in Foreign Policy Africa Discussion Group recently worked to unravel some of the knots in the details of Nigeria’s postponed elections, which the Jonathan Administration has delayed for six weeks.The decision to put Nigeria’s democratic process on ice is officially attributed to security concerns. In the context of Boko Haram’s insurgency in Nigeria’s north, voter disenfranchisement and violence are undoubtedly real threats. Yet the tenuous nature of the claim that a six-week delay can make an impact on a six-year insurgency has lead many observers to reframe the shift as something more cynical, and more anti-democratic.

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    Topics: Lessons from the Field
  • Lessons from the Field:

    Plunder and The Perils of Mugabe’s Zimbabwe

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    By Robert I. Rotberg  // Monday, February 16, 2015

    5939605586_230b37c247_z         Zimbabwe is expiring, again. More banks are failing, beer sales – a key indicator – have slumped dramatically since 2013, tourist arrivals are down, and the business confidence index is at lowest ebb since the wildly inflationary days of 2008. Most tellingly, President Robert Gabriel Mugabe in January told civil servants to be patient – he “hoped” that they would soon be paid their monthly wages on a regular basis (something which had not happened often in 2014).

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    Topics: Governance and Emerging Global Challenges, Human Security, Lessons from the Field
  • Lessons from the Field:

    Tensions Mount in Burundi as Elections Approach (Part II)

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    By Steve McDonald  // Thursday, February 5, 2015

    4211081751_e2db942078_zAs Burundi approaches elections this year, there are underlying pressures that leave little room for hope of reform. Violence and political tension plague the nation, depriving citizens of certain basic rights. This article takes an in depth look at political parties, previous elections and prospects for the 2015 elections in Burundi.  It is the second to a two part series. Please find the first part here.

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    Topics: Lessons from the Field
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