Africa Up Close

Continue reading for events occurring throughout the D.C. area next week.

TUESDAY, MAY 21, 2013
Why Were Kenya’s 2013 Elections Peaceful?
Hosted by: U.S. Institute of Peace
Location: U.S. Institute of Peace
2301 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.
Time: 10:00am – 11:30pm
Summary: Based on the violent response to Kenya’s 2007 elections in which more than one thousand people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced, Kenyans and the international community were seized by the possibility of a repetition of the violence following the 2013 national elections. But Kenya remained relatively quiet through the election process, and Kenya’s economy, and that of the east African region, went undisturbed.
To understand why and how Kenya avoided electoral violence, it is necessary to understand the underlying conditions and triggers that set off the violence five years ago, why the circumstances were different in 2013, and the impact of interventions designed to prevent new violence. Please join the U.S. Institute of Peace on May 21, 2013 for a discussion of these issues and the lessons from Kenya’s peaceful elections that may be more broadly applicable.
For more information or to RSVP, please visit:
 http://www.usip.org/events/why-were-kenya-s-2013-elections-peaceful

Nigerian Dilemmas
Hosted by: U.S. Institute of Peace
Location: U.S. Institute of Peace
2301 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.
Time: 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Summary: International attention focused on Nigeria tends to fixate on terrorism. But there are other pressing issues. One is the Niger Delta where an amnesty for rebels has reduced the level of violence but has not settled the grievances of those in the Delta against the state and federal governments. Another is the run up to 2015 elections which hopefully will not generate the same level of violence that followed the last elections.
USIP recently published two Special Reports, one, entitled What’s Next for Security in the Niger Delta by Aaron Sayne, focused on the unfolding situation in the Niger Delta, and Midterm Challenges in Nigeria by John Paden on the run up the elections and the need to avoid conflict. A public workshop will feature the authors of these two reports along with an expert commentator.
For more information or to RSVP, please visit: http://www.usip.org/events/nigerian-dilemmas

WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 2013
Africa: Agriculture, Structural Change and the Urban Imperative
Hosted by: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Location: Woodrow Wilson Center
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20004
Time: 9:00am – 11:00am
Summary: (Co-sponsored with the USAID Alumni Association)

One of the foundations of development economics is the well-established proposition that the shift of capital, human and natural resources from low to high productivity uses is the key driver of economic growth.  Virtually all developing economies that have transformed themselves from low- to middle- and upper-income status have undergone profound changes in both their sectorial and spatial configurations.

Structural change is crucial for Africa’s future. The continent needs more high value-added activities ranging from agro-processing and manufacturing to tradable services in order to create jobs and sustain growth.  Urbanization is an essential component of that process by providing market demand and remittances for the rural economy; fostering entrepreneurship, economic modernization and diversification; offering a deeper labor market, higher income earning opportunity, and better access to services; and, creating the practical necessity for effective local governance and administration.

A panel of experts will examine the inter-related actions and processes that constitute structural change, the role that agriculture must play, the factors that make change an imperative, and the role that off-farm economic activity and policy – and spatial and urban processes and policies – will necessarily have to play to achieve the desired transformation.
For more information or to RSVP, please visit: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/africa-agriculture-structural-change-and-the-urban-imperative

What is The African Diaspora’s Responsibility towards Africa?
Hosted by: Institute for Policy Studies
Location: Institute for Policy Studies, IPS Conference Room
1112 16th St. NW, Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20036
Time: 12:00pm – 1:30pm
Summary: A Foreign Policy in Focus brown bag discussion in commemoration of African Liberation Day.
Over fifty years ago, the architects of African independence (Nkrumah, Nyerere, Lumumba, and many others) met in Accra, Tunis, and Cairo to discuss the way forward for Africa. The discussion then focused on post-colonial Africa – on self-determination, economic and social development, and involved a burgeoning but small intellectual class who were mostly educated outside of the Continent. Fast-forward 50 years and an approximately 30 million Africans live outside of Africa. Considering that many of these Africans often have greater access to capital, knowledge, and skills that could further fasten African development, are they the new architects of Africa’s future? Do they have a further responsibility towards the social & economic development of their respective countries? CompareAfrique.com will host a discussion on whether or not the Diaspora is essential to Africa’s development.
For more information or to RSVP, please visit: http://www.ips-dc.org/events/what_is_the_african_diasporas_responsibility_towards_africa

Jessica Buchanan & Erik Landemalm ‘Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six’
Hosted by: National Press Club
Location: National Press Club, Conference Rooms
529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20045
Time: 6:30pm
Summary: Jessica Buchanan and Erik Landemalm will discuss their book ‘Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six.’ A book signing will follow the discussion.

‘Impossible Odds’ is a harrowing and heart wrenching memoir of humanitarian aid worker Jessica Buchanan’s kidnapping by Somali land pirates, her three months in captivity, her rescue by the Navy SEALs, and her husband’s extraordinary efforts to help bring her home.

Registration is required. Tickets are free for NPC members and $5 for the general public. This event is a fundraiser for the National Press Club Journalism Institute.
For more information or to RSVP, please visit: http://www.press.org/events/impossible-odds

FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2013
A Global Overview of the Growing Internal Displacement Crisis
Hosted by: Brookings Institution
Location: Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium
1775 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, D.C. 20036
Time: 10:00am – 11:30am
Summary: 2012 saw the highest rates of internal displacement on record, with 28.8 million people around the world displaced within their own countries by armed conflict, human rights violations and violence. This is an increase of 2.4 million people over the number displaced in 2011. This rise was partially due to high-profile conflicts in countries such as Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo which had severe humanitarian consequences. People newly displaced in 2012 joined the millions who have been waiting for durable solutions to their situation for years, sometimes decades.

On May 24, the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) will present the findings of IDMC’s Global Overview 2012, which surveys the internal displacement situation in different countries around the world and analyzes the main causes that lead to the continued displacement of millions of men, women and children. Panelists will discuss directions for more effective responses to this growing, but unmet crisis and explore the role of governments, civil society and the international community at large in ensuring protection, assistance and ultimately solutions for those caught in displacement. Panelists include: Joel Charny, vice president for humanitarian policy and practice for InterAction; Kelly Clements, deputy assistant secretary administrator for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration at the U.S. Department of State; Nancy Lindborg, assistant administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance at USAID; and Frank Smith, head of department, Middle East, Europe, Caucasus, and Asia, IDMC. Senior Fellow Elizabeth Ferris, co-director of the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement, will provide introductory remarks and moderate the discussion.

After the program, panelists will take questions from the audience.
For more information or to RSVP, please visit: http://www.brookings.edu/events/2013/05/24-internal-displacement-crisis?rssid=UpcomingEvents&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BrookingsRSS%2Ftopfeeds%2FUpcomingEvents+%28Brookings+Upcoming+Events%29

Film Screening and Forum: From Cuba to Kuba
Hosted by: Institute for Policy Studies
Location Institute for Policy Studies, Cromwell Room
1112 16th St. NW, Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20036
Time: 7:30pm – 9:30pm
Summary: IPS’ Foreign Policy In Focus joins with Friends of The Congo to commemorate Che Guevara and the awakening of an internationalist movement.
From the Caribbean Island of Cuba to the Kongo Kingdom of Kuba in the heart of Africa. Join us to commemorate (or reflect on) the birth of Cuba’s Internationalism through remembering Che Guevara’s work in the Congo. Motivated by the (CIA-induced) assassination of democratically-elected Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in 1961, Che Guevara led a secret Cuban expedition to the Congo in April of 1965 under heavy disguise, to assist in the fight for liberation.

Through art, dance, drumming, documentaries, discussions and recollections, Friends of The Congo with IPS’ Foreign Policy In Focus will recount Cuba’s involvement in the Congo under Che’s leadership, discuss Cuba’s international solidarity efforts with African liberation movements, and explore how to carry Che’s torch in promoting solidarity between Africa and Latin America today.

We will be showing clips from Jihan El-Tahri’s documentary Cuba: An African Odyssey and Freddy Ilunga: Che’s Swahili Translator. Pan-Latin hors d’oeuvres will be provided by Cafe Arte followed by a discussion led by Ofunshi Oba Koso, President of MN Yoruba Cuba Association and protege of the late Freddy Ilanga (Che’s personal interpreter in the Congo) and Kambale Musavuli, Spokesperson of Friends of the Congo. Ofunshi will share his experience of growing up in Cuba as a young Afri-Cuban revolutionary under the tutelage of Freddy Ilunga, Victor Drake (Second-in-Command of Che’s guerilla unit in Congo) and other members of the historical mission.
For more information or to RSVP, please visit: http://www.ips-dc.org/events/film_screening_and_forum_from_cuba_to_kuba