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Africa Up Close

Africa Up Close is the blog of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars' Blog of the Africa Program, Africa Up Close provides a nexus for analysis, ideas, and innovation for and from Africa..
  • Articles in Focus / Lessons from the Field / Southern Voices:

    Peacebuilding in the Great Lakes Region: Southern Voices Network for Peacebuilding Regional Policy Workshop

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    By Africa Program  // Friday, September 30, 2022

    AFR-Blog-SVNP-Regional-Featured

    From June 16-17, 2022, members of the Southern Voices Network for Peacebuilding (SVNP) hosted the Regional Policy Conference, “Peacebuilding in the Great Lakes Region,” in Kampala, Uganda. The Women’s International Peace Centre (The Peace Centre), the Centre d’Etudes pour l’Action Sociale (CEPAS), the Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR-Rwanda), and the Centre for Conflict Management (CCM) of the University of Rwanda co-hosted the conference.

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    Topics: African Women and Youth as Agents of Change through Technology and Innovation, Articles in Focus, Central Africa, Lessons from the Field, Southern Voices, Stay Informed, Uncategorized
  • Articles in Focus / In the News:

    Evolving US-Africa Relations since the Russia-Ukraine War

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    By Pearl Matibe  // Thursday, September 22, 2022

    AFR-Chart-Matibe-Blog-2022

    Fig. A: Independent research by Pearl Matibe, Research Scholar. Source: US Department of State

    How and why do we see more diplomatic engagement between Africa and the United States since the Russia-Ukraine war?

    In comparison to the analysis of the 2017-2022 US Department of State’s Public Schedules to 2022’s first six months, travel to Africa tripled for secretaries of state, undersecretaries, and assistant secretaries. In 2017, under Secretary Rex Tillerson, it was over four-times lower, whereas, under Secretary Michael Pompeo in 2018, data indicates increased activity. Compared to prior years, travel to African countries increased threefold, from 6 percent to just under 18 percent after the war started under Secretary Antony Blinken.

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    Topics: Articles in Focus, Governance and Emerging Global Challenges, In the News, Stay Informed, U.S. - Africa Policy
  • In the News:

    Food Security as a Driver for Sustainable Peace in Kenya

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    By Yiran Ning  // Monday, September 19, 2022

    AFR-Blog-NSB-Sept2022This blog was originally posted on NewSecurityBeat, a blog of the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Wilson Center.

    “The food system is complex; it is not just about food production,” said Florence Odiwuor, a Kenyan Southern Voices for Peacebuilding Scholar, at a recent event on the role of food security systems in sustainable peacebuilding in Africa hosted by the Wilson Center’s Africa Program. As a lecturer at the School of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Environmental Studies at Rongo University, Odiwour observed that given the food system’s interconnectedness with issues like education, gender, finance, and labor, “disruptions or failures in the [food] system have caused a lot of conflict in [Kenya].

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    Topics: In the News, New Security Beat
  • Southern Voices:

    Women Smallholder Farmers: What is the Missing Link for the Food System in Africa?

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    By Florence Odiwuor  // Wednesday, September 7, 2022

    AFR-Blog-Women-Smallholders

    In African countries, agriculture is the backbone of most economies, contributing about 25 percent to their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) yet it is dominated by smallholder farmers. Smallholder farms account for only 12 percent of the world’s farmland, yet they provide an estimated 80 percent of the food produced in Asia and Africa. Although smallholder farmers play a key role in contributing to global food security, they are vulnerable and often neglected by policy strategies—leaving them poor and hungry. As a result, smallholder farmers increasingly face several constraints. They have limited resource endowment, and production systems which is marked by simple, outdated technologies, low returns, high seasonal labor fluctuations and further constrained by climate and market price fluctuations. Their outputs are often rain-fed with relatively small food volumes produced primarily for local consumption, although a few commodities may be marketed. Additionally, smallholder farmers are prone to a spectrum of emerging climatic, health, price, and financial risks.

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    Topics: African Women and Youth as Agents of Change through Technology and Innovation, Southern Voices
  • Southern Voices:

    Ethnicity, Religion, and Polarization in Nigeria

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    By Hyginus Banko Okibe  // Wednesday, August 31, 2022

    AFR-Blog-Nigeria-Religion-Featured

    Background

    Nigeria is a diverse country manifested by culture, religion, ethnicity, language, climate, occupation, and education. Diversity is usually preached as strength when the country faces ethno-religious crises that threaten its unity and peaceful coexistence. But its cohesive role is relegated when either ethnicity or religion is invoked to curry favor or to outwit one another in politics. There have been different perspectives to the narrative about the problems of Nigeria, with insignificant efforts to solve the issues and strengthen the unity of the country.

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    Topics: Southern Voices, Western Africa
  • Fishing for Equity and Inclusion: Women’s Socioeconomic Factors in Kenyan Fisheries

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    By Margaret Gatonye  // Tuesday, August 30, 2022

    Margaret-Gatonye-NSB_Photo-645x364This blog was originally posted on NewSecurityBeat, a blog of the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Wilson Center

    Seeing Loreta sort and dry her Omena sardines at the shores of Lake Victoria in Western Kenya, one may dismiss this small, middle-aged woman as an ordinary fishmonger struggling to earn a living.

    Yet Loreta does more than sell raw fish. Every morning, she walks seven miles to Sori, the nearest fish landing site to her village, to buy fresh fish and then carry it to sell in the nearby market. She also works with other women in her village, empowering them to start small businesses of their own by training and mentoring them.
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    Topics: Eastern Africa, New Security Beat, Stay Informed
  • In the News / Southern Voices:

    Youth Participation in Elections in Nigeria: The Emerging Trends and Changing Perspectives

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    By Hyginus Banko Okibe  // Monday, August 29, 2022

    AFR-Blog-Nigeria-Youth-Featured

    Introduction 

    Elections are among the most effective ways of promoting participation in governance, representation, and uniting diverse groups–where the process is free, fair, and just. Nigeria has conducted many elections and witnessed a plethora of electoral problems, which the roots lay in systemic disjuncture amid efforts by government and election management bodies to transform the electoral processes and safeguard the integrity of election outcomes. While there has been persistent agitation against exclusion, the government has made some efforts to use legislation and eliminate the semblance of disparity in opportunities for elective positions. The essence is to mitigate exclusion that countermands the quest for inclusive electoral process. However, monetized politics introduced and sustained by older politicians remain a disincentive for youth participation. The problem has become a dilemma for the extant politicians that are wealthy and influence the system in their favor and the emerging forces of youth agitations in Nigeria.

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    Topics: In the News, Southern Voices, Stay Informed, Western Africa
  • In the News:

    The Changing Geography of Terror: Why is Jihadist Terrorism Escalating Southward in Nigeria

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    By John Sunday Ojo  // Friday, August 5, 2022

    AFR-Blog-Fulani-Herd

    Compared to the recent history of terrorism in Nigeria’s Northern region, the Southwest, South-South, and Southeast regions have been relatively peaceful. However, on June 5, 2022, an attack which claimed more than 40 lives and injured 56 congregants was carried out during a Pentecostal service at the St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Southwest Nigeria. This recent mass killing, demonstrated the expanding geography of terror into southern Nigeria and the contagious nature of terrorism in a formerly peaceful region.

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    Topics: Human Security, In the News, Regions, Western Africa
  • Who Are France’s Sahelian Critics, and What Are They Saying?

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    By Alex Thurston  // Wednesday, July 6, 2022

    AFR-Blog-France-Sahel-Featured

    Throughout the Sahel region and especially in Sahelian capitals, anti-French voices are growing louder. Local protest movements are criticizing France’s policies in the Sahel and criticizing the dependence of past or present Sahelian leaders on France. Movements such as the M5-RFP in Mali, COPA/BF in Burkina Faso, Tournons La Page in Niger, and Wakit Tama in Chad have all had anti-French messages as part of their wider political platforms. Some anti-French sentiment can be linked to Russian disinformation. Yet many ordinary citizens in the Sahel, as well as many serious politicians and intellectuals in the region, have powerful criticisms of France. Listening to their criticisms reveals the depth of Sahelians’ frustrations with endemic insecurity (which France did not cause, but which France has not reversed) and with politicians perceived as too deferential to France.

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    Topics: Stay Informed, Western Africa
  • In the News / Southern Voices:

    The Price of Russia’s Ukraine Invasion: Africa’s Food Security

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    By Florence Odiwuor  // Friday, July 1, 2022

    AFR-Blog-Russia-Ukraine-Featured

    Due to the Russia-Ukraine war, a new global disaster is threatening to plunge Africa into increased risk of famine and deprivation. Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s foremost breadbaskets. Together, they provide around 30 percent of the world’s wheat and barley, one fifth of its maize, and over half of its sunflower oil. Ukraine is the largest exporter of sunflower oil, the fourth largest exporter of maize (corn), and the fifth largest exporter of wheat. UN Assistant Secretary-General Amin Awad said, “This war will have no winner. Rather, we have witnessed for 100 days what is lost: lives, homes, jobs and prospects.” The war has worsened a food security crisis that is already burgeoning in many countries. High commodity prices and supply chain disruptions are hitting the global community hard. The UN has also consistently stressed the threats of famine that vulnerable states around the world including Africa face as a result of the war.

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    Topics: In the News, Southern Voices, Stay Informed
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