Tag: Peacebuilding

Are women a missing link in Africa’s peace process? Interrogating women’s involvement in peacebuilding and conflict resolution in precolonial, colonial and postcolonial Africa

Are women a missing link in Africa’s peace process? Interrogating women’s involvement in peacebuilding and conflict resolution in precolonial, colonial and postcolonial Africa

Posted by | Jun 8, 2026 |

This paper locates peacebuilding within the context of selected African countries with a focus on Zimbabwe; highlighting the intersection between gender and peacebuilding. The central argument in this paper is that gender relations and its relationship to peacebuilding in Africa must be understood within the context of the disruptions brought by European colonialism, struggles for self-determination and independence and post-independence struggles to construct new nation-states. The paper provides a sociohistorical analysis of gender relations in pre-colonial and colonial Africa and attempts to draw parallels with the postcolonial African state. It argues that a complex combination of these processes gave rise to exclusive, androcentric and elite driven peace processes in the postcolonial state. In examining women’s struggles for equality and social justice in the postcolonial state, the paper highlights how civic society and the civic space has come to be synonymous with women and women’s struggles to influence the peace process. Building on indigenous models of conflict resolution, the paper critically engages the concept of Ubuntu and appraises how it can be appropriated to re-insert women’s peace agency in postcolonial Africa. The paper concludes by examining options for increasing women’s involvement in conflict resolution and peacebuilding in postcolonial Africa.

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Navigating Political Fragility: The Challenges of Women Peacebuilders in Militarised Political Contexts in Africa

Navigating Political Fragility: The Challenges of Women Peacebuilders in Militarised Political Contexts in Africa

Posted by | Jul 9, 2025 |

Considering that unconstitutional changes of government (UCGs) border around the human and political security of the continent, a crucial question is, what are the challenges women peacebuilders face following UCGs? Using Chad and Niger as case studies and drawing on feminist theory, this paper examines the challenges women encounter in the execution of their peace work in countries that have experienced UCGs. This work includes mediation, community mobilisation, education, and raising awareness of income-generating activities, amongst others. This paper finds that although women are actively participating in fostering peace at the grassroots level, UCGs make their work more challenging due to rising insecurity, suppression of freedoms, and exacerbation of systemic gender discrimination. It notes that without a resolution to the broader issue of UCGs, women peacebuilders will find it challenging to participate in peacebuilding in these contexts. Finally, the paper concludes that addressing the challenges women peacebuilders face and adopting a human security approach to UCGs are essential for sustaining women’s contribution to peace and security.

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Chronicles of African Engagement: Beyond a Dualist Reading of Foreign Intervention

Chronicles of African Engagement: Beyond a Dualist Reading of Foreign Intervention

Posted by | Aug 21, 2024 |

Over the past two decades, the conflict management and peacebuilding (CM/PB) domain has undergone significant transformations. This has resulted in a shift from traditional Western-centric approach to a more crowded CM/PB market that is particularly evident in the African continent. However, academic discourse has evolved from evaluating the effectiveness of the liberal peace model, to scrutinising the characteristics of an alleged alternative CM/PB paradigm proposed by these rising powers. Drawing on a (neo)realist perspective, the study proposes two lines of argumentation to advance a new research agenda. Firstly, it explores the supply side of CM/PB policies by emphasising the motivations and policy choices driven primarily by strategic interests and the regime survival of intervening states. Secondly, it analyses the demand side of CM/PB by highlighting the active role of intervened states in shaping intervention strategies based on their interests and preferences. Through illustrative examples from Africa, this paper demonstrates how national interests and host states’ agency intersect to shape CM/PB strategies. The article challenges simplistic categorisations of Western/liberal versus Eastern/illiberal CM/PB, and advocates for a nuanced understanding that considers the complexities of global power dynamics and national interests.

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Media and Peacebuilding in Zamfara State of North-West Nigeria: A Study of an Armed Bandit Conflict

Media and Peacebuilding in Zamfara State of North-West Nigeria: A Study of an Armed Bandit Conflict

Posted by | Sep 28, 2021 |

This paper examined the ways radio contributed to peacebuilding and promotion using the case
of armed banditry and cattle rustling in Zamfara State. The study was guided by four specific objectives: to find out whether radio can be used as a mechanism of peacebuilding; to find out if the intervention by radio programs have influenced the escalation or de-escalation of armed bandits’ conflict in Zamfara; to examine the extent to which the people of Zamfara use radio as a mechanism of peacebuilding; and finally to survey the perceptions of people of Zamfara towards the use of radio in peacebuilding. The study used survey research design and data were gathered through a questionnaire administered to 338 respondents. The data were thematically analyzed by classifying major issues and recurrent themes. Then they were presented in narrative form. The findings of the study showed that radio served as an appropriate, cheap and easily accessible medium of passing peace messages; contributed considerably to the de-escalation of conflict; and reduced the frequency of conflict in the state. An overwhelming majority of the respondents (98%) agreed that radio has been the best medium for promoting peacebuilding. In conclusion, radio proves to be effective in dousing tensions and disseminating information on what needs to be done. Finally, the paper recommended that the government should formulate policies that make it possible to involve radio in conflict resolution efforts since it is cheap and easily accessible to many people.

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Ownership at Grassroots Level to Support Regional Commitments: The Case of IGAD and the South Sudan Conflict

Ownership at Grassroots Level to Support Regional Commitments: The Case of IGAD and the South Sudan Conflict

Posted by | Apr 2, 2019 |

The idea of local ownership is regarded as an important pillar for the advancement of African solutions to the continent’s development challenges. While there is consensus as to its importance and demand among practitioners in the peacebuilding field and development in general; the concept still raises a number of questions related to its definition, scope, and feasibility. The paper seeks to analyse the notion of local ownership using the South Sudan conflict that broke out in late December 2013. IGAD’s swift involvement to resolve the conflict gave a sense of hope and commitment by regional leaders towards taking primary responsibility instead of waiting on external help to solve Africa’s peace and security challenges. Whereas external actors were engaged in the peace processes in Addis Ababa, IGAD took the lead as a mediator between the main protagonists. The repeated violations of cessation of hostilities agreements coupled with boycotting of peace talks were reflections of the ‘non-dialogue’ approach taken by the warring parties. In addition, IGAD’s warnings against these violations did not translate into punitive measures against the parties. During the peace process, the belligerent parties were reluctant to allow non-armed stakeholders to participate meaningfully; this revealed the disadvantaged position of civil society and grassroots organisations in relation to peace efforts undertaken at the regional level. Thus the paper recommends the establishment of a framework of guiding principles that would compel actors in peace processes to involve non-armed stakeholders as critical partners. These principles would contribute to concerted efforts that ensure the participation of the African citizenry in order to promote local ownership; a crucial aspect for supporting the commitment of regional leaders in resolving Africa’s peace and security challenges. Without enhancing the capacity of the African citizenry to contribute to and own solutions at the local level, the sustainability of such solutions might be undermined, however afro-centric they might be.

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