The African Peacebuilding Network (APN) of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is pleased to announce the 2020 recipients of its Individual Research Fellowship and Collaborative Working Group Research Fellowship.
The program awards these fellowships to African researchers based in African universities, research institutes, and other policy-related and civil society institutions. Since 2013, the APN has awarded 171 research grants and fellowships.
The APN supports independent African research on conflict-affected countries and neighboring regions of the continent, as well as the integration of African knowledge into global policy communities. APN grants facilitate the production of high-quality African peacebuilding research and promotes its visibility among policy practitioners and scholars around the world, including Africa, with the aim of influencing academic discourse and effecting policy change.
The 18 recipients of the IRF listed below are pursuing a diverse range of topics related to conflict and peacebuilding in Africa, such as the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), farmer-nomadic herder conflicts, conflict resolution and transformation, gender, justice and peace, political violence, peacebuilding strategies, citizenship rights, and countering violent extremism.
Here is the complete list of African Peacebuilding Network 2020 Individual Research Fellowship award and Collaborative Working Group Research Fellowship recipients:
Individual Research Fellowships
The Individual Research Fellowship (IRF) supports six-months of field-based research, through which recipients produce research-based knowledge that is relevant to and has a significant impact on peacebuilding scholarship, policy, and practice on the continent. The 2020 Individual Research Fellowship cohort features eighteen individuals from Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Tanzania, and Senegal.
This year’s APN Individual Research Grant recipients are as follows:
- Tapiwa Madimu, “Historiography, Agency and Violence: “Illegal” Gold Mining and the Everyday in Post-Apartheid South Africa,” University of the Free State, South Africa
- Kundai Manamere, “A Deadly Tripartite – Civil War, Drought and Diseases: Narratives of Mozambican Refugees and Host Communities Experiences at Chambuta Camp, Southeastern Zimbabwe, 1988 to 1992,” University of the Free State, South Africa
- Sophie Komujuni, “Strategies for Peacebuilding: Navigating the ‘post conflict – post donor’ political arena,” Uganda Martyrs University, Uganda
- Ndubuisi Christian Ani, “Reforming the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA): Towards a Division of Labor between the African Union and Sub-regional arrangements,” Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Center (KAIPTC), Ghana
- Beyan Tesfamariam Temesgen, “UN Sanctions, Statehood and Peacebuilding in the Horn of Africa: The case of Eritrea 2009-2018,” Research and Documentation Center, Eritrea
- Julieth Timoth Kabyemela, “Peace Building Between Farmers and Pastoralists in Kilosa Tanzania: Theatre for Development as An Alternative Tool,” The University of Dodoma, Tanzania
- Ngozi Ugo Emeka-Nwobia, “The Silent Voices of Peace: Unveiling the Role of Umuada in Conflict Management and Peacebuilding in Igboland, Nigeria,” Ebonyi State University, Nigeria
- Erick Sourna, “Governing bodies in the Lake Chad Basin: control, repression and restrictions on mobility in the era of the fight against terrorism,” National Center for Education, Cameroon
- Emmanuel Sarabwe, “Learning from the past to build a culture of peace: Experiences of forgiveness within families of survivors and perpetrators in post-genocide Rwanda,” Community Based Sociology, Rwanda
- Ufiem Maurice Ogbonnaya, “Dominant and Emerging Narratives in the Farmers-Herders’ Conflict in Nigeria’s Middle Belt Region: Implications for Peacebuilding,” National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Nigeria
- Theresia Philemon Mvungi, “Community-based payment for ecosystem services (CB-PES) as a tool for conflict resolution and peace-building in Tanzania: The Case of Mkungunero Game Reserve,” The University of Dodoma, Tanzania
- Clementine Kanazayire, “Validating a tool for assessing the risk of Intimate Partner Homicide (IPH) among couples in abusive relations,” University of Rwanda, Rwanda
- Mohammed Assen, “Countering the Threat of Violent Extremism in Ethiopia: Lessons to be learnt,” Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
- Chimaobi Dick Onwukwe, “Responding to Xenophobic violence in South Africa: Identity negotiations and language practices of Nigerian Immigrants,” Abia State University, Nigeria
- Missaye Mulatie Mengstie, “Promoting Tolerance and Peace through Indigenous Conflict Resolution Mechanisms in Benshangul-Gumuz Regional State, Ethiopia,” University of Gondar, Ethiopia
- Ibrahima Niang, “Gender Approach to Conflict Resolution in Casamance: The Case of the Women’s Platform for Peace in Casamance,” Cheikh Anta Diop University, Senegal
- Sylvie Namwase, “National dialogues as state-led and state-backed initiatives of nation building in Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya,” Makerere University, Uganda
- Fulera Issaka-Toure, “A Path to Justice? Islamic Family Law and Gender in Secular Courts in Accra, Ghana,” University of Ghana, Legon
Collaborative Working Group Research Fellowship
The APN Collaborative Working Group (CWG) Research Fellowship supports the production of collaborative research-based knowledge and publications that are relevant to—and have a significant impact on—peacebuilding scholarship, policy, and practice on the continent. For its part, the APN will work toward inserting the evidence-based knowledge that this collaborative research working group produces into regional and global debates and policies on peacebuilding.
One APN Collaborative Working Group (CWG) Research Fellowship will be supported by a maximum award of $60,000 for a period of eighteen months. Members of the working group are expected to collaborate and carry out the proposed research project together, and they are therefore expected to meet several times over the project period. Funding should be used to support new field research, the review of relevant literature, and the production of a range of outputs, from policy briefs and reports to best-practice models, as well as academic publications. This year’s working group features academics and scholars from Congo, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, and Rwanda. The title of their project is “The African Union and the Resolution of Constitutional Crises in Africa.”
The members of this year’s Collaborative Working Group Research Fellowship are:
- Balingene Kahombo (Team Leader), Associate professor, Faculty of Law, University of Goma; Co-founder and researcher at Centre de Recherches et d’Etudes sur I’Etat de Droit en Afrique (CREEDA), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
- Marystella Auma Simiyu, PhD candidate, Program Officer (Democracy, Transparency, and Digital Rights Unit), Center for Human Rights, University of Pretoria; South Africa.
- Kwaku Agyeman-Budu, Lecturer and Head of Law Center, Faculty of Law, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Ghana.
- Magdalena Sylister, Assistant lecturer, Law Department, Saint Augustine University (Arusha Campus); Advocate, Notary Public and Commissioner for Oaths, Tanzania.
- Trésor Makunya Muhindo, PhD candidate and academic tutor, Center for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa
- Jean-Baptiste Serugo, Lecturer, School of Law, University of Rwanda; Advocate, Legal Aid Forum, Rwanda.
Warm congratulations to this year’s African Peacebuilding Network Fellowship Award recipients. The APN looks forward to working with you and seeing the results of your promising research.
If you are interested in applying for a fellowship from the African Peacebuilding Network, the next call for applications for the 2021 grant cycle will be released in November of this year. Applications will be accepted from November 2020 through February 2021.
The African Peacebuilding Network program is funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York.
