Introduction In 2024, Kenya witnessed significant opposition to the Finance Bill, with Gen Z1 activists leading protests that ultimately forced the government to reconsider its proposed tax policy. Despite repressive measures, such as increased police presence and threats of legal prosecution, the demonstrations grew stronger, fueled by frustrations over economic inequality, corruption, and exclusion from […]
Introduction Social media is arguably the most widely used digital technology for peacebuilding in Nigeria, especially by civil society. For many scholars, practitioners and users, social media is a double-edged sword.1 While true, this framing obscures the nuances of social media’s role in peacebuilding.2 Framing social media as an intricate landscape acknowledges its complexity in peacebuilding […]
Introduction Maskani is an ambitious online and offline digital peacebuilding movement that was conceived in 2020. It involved six public universities in Western Kenya, and over sixty students, twelve faculty members, and members of their networks using WhatsApp, Facebook and Zoom. Maskani’s methodology was recently adopted in the review of Kenya’s digital peacebuilding architecture in […]
Introduction This special issue of Kujenga Amani focuses on the impacts and implications of social media and Artificial Intelligence (AI) on conflict dynamics, democracy and peacebuilding in Africa. It also delves into technological innovation and adaptation, digital activism, and Africa–centred policy and regulatory approaches to technology (especially AI), and how this policy environment supports or […]
Garikai Chaunza is a Research Assistant at the School of Journalism and Media Studies, Rhodes University, with interests in Media Activism, Radio & Decolonisation, Media Traditions, Journalism Norms & Practices, and the Political Economy of Media. He holds a PhD in Journalism and Media Studies from Rhodes University, with his dissertation focusing on Activist Radio […]
Introduction One of the formidable challenges facing Ghana as it approaches the 2024 general elections is how the country can effectively manage its diversity against the backdrop of declining trust in state institutions, growing ethno-religious tensions, economic crisis, proliferation of illicit weapons and small arms, and inter-ethnic and inter-community conflicts.[i] Additionally, the resurgence of vigilantism, […]
