Peacebuilding

Peace and stability are the essential foundation for every other human need - adequate food, health care, education, jobs, shelter. Even the devastating effects of climate change are intensified by conflict, and the competition for food and water amid droughts and floods breeds further instability. Although most African countries enjoy relative peace, conflicts are flaring across the continent, threatening lives and livelihoods - and in some regions, undermining national cohesion. In collaboration with African media partners and African researchers and research organizations, the AllAfrica Foundation is examining the tough issues of peacebuilding. The need for more informed, research-based peacebuilding strategies for Africa - conflict prevention and interventions and post-conflict peacekeeping - is known to specialists in the field, but even they often lack facts and data from areas outside their specialized expertise. A key element of this initiative is giving voice and visibility to the work of African scholars and researchers in universities and policy institutes, as well as to the courageous peacebuilders who bring inspiration and hope in the worst circumstances.

AllAfrica's peacebuilding reporting, featured on AllAfrica and freely available to online, print and broadcast media, is supported by funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a philanthropic organization. An element of AllAfrica's peacebuilding initiative is organizing interactions among peace and security scholars, non-governmental organizations, policy makers and print and broadcast journalists across Africa.

LISTEN: AllAfrica has launched an eight-part podcast series, Wild Basil, a podcast series by Luize Guimaraes Scherer Navarro Wild Basil, featuring remarkable women who contributed to peace and development through their innovative work on biodiversity and conservation and addresses the competition for scarce resources in Southern Africa, including Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola, Botswana, and South Africa. Above all, their work contributes to conflict prevention and resolution in their communities and their countries.

Episode 1 introduces AnaBela Rodrigues, a Mozambican economist who accepted the challenge of managing and developing the newly created nature reservation in the remote province of Niassa soon after independence. With virtually no staff and an impossible budget, she built from scratch a public/private partnership with a large staff that ensured a feasible budget. In her own words, you will hear the depth of her commitment, passion, and brilliance that contributed to placing Niassa firmly on the map of global conservation.

Episode 2 introduces Milagre Nuvunga. After Mozambique's independence in 1975, Milagre joined the generation of young people assigned to various aspects of national reconstruction. And so her career as a forester began, giving her the opportunity to begin her lifelong commitment to protecting forests, the people living in them, as well as the livelihoods that are dependent upon them. After years of study and international work in conservation and bio-diversity, Milagre was appointed National Director for the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, the first woman to hold that position in Africa. After leaving the Ministry she settled in Chimoio, central Mozambique, where she founded an organization to establish long-term integrated sustainable development.

LISTEN: AllAfrica's Juanita Williams was joined by veteran Niger journalist Gare Amadou, and peacebuilding researchers Professor Ibrahim Bangura and Dr. Festus Kofi Aubyn to provide insights into conflict and military rule in the Sahel region of West Africa.