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.
WATCH: In July 2024, AllAfrica's begins a podcast series by Luize Guimaraes Scherer Navarro featuring women engaged in peace and development work in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola, Botswana and South Africa.
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.
UNICEF/UNI525502/Dejongh
Children's protection is a theme of the peacebuilding programme of the United Nations children fund, Unicef. An example is a temporary learning space in the village of Nioronigue, in the north of Côte d’Ivoire, set up to educate refugees from Burkina Faso. From Mozambique to Tunisia, from Somalia to Mali, peacebuilding work in local communities is expanding. Scholars and researchers learn from the challenges and apply their insights to help peacebuilders succeed.
