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Climate change, a matter of security
While a UN Security Council resolution draft about climate security failed in 2021, the idea of making climate change a systematic part of the international peace and security agenda lives on. How would a Security Council mandate affect the potential to address conflicts in the Sahel and other ecologically vulnerable areas?
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Comeback president in Somalia has to walk a tightrope
After winning elections in Somalia on 15 May, Hassan Sheik Mohamud is back in the presidential driver’s seat. More or less the same challenges remain as when he left power in 2017. “President Mohamud will need to perform a delicate balancing act trying to appease various actors”, NAI researcher and Horn of Africa expert Redie Bereketeab says.
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Quick-fix taxation could burden poor households
While African economies are slowly recovering from the Covid-19 crisis, they now face large budget deficits and higher levels of debt. Taxes on mobile transactions quickly increase national revenues, but there is a risk that poor people will have to pay the price, according to NAI development economist Jörgen Levin.
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Monkeypox is neither a gay plague nor an African virus
Despite many recent lessons from Covid-19, and increasing recognition that science is crucial to addressing public health challenges effectively, frustration and fear have been the immediate responses to cases of monkeypox virus. Alarmingly, homophobia and racism have echoed past patterns of responses to pandemics. This is dangerous, given that credible, factual and accurate reporting of evidence is essential to avoiding stigmatisation of victims, and implementing effective prevention and mitigation policies.
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Attacks on scholars a threat to democracy in Africa
The percentage of attacks on higher education is higher in Africa than in any other region. And with Covid lockdowns, the academic freedom at African universities has been challenged even further. Given the strong links between academic freedom and democracy, organisations working with democratic development in Africa should take action to
support and protect scholars at risk.
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NAI research broadens the concept of forced migration
The term ‘forced migrant’ is not limited to refugees in camps or political asylum seekers. NAI researcher Gudrun Sif Fridriksdottir is studying a group of middle-class Burundians who fled to neighbouring Rwanda to escape unrest in 2015.
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"It was a kinder time for someone like me"
A politicisation of the issue of migration has generated fear of the stranger, sometimes bordering to panic, says Nobel Prize Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah in an interview with the Nordic Africa Institute.
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Rising global influence, a young workforce, and pro-women reforms
We build knowledge to deepen understanding of Africa’s potential.
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Curated library collections a crucial piece of the puzzle
More than 85,000 books and reports make the Nordic Africa Institute Library a treasure trove of Africa research. As new acquisitions are added to the collection, NAI librarians work to make online compilations useful and easy for researchers to find.
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Knowledge for a more inclusive peace and security agenda
While most of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) agenda involves Africa, the continent’s states have limited influence over decisions. NAI research aims to provide knowledge that will enable more effective and inclusive UNSC work on Africa.
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Rapid urbanisation threatens food security in Africa
With an average annual urbanisation rate of more than three per cent in Africa, research on sustainable urban food systems and increased agricultural productivity
will be key to mitigate hunger and malnutrition.
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Covid-19 dents Africa’s development plan
Africa’s large young population provides great potential for
long-term development. But to reap the benefits, governments need to accelerate investments in human capital and facilitate job creation. School closures during the Covid-19 pandemic have made the necessary transformation more difficult.
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Protests show people's faith in democracy
Despite a recent wave of military coups, democratic values are deeply rooted in many African countries. Military takeovers should be seen in the light of presidents clinging to power unconstitutionally, according to NAI researcher Jesper Bjarnesen. However, he adds, high-stakes elections risk fuelling non-democratic strategies.
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Gender equality beyond the numbers
Several African states boast high levels of female
representation in the legislature. But impressive figures do not automatically lead to real political influence for women, according to Diana Højlund Madsen, senior
gender researcher at NAI.
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Gurnah invites us to understand, feel and mourn
A conversation between Nobel prize laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah and literature researcher Erik Falk makes Henning Melber reflect over the Eurocentric notions of migration and ways of belonging.
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School closures led to sharp rise in pregnancies among young girls in Uganda
School closures during the Covid-19 pandemic have led to a sharp rise in pregnancies among girls aged 10-14 years in Uganda. The growing number of young single mothers may lead to early pregnancies also in the next generation, says Viola Nilah Nyakato, NAI senior researcher and sociologist.
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What makes me tick: Shilpa Asokan on the need for basic social safety to meet climate change
We've asked NAI scholars why they chose a career as a researcher and what motivates them in their work. Shilpa Asokan talks about how her focus on climate change and its impacts was a natural progression from previous work on agriculture and water issues.
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Agriculture and food sectors key in African mitigation measures
Since agriculture, forestry and other land-use sectors generate nearly half of total greenhouse gas emissions in Africa, compared to globally 13-21%, mitigation measures must focus on the adoption of modern and climate-smart agricultural practices for smallholder farmers. Coping with climate variability and reducing GHG emissions require also finance, technology transfer, and capacity building, says NAI Senior Researcher Assem Abu Hatab, contributor to the new IPCC report.
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Weak social contract prolongs conflict in Mozambique
Since 2017, terrorism has plagued Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique. Some 4,000 people have been killed and up to 800,000 internally displaced. One of the reasons behind the protracted conflict, according to research, is that the state constantly breaches the social contract with its citizens.
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Women, peace and security strategies at the horseshoe table
The five permanent members (P5) of the UN Security Council have a lot of power – thanks largely to their right of veto, but also on account of other advantages. To curb the imbalance in power and strengthen their position, the ten elected (E10), non-permanent members should collaborate more and share their experiences – both among themselves and with the next group of E10 states waiting to replace them. One of the best means of gaining influence is to work with civil society. There are different ways of doing this, and many have shown themselves to be constructive in advancing the agenda for women, peace and security (WPS).
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