Africa
The International Peace Institute (IPI), formerly International Peace Academy initiated its Africa Program in 1992 to draw attention to the particular issues surrounding Africa’s conflicts and provide research and analytical support to efforts at political and economic reform. Some 15 years later, the program remains a vital bridge between the United Nations (UN) and African organizations and leaders.
Africa Program ( PDF: 212k )
The current agenda of the Africa Program is framed conceptually within IPI’s Coping with Crisis Program, a broad, four-year program addressing insitutional capacities for crisis prevention and response across a wide range of global issues. The Africa component looks specifically at the capacity of Africa’s institutions – both on the continent and among partner institutions like the UN, the EU, and NATO – to prevent and respond to a wide range of existing and emerging challenges. Accordingly, the primary objective of this phase of the Africa Program is to inform and contribute to the enhancement of the institutional capacities of Africa’s regional and sub-regional organizations by deepening knowledge about challenges to peace, stability, and development. This objective involves collaboration with African institutions and their partners to develop strategies and methodologies for capacity-building around core issues; to facilitate the sharing of experiences across institutions; and to raise the visibility of African issues at the UN and other multilateral contexts. The program is built on three inter-related components:
- Mapping Challenges and Response Capacities ;
- Building Africa’s Institutional Capacities for Crisis Prevention and Response ; and
- Outreach and Advocacy: Africa’s Partnership with the UN.
Recent Publications
West Africa: Governance and Security in a Changing Region ,
Abdel-Fatau Musah
North Africa: New Challenges, Old Regimes, and Regional Security ,
Claire Spencer
Southern Africa: Threats and Capabilities,
Gavin Cawthra
Eastern Africa: Security and the Legacy of Fragility,
Gilbert M. Khadiagala
Pacific Settlement of Border Disputes:
Lessons from the Bakassi Affair and the Greentree Agreement
Program Support
The International Peace Academy’s Africa Program gratefully acknowledges the support of the Governments of Canada, Finland, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom; the family of Ruth Forbes Young; and the Ford Foundation. Additional support is received from IPI’s core funders, including the Governments of Denmark and Sweden.