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X-WR-CALNAME:Social Science Research Council (SSRC)
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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Social Science Research Council (SSRC)
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DTSTART:20210314T070000
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DTSTART:20211107T060000
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DTSTART:20220313T070000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220203T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220203T110000
DTSTAMP:20220203T140831Z
CREATED:20220203T140831Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220203T140831Z
UID:10000804-1643878800-1643886000@www.ssrc.org
SUMMARY:Guatemala Series No. 2 (VTC)
DESCRIPTION:CPPF convened its fourteenth virtual meeting among Guatemalan civil society members to brainstorm opportunities to address rule of law and corruption issues in Guatemala.
URL:https://www.ssrc.org/events/guatemala-series-no-2-vtc-2/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220207
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220209
DTSTAMP:20220208T144337Z
CREATED:20220208T144140Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220208T144337Z
UID:10000806-1644192000-1644364799@www.ssrc.org
SUMMARY:Workshop on Enhancing IOM’s Partnership with the UN Peace and Security Pillar
DESCRIPTION:On 7-8 February 2022\, CPPF convened a two-day workshop on forced migration in Africa\, the Middle East\, and Latin America in support of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN’s Peace and Security Pillar.
URL:https://www.ssrc.org/events/workshop-on-enhancing-ioms-partnership-with-the-un-peace-and-security-pillar/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220208T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220209T120000
DTSTAMP:20241213T152816Z
CREATED:20220208T050000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241213T152816Z
UID:10000805-1644310800-1644408000@www.ssrc.org
SUMMARY:Conference on Conflict and Peacebuilding in North Africa and the Sahel
DESCRIPTION:The Social Science Research Council’s (SSRC’s) African Peacebuilding Network (APN)\, in collaboration with the African Leadership Center (ALC) of Kings College London\, and Wilton Park held a two-day virtual conference on “Conflict and Peacebuilding in Sahel and North Africa.” The conference was the latest in the “Peacebuilding in Africa” series launched in 2015 aimed towards “moving peacebuilding beyond state and elite-centered approaches to encompass the wider communities involved in conflict\, including\, youth and women’s networks on the continent.” The event explored the connections between peacebuilding and the “historical and extensive socio-cultural\, economic\, and strategic connections between North Africa and the Sahel (NASAH). Participants included high-level practitioners\, scholars\, activists\, and staff and fellows of the SSRC and ALC. \nThe virtual conference commenced with an introduction and welcome remarks by Robert Grant\, program director at Wilton Park\, followed by a town hall discussion on “Conflict and Peacebuilding in North Africa and the Sahel.” The panel of speakers included the keynote speaker\, Abdoulaye Bathily\, visiting professor at the African Leadership Center (ALC)\, and panelists Radwa Saad\, a researcher and PhD candidate at Cornell University\, and Mohammed Gain of the African Institute for Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation (AIPECT). The panel was moderated by Funmi Olonisakin\, Vice President (International) of Kings College\, London. The keynote speaker focused on the challenging and ever more complex dimensions of conflict and instability in the Sahel and North Africa\, including the interconnections between the various flashpoints of conflict. This included how the unfinished business of decolonization in Western Sahara has strained relations between Morocco and Algeria\, and practically crippled the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU). The presenter also provided critical insights into the role of various actors\, including transnational criminal networks\, in the conflicts in Libya\, Mali\, the Lake Chad region\, Chad\, and Sudan and the impact of extremist groups on instability and disorder in neighboring regions. He also shed light on the role of irredentist movements\, communal uprisings\, governance deficits\, climate change\, and geopolitical rivalries between international actors—France\, the EU\, Russia\, China\, Gulf states\, Israel\, Turkey\, etc.—in posing complex challenges to peacebuilding in the region. He was critical of the militarization of the region by state actors and international parties while noting that peacebuilders were becoming part of the conflict. Drawing attention to the limitations of Peace Support Operations and the loss of credibility of the UN and ECOWAS\, he made a case for reviewing traditional approaches to peacebuilding and reorganizing the democratic system to address complex challenges. \nIn her presentation\, Radwa Saad analyzed the role of the youth in conflict and peace in North Africa and the Sahel. She cautioned against the romanticization of youth as agents of change or disruptive actors and called attention to the structural constraints in the region\, particularly the trend towards the depoliticization and pacification of politics. Other issues addressed included how the youth were changing the narratives of peace through non-violent protest\, transcending sectarian divisions\, and struggling for democracy and social justice. Citing examples from Sudan\, Algeria\, Tunisia\, and Egypt\, Radwa explained how youth and women are engaging the state\, learning from each other\, and building connections across borders. Noting that North Africa is the least integrated region in Africa\, she was of the view that youth were well poised to seize the many opportunities being thrown up by developments at the societal level across both regions. \nIn his presentation\, Mohammed Gain of AIPECT spoke to the disconnections of Maghreb-Sahel relations\, the implications of migration flows for relations between North Africa and Southern Europe\, rivalries between external powers\, including France\, residual identity discontent linked to historical grievances\, perceived injustices and inter-communal conflict\, the rise of the Islamic State in the Maghreb\, and the securitization of the region at the expense of local concerns. Mohammed noted how hegemonic security visions were dominated by the global war on extremist groups\, access to the region’s vast natural resources\, climate change vulnerability\, and the divergence between the pursuit of global strategies and local concerns of people living in North and West Africa. In his view\, the crux of the security challenge in North Africa and the Sahel lay in the crisis of governance facing states and the need to change the global narrative of the two regions. He also identified the deadlock in Morocco-Algeria tensions over Western Sahara as a major factor in the instability in the Maghreb\, which is further worsened by the EU’s patronizing attitude to the region with the effect of undermining peace and integration. \nThe discussions that followed emphasized the need to humanize peacebuilding and security. Contributors also argued that the state is losing trust in the peripheries\, in a context where Africa is continuously being viewed as a source of economic opportunities\, markets\, raw materials\, and competition between established and emerging global powers. There was an emerging consensus that military options cannot solve the security problems facing the region and that civil society\, including the youth\, need to be at the forefront of conflict transformation and building a new African security paradigm centered on the people. \nThe second day featured a town hall discussion (closed session) on conflict and peacebuilding in North Africa and the Sahel\, which afforded presenters the opportunity to fully explore the ramifications of existing frameworks for networks and dialogues at the center of peacebuilding and the possibilities for reorganizing them along more inclusive and cooperative lines. The session commenced with opening remarks by Robert Grant and Cyril Obi\, program director of SSRC’s APN. Their remarks were followed by a session on the “Role of states and cross-border networks in conflict and peacebuilding\,” followed by breakout sessions on\, “Fostering transregional links and cooperation.” These were organized along the lines of the following questions: How can states across the regions strengthen their cooperation to successfully adjust to the challenges posed by the impacts of climate change? In what ways are youth innovatively shaping peacebuilding efforts in both regions? What opportunities are being created and how can such opportunities be consolidated? What factors have inhabited a cohesive trans-regional organizational approach to peacebuilding\, and what can be done to address them? What is the role of civil society actors and what strategies are likely to connect them to ongoing regional approaches to peacebuilding in a more participatory and comprehensive manner? \nThe speakers at the first session were Salem Mezhoud\, Associate Senior Fellow at ALC\, Kings College London\, Njoya Tikum of the UNDP\, Osai Ojigbo of Amnesty International Nigeria and Eka Ikpe of ALC Kings College London. The first presentation focused on the role of transnational actors and networks in conflict and peacebuilding in the region\, including countries such as Denmark\, Norway\, Estonia\, Turkey\, Russia\, the Arab Gulf States\, Israel\, and private military actors\, including Russia’s Wagner group. Other developments identified as critical to the peace and security trends in both regions were the failings of diplomacy in a region marked by the paradox of plenty (rich in minerals\, but immersed in high levels of poverty)\, the high levels of militarism in Algeria\, and the failure of the Tunisian revolution. Other points touched on the struggles of youth in Algeria and Tunisia in their demand for a total overhaul of the political system\, and the potential advantages of closer North Africa–West Africa (NAWA) regional cooperation. The emerging peace and security challenges in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic were explored\, including the transnational nature of the challenges in the Sahel and how they were complicating the efficacy of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) due to the inability to address conflicts in the Sahelian countries. The second presentation also interrogated the assumptions underpinning the Sahel and North Africa nexus\, noting that most Sahelians see threats as emanating from Libya\, rendering assumptions of shared interests and connections with North Africa problematic. Echoing the point made by earlier presentations about the delegitimization of ECOWAS\, the distrust of states by citizens was reaffirmed and a case was made for regional networking led by citizens of the region. Another presentation interrogated the effectiveness of AU and ECOWAS sanctions on military governments in Africa\, noting that such interventions had failed to end human rights violations. It also spoke to the disruptive aspects of climate fragility\, farmer-herder conflicts\, external extractive actors\, and the struggles over national resources. While noting that it was not possible to have peace without justice\, questions were raised about the place of women\, ties between people across borders\, and opportunities being explored by youth who are refusing “to do things the old way.” In concluding the presentation\, there was a call for the identification of alternative conveners for peace in the region and the building of trust and inclusiveness in governance systems. The discussions that followed focused on the breakdown of trust and legitimacy and how states across both regions can strengthen cooperation and respond to emerging challenges. \nFeedback from the thematic breakout sessions focused on the role of local and international conflict and peace actors\, conflict prevention\, the potential of the Sahel as a source of alternative and renewable energy\, addressing the nexus between the environment and climate security\, strategies for strengthening democratic governance\, and the rise of youth movements as the next generation of peacebuilders in the region. Also noted was the problem of harmonization of policies leading to the total neglect of certain aspects of regions\, weaknesses of states and RECS in relation to peacebuilding\, and the need for civil society to play a key role in community building\, capacity building\, and communications. The closing and wrap-up session provided a succinct summary of the discussions over the two days\, pointing to the epistemic issues underpinning the geography of Africa and the borders versus integration debate\, particularly in relation to issues such as racism and xenophobia. The overview also underscored the importance of critiquing formalistic structures\, including the heterogeneity of external actors\, emphasizing the point of documenting and marketing successes\, while recognizing the significant role of civil society and its potential to do more. Other issues highlighted included the possibilities of innovative responses to climate change as well as how regional projects such as AfCTA could contribute towards building inclusive and sustainable peace and development through transregional cooperation in Africa.
URL:https://www.ssrc.org/events/conference-on-conflict-and-peacebuilding-in-north-africa-and-the-sahel/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220218T084500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220218T124500
DTSTAMP:20220218T174413Z
CREATED:20220218T174350Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220218T174413Z
UID:10000807-1645173900-1645188300@www.ssrc.org
SUMMARY:CPPF Haiti Workshop (VTC)
DESCRIPTION:CPPF convened a workshop on Haiti to help inform the review of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH). This workshop provided a deep-dive into current political\, governance\, and socioeconomic dynamics\, as well as the role and impact of the UN in Haiti.
URL:https://www.ssrc.org/events/cppf-haiti-workshop-vtc/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220301T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220301T141500
DTSTAMP:20220324T190416Z
CREATED:20220301T180000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220324T190416Z
UID:10000808-1646139600-1646144100@www.ssrc.org
SUMMARY:Launch Event: Just Tech Platform
DESCRIPTION:On March 1\, the Social Science Research Council will launch the Just Tech platform\, a new website dedicated to mapping research and showcasing scholars and practitioners leading the field of social justice and emergent technology. The platform is a project of the Council’s Just Tech program\, which investigates questions of power\, justice\, and the public impact of new technologies while imagining and creating more just and equitable futures. \nJoin us at 1:00 p.m. on March 1 to celebrate the Just Tech platform launch with a live demo and Q&A session\, featuring remarks from Ruha Benjamin\, Timnit Gebru\, Alondra Nelson\, and Safiya U. Noble.  \nThe platform will feature an extensive set of resources that will be valuable to anyone interested in a synoptic view of this emergent field of research and practice: \n\nfield reviews about the state of research on discrete subjects at the intersection of novel technology and social justice\, written and reviewed by experts \nessays and interviews from leading researchers and practitioners\nprofiles of Just Tech’s network of researchers and practitioners\, including fellows\, grantees\, and contributors to the platform\na free-to-use database of citations that leverages Zotero\, an open-source citation library\na regularly updated calendar of public events\n\nRegister to learn more about the forthcoming Just Tech platform. \nClosed captioning will be provided.
URL:https://www.ssrc.org/events/launch-event-just-tech-platform/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220317T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220317T123000
DTSTAMP:20220419T183514Z
CREATED:20220318T150000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220419T183514Z
UID:10000809-1647514800-1647520200@www.ssrc.org
SUMMARY:The Future of the (non) Maghreb Peace and Integration
DESCRIPTION:The Social Science Research Council’s African Peacebuilding Network (APN) and the Moroccan Institute for Policy Analysis (MIPA) held a webinar on “The Future of (non)Maghreb Peace ad Integration.” The webinar provided an opportunity to brainstorm the implication of the persistent paralysis in North African integration and its implication for peace and security in the region. Participants included experts and activists\, APN fellows and alumni\, scholars\, and practitioners in the field. The event commenced with welcome remarks by the Director of the SSRC’s African Peacebuilding Network (APN) and Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa program\, Cyril Obi\, who chaired and moderated the event. His remarks were followed by presentations by two experts. In his presentation\, Hamza Meddeb\, a nonresidential scholar at Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center\, spoke to the issues underpinning the paralysis in Maghreb integration. He identified the issues as a lack of political will among political elites and leaders of member-states of the Arab Maghreb Union\, strained relations between Algeria and Morocco\, and the failure of top-down approaches to integration. He pointed out that\, while the top-down approach to integration had failed\, a lot was happening in terms of people-to-people integration\, drawing on successful initiatives in the following areas: education\, joint infrastructure development\, and renewable energies. Hamza\, however\, reiterated the importance of reactivating Maghreb integration against the background of its strategic relations with Europe and neighboring African regions and the need to build on cross-border flows and informal integration between Libya and Tunisia. However\, in advancing his case for renewing Maghreb integration\, the presenter observed that security would be a major factor in determining success or failure. Of note in his view was the obstacle posed by the deadlock in Algeria-Morocco relations\, the competition for influence between both countries\, the instability in Libya\, and the absence of a cohesive regional approach to peacebuilding in Libya. In his presentation\, Mohammed Masbah\, the director of MIPA and a 2018 APN fellow\, identified the competition between Algeria and Morocco as the main driver of the paralysis afflicting the non-Maghreb integration. Drawing on the history of the ruptured relations between both countries\, he underlined the centrality of political causes to the rivalry between the two regional giants. Reflecting on MIPA’s 2020 Maghreb Integration Report\,  Mohammed demonstrated that\, despite a low level of integration and the close of the borders between the two countries\, there was ample evidence of interest among local people to interact and engage with those on the other side. Noting the serious challenges posed to economic integration in the Maghreb by the political nature of the problem\, including the role of political elites\, he also pointed out that civil society was constrained in its ability to act. In his view\, the situation of non-integration of the Maghreb was a serious one\, given the militarization of the region and growing neglect of socio-economic challenges facing the people of the region. He\, therefore\, argued that a more realistic approach would be to seek to focus on mitigating risk and ameliorating the current situation to avoid escalation and military confrontation. Commenting further on the situation\, Hamza identified three critical issues to consider. These included the absence of regional strategic thinking and the lack of drivers and incentives for regional integration. Examining potential areas of growth\, he noted complementarities between Libya and Algeria as oil-producing countries\, Tunisia and Morocco in the context of an evolving Free Trade framework with Mercosur\, and Mauritia’s fisheries industry. He also spoke to the key role of the private sector in the area of such economic activities and relations with Europe. \nIn the discussions that followed\, questions were raised about the implications of overlapping membership of regional organizations\, the gaps between competing national and regional interests\, the crisis in Libya\, the role of China in the Maghreb\, and the implications of the Abraham Accord for Algeria-Morocco relations. Participants agreed that\, although the formal regional integration in the Maghreb was virtually non-existent and faced complex threats\, strategic thinking was required to reactivate the process by carefully designing initiatives to change the mindsets of decision-makers to better connect national to regional interests\, beyond this resetting the region’s relations with Europe\, Africa\, and the Middle East.
URL:https://www.ssrc.org/events/the-future-of-the-non-maghreb-peace-and-integration/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220414T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220414T120000
DTSTAMP:20220415T132440Z
CREATED:20220415T131841Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220415T132440Z
UID:10000810-1649934000-1649937600@www.ssrc.org
SUMMARY:CPPF-Project Canopy Presentation on Central Africa
DESCRIPTION:On 14 April 2022\, CPPF held a brownbag meeting for the UN in partnership with Project Canopy on the geospatial mapping of deforestation and conflict in Central Africa. The meeting brought together UN officials of the Climate Security Mechanism and UN officials from the geospatial team to discuss an online environmental conflict platform for Central Africa.
URL:https://www.ssrc.org/events/cppf-project-canopy-presentation-on-central-africa/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220414T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220414T173000
DTSTAMP:20220415T132157Z
CREATED:20220415T132157Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220415T132157Z
UID:10000811-1649952000-1649957400@www.ssrc.org
SUMMARY:Book Talk - Roadblock Politics: The Origins of Violence in Central Africa
DESCRIPTION:On 14 April 2022\, UVC\, in partnership with the New School Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs\, organized a book talk on Peer Schouten’s recently published book Roadblock Politics: The Origins of Violence in Central Africa. The talk featured Tatiana Carayannis and Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja\, Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Ambassador to the United Nations.
URL:https://www.ssrc.org/events/book-talk-roadblock-politics-the-origins-of-violence-in-central-africa/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220608
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220610
DTSTAMP:20220609T181349Z
CREATED:20220609T181349Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220609T181349Z
UID:10000812-1654646400-1654819199@www.ssrc.org
SUMMARY:CPPF Expert Brainstorming on Syria (VTC)
DESCRIPTION:At the request of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic\, CPPF held an expert workshop on Syria. This meeting aimed to reflect on national and regional trends and developments eleven years after the start of the Syrian war\, and on the role of the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic.
URL:https://www.ssrc.org/events/cppf-expert-brainstorming-on-syria-vtc/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220627
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220630
DTSTAMP:20220629T071632Z
CREATED:20220629T071632Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220629T071632Z
UID:10000813-1656288000-1656547199@www.ssrc.org
SUMMARY:CPPF-DPPA RC MENA Forum
DESCRIPTION:CPPF hosted its 8th annual Forum for UN Resident Coordinators in the Middle East and North Africa Region in Geneva\, Switzerland on 27-29 June 2022. The Forum covered regional political trends and cross-cutting topics such as human rights; drugs\, crime and corruption; climate change and water politics; media and new technologies; migration; and risks and opportunities for the UN in the MENA region.
URL:https://www.ssrc.org/events/cppf-dppa-rc-mena-forum/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220630T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220630T123000
DTSTAMP:20220711T193704Z
CREATED:20220711T193704Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220711T193704Z
UID:10000814-1656581400-1656592200@www.ssrc.org
SUMMARY:CPPF Meeting on Climate Change\, Peace\, and Security in Central Africa
DESCRIPTION:On June 30\, the SSRC’s Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum held a virtual workshop on climate change\, peace\, and security in Central Africa with key partners\, including ECCAS\, DPPA-DPO\, and UNOCA. The workshop presented UNOCA’s recent report on climate change and its adverse impact on peace and security in the region while also looking at initiatives\, capacities and opportunities for regional resilience.
URL:https://www.ssrc.org/events/cppf-meeting-on-climate-change-peace-and-security-in-central-africa/
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