Launched in March 2012, the African Peacebuilding Network (APN) supports independent African research on conflict-affected countries and neighboring regions of the continent, as well as the integration of African knowledge into global policy communities. The APN promotes the visibility of African peacebuilding knowledge among global and regional centers of scholarly analysis and practical action and makes it accessible to key policymakers at the United Nations and other multilateral, regional, and national policymaking institutions.

The APN accomplishes this by facilitating the transformation of the quality and scale of African research and consolidating the contributions of African researchers and analysts, thereby connecting them with other African scholars, policy analysts, practitioners, and networks focusing on issues of peacebuilding, as well as with other policymaking communities around the world. 

In order to advance African debates on peacebuilding and promote African perspectives, the APN offers competitive research grants and funds other forms of targeted support, including strategy meetings, seminars, grantee workshops, commissioned studies, and the publication and dissemination of research findings.

Program activities are largely organized in Africa and accomplished through cooperation with African research organizations and networks, such as the African Leadership Centre (ALC) based in Nairobi, Kenya; the Centre for Democracy and Development based in Abuja, Nigeria; and the Council for the Development of Social Science Research (CODESRIA) based in Dakar, Senegal. The APN is open to scholars and practitioners from multidisciplinary backgrounds and supports research and networking through its individual and working group grants. Individuals that choose to apply for these programs must be based in African universities, research organizations, and/or policy and practitioner institutions:

  • APN Individual Research Fellowships (IRF): Supports up to nine months of innovative field-based research and writing in order to produce knowledge that can impact practical actions on peacebuilding initiatives in Africa. (Funding of up to US$15,000 each)
  • APN Research Policy Fellowship (RPF) Supports former APN IRF Fellows (who received awards no earlier than June 2020) for up to six months of research on a specific policy area and affiliation. (Funding of up to $12,000 each)
  • APN Collaborative Working Group Research Fellowships (CWG): Supports joint multidisciplinary research teams involving scholars and practitioners at work on a collaboratively framed theme that can lead to direct impact on peacebuilding knowledge, policy, and practice. Please be advised that there is no APN CWG available in 2025. (Funding of up to US$60,000)

Programs & Projects

Fellowship

Research Policy Fellowship

The APN Research Policy Fellowship supports African scholars who have been recipients of an APN IRF fellowship within the past five (5) years.
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Partnerships

The APN and Next Gen program of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) partners with fellows, universities, think tanks, non-profits, and non-governmental organizations to advance African peacebuilding across the continent …
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Fellowship

Individual Research Fellowships

The Individual Research Fellowships program is a vehicle for enhancing the quality and visibility of independent African peacebuilding research both regionally and globally, while making peacebuilding knowledge accessible to key policymakers and research centers of excellence in Africa and around the world.
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Fellowship

Collaborative Working Group Research Fellowships

The African Peacebuilding Network (APN) of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) invites applications from senior African academics and researchers based at universities in Africa to assemble and lead collaborative research projects intended to inform policy and practice on conflict and peacebuilding on the continent.
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Project

Kujenga Amani

Kujenga Amani (Swahili for “building peace”) is a digital forum for the exchange of ideas and information on peacebuilding in Africa. A project of the African Peacebuilding Network (APN), it serves as a space for connecting researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and organizations working on diverse aspects of peacebuilding, a venue for conversations about the critical challenges confronting peacebuilding in conflict-affected regions of the continent, and a laboratory for probing the connections between African and global peace and security.
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