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:
- Individual Research Fellowships: Supporting up to six months of innovative field-based research in order to produce knowledge that can impact practical actions on peacebuilding initiatives in Africa (Maximum costs: $15,000).
- Research Policy Fellowship (RPF) supporting 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. (Maximum costs: $12,000).
- Collaborative Working Group Research Fellowships: Supporting 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 (Maximum costs: $60,000).
