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Seminar Report: “Africa-EU Cooperation, Sustainable Development Goals and Africa’s 2030 Agenda – An ESA-SSA Interactive Seminar”

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Participants of the ESA-SSA Seminar

More than forty participants from different academic departments and professional backgrounds attended an interactive seminar held on 11 June 2018 at GovInn headquarters in Old College House, University of Pretoria, focusing on ”Africa-EU Cooperation, Sustainable Development Goals and Africa’s 2030 Agenda”. The event was organized by the European Studies Association of Sub-Saharan Africa (ESA-SSA). The seminar aimed at analyzing Africa-EU relations of current dispensation to synthesize investment and policy action for the achievement of sustainable development goals on Africa’s ‘recipes’. The seminar considered strategic techniques on how to take advantage of the challenges and opportunities currently available to Africa to customize and prioritize its investments towards achieving the SDGs on the continent. Among other things, relevant youth empowerment and maximizing the strength in multidisciplinary research approaches to proffer solutions to various development problems in Africa with partnership support of the EU were emphasized as keys to achieving sustainable future on the continent. The significance of open lab design philosophy in the conduct and timely application of research solutions to developmental challenges in Africa was stressed.

Presenting at the seminar were Prof. Willem Fourie, UP Associate Professor and the Co-ordinator of the South African SDG Hub; Manuel Iglesias, First Counsellor and Team Leader at the Governance Cooperation and Social Sectors department of the EU Delegation to South Africa as well as two PhD scholars: Dola Adeboye from the Food Science Department, University of Pretoria and Felix Donkor from the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (UNISA), South Africa. The event was opened with a warm welcome by Dr Chris Nshimbi, the acting GovInn Director and coordinated by Dickson Ajisafe, the ESA-SSA Secretariat Coordinator.

Serving as Volunteers at the seminar were Francois Gilles de Pelichy, Bridget Meso, AneLisa Mbonambi, David Kabwa from Political Science Department and Anthonia Dickson from Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria.

This report was compiled by Mr Dickson Ajisafe for ESA-SSA.

GovInn and ESA-SSA at European Union in International Affairs 2018 (#EUIA18) – Brussels, Belgium

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GovInn and ESA-SSA at EUIA

This year, the sixth conference on the European Union in International Affairs (EUIA) took place once again at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Brussels (Belgium). Over 300 members of the academic community gathered in the centre of the European city from 16 to 18 May 2018.

As in the previous 2016 edition, GovInn was well represented with a delegation comprising research fellows John Kotsopoulos and Frank Mattheis. For the European Studies Association of Sub-Sahara Africa (ESA-SSA) the two researchers organised a panel on rethinking EU-Africa relations, which was well-attended and covered in social media. In addition to presenting their research stemming from GovInn’s research project “EU-Africa Relations in a Changing Global Order (ERGO)”, the two researchers also served as discussants in this and another panel. The full programme can be found on the conference website.

The conference was also an ideal venue to advertise the ESA-SSA network to new members and to advance collaboration plans, ranging from joint future workshops to a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding in the making between the University of Marburg(Germany), the Catholic University of East Africa (Kenya) and GovInn.

The EUIA Conference is organised every two years by the Institut d’Études Européennes at the Université Libre de Bruxelles(IEE-ULB), the Institute for European Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel(IES-VUB), theUnited Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies(UNU-CRIS) and Egmont – the Royal Institute for International Relations.

Dickson Ajisafe graduates with a Master’s in African and European Cultural Relations.

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ESA-SSA and GovInn’s Dickson AJisafe recently graduated with a Master’s in African and European Cultural Relations at the University of Pretoria‘s Autumn Graduation Ceremony. Dickson was the first Nigerian scholar to be awarded the Erasmus Plus Scholarship to study in Europe in 2016.

 

 

 

Read the full article here : http://www.up.ac.za/en/news/post_2669944-conquering-the-world-through-academic-excellence

Photo by Radek Homola on UnsplashPhoto by Radek Homola on Unsplash

Africa-EU Relations, Migration, Development and Integration (AEMDI)

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About the project

GovInn and the European Studies Association of Sub-Saharan Africa (ESA-SSA) at the University of Pretoria, the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Zululand, are pleased to announce the receipt of funding from the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union for our Jean Monnet Project ‘Africa-EU relations, migration, development and integration’ (AEMDI).

In September 2018 the project hosted the a conference on “EU-Africa Migration Conundrum in a Changing Global Order” at the University of Pretoria.

Aims

The Africa-EU relations, migration, development and integration (AEMDI) project, aims to:

  • Bring into conversation leading academics, policy makers, political observers and practitioners from civil society to explore and examine intra-Africa migration on one hand and EU-Africa relationships vis-à-vis migration on the other hand.
  • Draw lessons and parallels from across Africa, and chiefly, the integration experience of the EU—particularly the Schengen Area—in moving from free movement of labour to EU citizenship, as enshrined in Article 20 (1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
  • Through a series of international workshops and conferences, research collaborations and publications, AEMDI will promote the Jean Monnet Programme and adopt best practices from the EU`s successes in regional integration, for Africa.
  • It will increase networking and expertise between/of academics, policy makers, professionals and relevant stakeholders in Africa and the EU
  • AEMDI promotes development and well-being in Africa through, among other things, learned experiences from observed successes in EU integration.

Project Coordinators

Chris Nshimbi, University of Pretoria;

Jussi Laine, University of Eastern Finland;

Inocent Moyo, University of Zululand

Project period

01.09.2017 – 08.01.2020

Project partners

University of Pretoria , South Africa; University of Eastern Finland, Finland; University of Zululand, South Africa

Erasmus+ Programme

The project is supported by Jean Monnet Activities within the Erasmus+ Programme

Project Number – 587767-EPP-1-2017-1-ZA-EPPJMO-PROJECT

 

 

Contacts

Chris.nshimbi@governanceinnovation.org

‘Broadening the Debate on EU-Africa Relations’, by ESA-SSA, 20-21.07.2017

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On July 20-21, scholars from every corner of Africa assembled at GovInn HQ for a workshop entitled “Broadening the Debate on EU-Africa Relations”. The aim of this ESA-SSA workshop was to advance perspectives on EU-Africa relations from Africa and the African diaspora. Scholars had an opportunity to scrutinise underexplored dimensions of the relationship as well as provide new insights into more established elements of the partnership. At the same time, the workshop represented a first effort at redressing the imbalance in scholarship on EU-Africa relations, which has hitherto been dominated by writing from Europe. Most importantly, new friendships were made and commitments to further collaborative research solidified. Stay tuned for more workshops to come!

 
ERGO Workshop 2017

‘Can the relationship between Europe and Africa stand the test of time?’, The Conversation, 29.03.2017

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Govinn’s Senior Researcher  published the article ‘Can the relationship between Europe and Africa stand the test of time?‘ in The Conversation.

Controversially, the agreement served to perpetuate African dependency on Europe. Even the Lome Convention’s much touted “non-reciprocal” principle, which was supposed to nurture African industries, further attached them to Europe. The convention eventually met strong criticism as a system of “collective clientelism”, which was perpetuating dependency and “elite capture” in Africa. This contradictory relationship between dependency and progressive thinking has made Africans understandably circumspect.

Read the full article here: https://theconversation.com/can-the-relationship-between-europe-and-africa-stand-the-test-of-time-75136?

Reflections on Sixty Years of the European Union in Africa

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On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, the Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation (GovInn) and the Delegation of the European Union to South Africa are delighted to invite you to a Roundtable Discussion entitled: Reflections on Sixty Years of the European Union in Africa

FINAL 60th anniversary event UP EU

ESA-SSA IN GERMANY

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We are proud to announce that ESA-SSA Executive Committee member and GovInn Associate Fellow, Dickson Ajisafe, has begun exchange studies at the University of Konstanz, Germany. Mr Ajisafe is the first non-South African student to participate in this ERASMUS + mobility programme from the University of Pretoria and in fact the first student from West Africa (Nigeria) to ever be accepted under the auspices of this programme at the University of Konstanz!

The University of Konstanz’s international exchange study mobility programme includes more than 300 top students from Africa, Asia, Middle East, Oceania, Latin America, South and North America. The. The University of Konstanz is ranked among the top universities in Germany, renown for research output and academic excellence. Since 2001, the University of Konstanz has maintained cooperation with the University of Pretoria and one main activity within this partnership is the student exchange programme. Particular thanks must also be extended to Prof Stephan Muehr, the Director of the African and European Cultural Relations MA programme at UP, for facilitating the process.

Mr. Ajisafe will return to his MA studies at the University of Pretoria in March 2017. Members of GovInn and ESA-SSA wish him well as he flies the University of Pretoria flag high in Germany!

GovInn at EUIA

GovInn conference report: European Union in International Affairs 2016 (#EUIA16) – Brussels, Belgium

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This year, the fifth biennial conference on the European Union in International Affairs, took place once again at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Brussels. Close to 400 members of the academic community gathered in the centre of the multi-facetted city from 11 to 13 May.
GovInn was well represented with a delegation comprising senior researchers Camilla Adelle, John Kotsopoulos and Frank Mattheis, as well as communication manager Gaia Manco. For the European Studies Association of Sub-Sahara Africa (ESA-SSA) the three researchers organised two panels on EU-Africa relations, which were well-attended both physically and virtually (with a strong social media presence). In addition, the researchers presented their individual research in panels ranging from climate change to interregionalism. The full programme can be found on the conference website.
The day prior to the conference Frank Mattheis also gave a seminar on Brazil in Africa at the Institute for European Studies of the Université libre de Bruxelles for the GEM PhD school. The three GovInn researchers took further advantage of their trip to Belgium to participate in a workshop at the University of Ghent in preparation of joint projects proposals and activities with Prof. Jan Orbie and his team.

GovInn at EUIA

GovInn at EUIA

 

Report by Frank Mattheis, attending the conference on behalf of the Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation at the University of Pretoria (South Africa), with support from the Institute for European Studies of the Université libre de Bruxelles.

“Sport, Security and Language in African and European perspectives”

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A Soft Student Seminar under the umbrella of the European Studies Association of Sub-Saharan Africa (ESA-SSA) was held on the 16th of May, 2016, at Old College House, University of Pretoria. It was presided over by officials of the EU-Delegation to the Republic of South Africa, led by the Deputy Head of the European Union Delegation to South Africa, Ms Sofia Moreira de Sousa. Members of the EU Delegation who also participated in the seminar included, Arno Schaefer, Mano Queiro and Carmelo Cocuzza (European Investment Bank regional representative for Southern Africa).

The seminar was held to mark the European Union Anniversary and its focuses included EU and Africa relations, as well as sport, security and language in African and European Perspectives. Ms Sofia reacting to questions on Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreements (TDCA) in Africa said that part of the objectives of the EU and Africa relations, making reference to South Africa in particular is to build a stable country that is economically developed, that would be able to invest in Europe and create a safe place for European investments in the country.

Among the academics of the seminar panels were: Dr. Chris Nshimbi, GovInn Deputy Director, who gave the opening remarks, representing Prof. Lorenzo Fioramonti, Dr John Kotsopoulos, a postdoctoral and Senior Research Fellow at GovInn, Dr. George Dosumu, who represented Dr. Samuel Adeyemo, a Senior Lecturer at Educational Management and Policy Studies’ department. The seminar was also attended by a good number of UP students from various departments and moderated by ESA-SSA student members.