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EU-Africa Relations in a Changing Global Order (ERGO)

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European Union – Africa Relations in a Changing Global Order (ERGO) is a research activity carried out as a Jean Monnet Project with the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.

Africa has enjoyed a new prominence in the 21st century. Institutions such as the African Union have capitalised on this status by broadening relations with the result of the world, including members of the rising Global South. Questions have subsequently been asked about the continued relevance of relations with the Global North in a seemingly changing global order. For some people, the EU and its Member States represent a past order, while partnerships with emerging powers China, India and Brazil represent the future. Yet this assumption is not a given. What is more certain is that we are in a state of flux which has challenged Africa’s relationships, new and old. The impetus here is, therefore, to “re-examine” EU-Africa relations in this changing global order. The objective of this proposed project is to bring together top academics, policy makers and political observers to explore how EU-Africa relations can best be understood today in light of a changing global order, highlighting innovations and challenges, and how the partnership can be updated in key areas such as security, trade, migration, development of climate change. Particular focus will be placed on engaging ‘African voices’ – hitherto the least present voices in the debate on EU-Africa relations. ERGO’s main activities were two international workshops as well as a larger one-day open conference, all held in Pretoria. These brought together academics, students, policymakers, practitioners, stakeholders and other members of civil society from across the continent and beyond.

The key outputs are published as a special issue of the South African Journal of International Affairs as well as in a number of policy-relevant publications. The project was carried out with the European Studies Association of Sub-Saharan Africa (ESA-SSA) and served to promote the Jean Monnet Programme and EU studies across Africa.

Project number: 574837-EPP-1-2016-1-ZA-EPPJMO-PROJECT

Contact: esassa.up@gmail.com

ERGO Policy Day 29 November 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ERGO First workshop programme July 2017
ERGO Second Workshop November 2017
EU Africa Policy Day programme Nov 29 2017

Determinants and drivers of migration in Africa (MIGRAFRICA)

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The objective of the research project MIGRAFRICA (Determinants and drivers of migration in Africa) is to develop a regional overview of the main determinants and drivers of migration in SSA focusing on the structural causes of rural out-migration. It presents the main finding analytically and graphically in a working paper, an in-depth case study and an Atlas focused on the main migratory trends and drivers from, across and to SSA. The publications will be in both English and French.

An outcome is the FAO-CIRAD-GOVINN Atlas ‘Rural Africa in motion. Dynamics and drivers of migration South of the Sahara’.

Contacts

sara.mercandalli@cirad.fr

The futures of Governance and the Governance of the Future

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English version

The primary objective of this research project is to i) take stock of what the futures of governance could look like, ii) explore to what extent the use of anticipation and the development of futures literacy in governance can be by itself  a governance innovation, and iii) explore and discuss implications  for present and future governance of the future. It is also an applied research project whose second objective is to connect this knowledge generation process with empirical work, in dialogic way, with a particular, but not exclusive, focus on Africa. For this purpose, it is designed to be a process of collective investigation involving i) people with a taste for future-oriented postures and interested in the issue of governance and ii) people facing governance issues who are interested in using the future.
A fuller description of the project can be seen in this draft concept note for building and engaging an extended peer community into this collaborative research project. It seeks to involve people who have future-oriented competences and an interest in governance innovation, or people who are working in the field of governance and have an interest in future-oriented approaches. It is a conceptual and action research with a special focus on Africa, on territorial development and on the SDGs.
If you want to know more or/and you are interested in joining and contributing, please contact robin.bourgeois@cirad.fr

Access the draft concept note here (English version)

Version Francaise

Les futurs de la gouvernance et la gouvernance du futur

L’objectif principal de ce projet de recherche est de: i) faire un état des lieux sur les futurs de la gouvernance; ii) explorer dans quelle mesure l’utilisation de l’anticipation et une culture du futur peuvent être des innovations en gouvernance, iii) explorer et discuter les implications pour la gouvernance actuelle et à venir du futur. C’est aussi un projet de recherche appliquée dont le deuxième objectif est de relier ce processus de génération de connaissances à un travail empirique, de manière dialogique, avec un accent particulier, mais non exclusif, sur l’Afrique. A cette fin, il est conçu comme un processus d’investigation collective impliquant i) les personnes ayant un goût pour l’anticipation et intéressées par la question de la gouvernance et ii) les personnes confrontées aux problèmes de gouvernance et intéressées par l’anticipation.
Une description plus complète du projet est accessible dans cette note conceptuelle provisoire visant à construire et à engager une communauté de pairs étendue dans ce projet de recherche collaboratif. Un accent particulier y sera mis sur l’Afrique, sur le développement territorial et sur les ODD.
Si vous souhaitez en savoir plus et / ou si vous souhaitez vous inscrire et contribuer, contactez robin.bourgeois@cirad.fr.


Accédez à la note conceptuelle ici (version Française)

“Competing with Capitalism to Maximize Well-Being” LEDDA framework on Thruth Out
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What would you do to reinvent capitalism, to make it less destructive and more focused on what people really need?
It’s not that the benefits of capitalism are undesirable – jumbo jets and smart phones are sheer wonders – it’s that the collateral damage is growing untenable. Democracy and the commons are being sold off to the highest bidders.

GovInn Director Lorenzo Fioramonti and John Boik, creator of the Principled Societies Project present on TruthOut the Local Economic Direct Democracy (LEDDA) framework.

A LEDDA, Local Economic Direct Democracy Association, is a membership-based, community benefit association open to residents, businesses, schools, nonprofits, local governments, public services, and others that choose to participate. The LEDDA framework is the local economic system – comprised of software, policies, standards, and procedures – that a new LEDDA implements. Once live, the membership can alter the local framework as desired.

In effect, the framework offers a secondary level of organization on top of an existing local economy.

Each LEDDA governs its own local framework through an online process of direct democracy, and all LEDDAs are networked together within a global association, which is also governed through online direct democracy. Thus the focus is both local and global.

The LEDDA framework integrates and builds on numerous initiatives already existing in cities and regions around the world, including buy local, local currency, open source, crowdfunding, socially responsible business, open data, smart cities, and participatory democracy. It contains its own monetary system, which issues a local electronic currency, called the token. And it has its own financial system, called the Crowd-Based Financial System (CBFS), which resembles crowdfunding and participatory budgeting. The framework is sophisticated, and there are many more elements.

The LEDDA framework is synonymous with LEDDA economic direct democracy, an economic system that offers all participants roughly equal and direct opportunity to influence their local economy. The framework infuses a local economy with democracy, in part by using money as a voting tool and by increasing and equalizing family incomes.

A computer simulation model has been published that illustrates the process. Inflation-adjusted mean family income more than doubles during the twenty-eight-year simulation period. As incomes rise, they become more equal. By the end of the simulation, every member family receives a pre-tax, take-home income equivalent to about $107,000, just above the 90th percentile of baseline income. Even very wealthy families would see a small direct gain.

By the end of the simulation, the LEDDA, located in an averaged-size US county, channels the equivalent of more than $2 billion dollars annually toward local businesses, schools, public services, and nonprofit organizations. Tax revenues for the county markedly rise. With such abundant resources, and democratic control over funding decisions, a community could remake its economy into one that best suits its needs.

The LEDDA framework is still theoretical, and the partnership is just forming. Over time, we hope to provide answers to the host of questions that such an approach naturally raises. In this, we invite your participation.

Imagine a democracy-infused economic system that maximizes well-being. The long-run social and environmental returns might be valued in the trillions, thousands of times greater than the costs of development and pilot trials. Isn’t it worth the effort?

Read the full article on TruthOut