Photo by Sara Kurfeß on UnsplashPhoto by Sara Kurfeß on Unsplash

African Union–EU Relations, Regional Partnerships for Actorness in Effective Global Governance (AUROROA)

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About the project

 GovInn and the European Studies Association of Sub-Saharan Africa (ESA-SSA) in the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and Carleton University, Canada, are pleased to announce that we have been granted funding from the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union for our Jean Monnet Project ‘African Union–EU relations, regional partnerships for actorness in effective global governance’ (AURORA).

Aims

This project seeks to explore ways to increase diversity within the field of European Studies, in particular with regards to the ethnicity, disciplinary focus and geographical location of its participants.

Through a series of events, research collaborations and publications, the project aims to:

Gather scholars from diverse intellectual disciplines, professionals and practitioners to examine regional trade agreements, the African Continental Free Trade Area and Africa’s engagement with the EU in international affairs

Draw lessons and parallels from across Africa and, chiefly, European Political Cooperation, which became a region engaged in global affairs with unified external policy reflected in, among others, the Lisbon Treaty

Consolidate international networks to add value and provide comparative knowledge on free trade areas, especially from the EU.

AURORA prides itself in introducing local students to the African Union, European Union and regionalism and increasing the level of their engagement in African Union, European Union and regionalism issues to ensure continuity into the future.

Project Coordinators

Chris Nshimbi, University of Pretoria; Samuel Oloruntoba, Institute of African Studies (IAS), Carleton University; Hany Besada, Institute of African Studies (IAS), Carleton University; Dickson Ajisafe, University of Pretoria

Project partners

University of Pretoria; Carleton University

Erasmus+ Programme

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

Project Number – 621325-EPP-1-2020-1-ZA-EPPJMO-PROJECT

Presentation on GovInn work on SDG16 at the South African-French Science and Innovation Days, 2-3 December 2019

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GovInn Senior Researcher Dr. Robin Bourgeois presented GovInn’s work on SDG 16 “Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions”, at the 1st  South African-French Science and Innovations Days  conference organized by The French Embassy in South Africa, in collaboration with the DST and the NRF during 2-3 December 2019. The event took place at the CSIR Convention Centre, Pretoria. Dr Bourgeois highlighted i) some of the results  of the study of local justice systems in Namibia (http://governanceinnovation.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/GovInn-Working-Paper-02-2019.pdf), ii) the anticipatory approach used for the preparation of the SDG16 section of the goal report GovInn produced as a contribution to the country report by StatSA on the achievement of the SDGs in South Africa, and a holistic approach to the SDGs as a network of interconnected elements. The full presentation and related notes can be found here.

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

Economic and Sociocultural Encounters in Borders: Experiences from Southern Africa, Perspectives from Europe, Asia and South America

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This project is situated within debates on borders, borderlands, sub- and regional integration. It examines local, grassroots and non-state actors and their cross-border economic and sociocultural encounters and contestations. And the role they play in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and its integration project. The project also deliberately includes perspectives on borders, borderlands and integration in other world regions including Europe, Asia and South America. The aim is to not only enhance the understanding of Southern African borders, but also contribute to the attempts and formulations by scholars, policymakers, practitioners and ordinary people to make sense of the lines that seem to so easily separate and box people into mutually exclusive categories.

Project leaders: Dr Chris Nshimbi, Dr Inocent Moyo (University of Zululand), Dr Jussi Laine (University of Eastern Finland).

 

Contacts

Chris.nshimbi@governanceinnovation.org

African Borders, Human Mobility, Continental Integration and Development

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This project interrogates mobility issues affecting ordinary people and economically active human resources within and across the borders of Africa’s disparate states. It also explores the dynamics of cooperation and the governance of trans-boundary natural resources. This is in a quest to examine the relationship between the spatial mobility of borders and development, as well as the migration regimes within which states that share contiguous borders in given geographic territories are embedded.

Project leaders: Dr Chris Nshimbi, Dr Inocent Moyo (University of Zululand).

 

Contacts

Chris.nshimbi@governanceinnovation.org

Borders, War, Peace and Regional Integration Schemes in Africa

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The project investigates how the porosity of African borders might exacerbate war and conflict and the way in which this impacts on regional integration on one hand, and the extent to which regional and continental integration could contribute towards cooperation, peace and well-being in Africa on the other hand. The project goes beyond the analysis, description and/or outlining of the causes of conflict in Africa. It engages in a serious consideration of initiatives and innovations that can be put in place or are already being employed on the ground, within the current regional and continental integration debates and practice.

Project leaders: Dr Inocent Moyo (University of Zululand), Dr Chris Nshimbi.

 

Contacts

Chris.nshimbi@governanceinnovation.org

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

African Voices from the Ground

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This research project focuses on collecting information from citizens and civil society organizations, in addition to government officials and professionals working on migration issues in migrant communities. It aims to gather data from these “voices on the ground” through systemic research methods in four countries representing four regions of Africa: Senegal (West Africa), South Africa (Southern Africa), Mali (Sahel) and Ethiopia (Horn of Africa). It includes voices of civil society into the dialog on migration; establish a continuous migration platform, offering understanding of migration issues; establish a network among groups working on migration at regional level and beyond, at global level; discuss and develop long-term approaches on migration; develop policy recommendations for African decision makers; and develop specific recommendations for the EU-Africa partnership. focused on collecting information from citizens and civil society organizations, in addition to government officials and professionals working on migration issues in those communities.

Project leaders: Professor Amr Abdalla (Addis Ababa University), Professor Kassahun Berhanu (Addis Ababa University), Ms Firehiwot Sintayehu (Addis Ababa University), Dr Kevin Eze (University of the Sahel), and Dr Chris Nshimbi.

 

Contacts

Chris.nshimbi@governanceinnovation.org

Building Regions from Below

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This research investigates the activities of informal cross-border traders and migrants in the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Area, with a specific focus on the SADC region. It seeks to understand the contribution of these actors to the broader integration of the said regions. Special attention is given to persons living in the proximate communities, towns, etc. of the contiguous border areas of the countries that form the tripartite FTA.

 

Contacts

chris.nshimbi@governanceinnovation.org