African Peacebuilding and Developmental Dynamics

08/18/2026

Day 2 | The 2026 APDD Research Methods Workshop included the Itumo Roundtable, "African Progress is African Responsibility," where presenters, including members of the Itumo Institute, spoke on the history, present, and hopeful future of the think tank, as well as the importance of Africa and Africans being active agents in determining the future of the continent.

Dr. Moujib Djinadou (Founder and Director, ITUMÒ Institute) opened the session; Prof. Ambassador Aderemi Ajibewa (Principal Consultant, Bonafide Global Concept Ltd, Nigeria) spoke on his extensive experience with ECOWAS, and championed the idea that "academic research is a discipline"; Dr. Angeline Nguedjeu (Coordinator, ITUMÒ Institute) discussed how Itumo honors history and heritage in the present within an African context; Mohamed Arafat Olagnika Salami (Programme Assistant, ITUMÒ Institute) shared an evaluation on textile sovereignty on the continent; and Manar Djinadou (Editor, Itumo’s Observatory) and Malik Djinadou (Entrepreneur) evaluated The 2063 Agenda of the African Union, differentiating between Africa's financial indepdence and "diaspora dollars; finally, Dr. Dieudonné Gnammakou (Historian) presented, "The Myth of African Kings' Consent to the Slave Trade."

08/17/2026

"As a researcher, you must always engage analytical questions without stereotypes when reading the world."

Day 1 | Prof. Dêlidji Eric Degil (Professor, Geneva Graduate Institute) presented his Keynote Address, “Reflections on Methodological Issues in Conducting Evidence-Based Research for Shaping Policy in a Changing World: A Perspective from Africa," during the 2026 APDD Research Methods Workshop.

Prof. Degil stressed that, when it comes to conducting evidence-based research, context matters, especially in a place like Africa, where social methodologies are rich and diverse. Stressing the necessity to go beyond stereotypes, he urged researchers to consider the critical need for conceptual decolonization in knowledge production. He also illustrated the contrast between the dialectic method (discovering the truth by examining contradictions between opposing forces) and the symptomatic method (looking at past literal texts to find blanks, silences, and contradictions).

He concluded his lecture by stating, "Much work needs to be done in recognizing and incorporating ontologies, epistemes, and praxis from peripheries as legitimate contributions to better understand our pluriversal and changing world."

08/17/2026

Day 1 | The 2026 APDD Research Methods Workshop opened with Welcome Remarks from Dr. Moujib Djinadou (Founder and Director, Itumo Institute), Dr. Cyril Obi (Program Director, African Peacebuilding and Developmental Dynamics), His Excellency Ambassador Amadou Dionguo (ECOWAS Resident Representative to Bénin), and Mr. Raouf Mazo (retired Senior United Nations Diplomat, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency).

Dr. Moujib Djinadou welcomed everyone to Benin, expressing optimism and gratitude for the fruitful partnership with APDD. Dr. Cyril Obi welcomed the new cohort of African fellows and said he felt honored to hold the workshop in Benin, a country that “is a pivotal agent of democracy on the continent.” His Excellency Ambassador Amadou Dionguo spoke on Africa “entering a new world, which requires adaptation of our tools,” saying it’s not just about African solutions, but creative African solutions, and that there is no limit to what the continent can accomplish. Lastly, Mr. Raouf Mazo emphasized how a core issue facing the continent is the lack of elite consensus on how to effectively govern and protect society through a long-term social contracts, allowing its people to prosper. He proposed the research question: “Is elite consensus only a political issue, or is it a parable to explain how a society flourishes and thrives?”

08/17/2026

🇧🇯 The African Peacebuilding and Developmental Dynamics (APDD) Program officially launched its 2026 Research Methods Workshop in partnership with the Itumo Institute in Porto-Novo, Benin!

Stay tuned for highlights, including keynote addresses, thought-provoking panels, and more.

08/14/2026

Dr. Titilope Ajayi (Next Gen 2017 & 2019, APN IRG 2018) authored the article, “Central Africa’s shifting alliances between armies and armed groups,” in Institute for Peace and Security Studies Today.

"Across Central Africa, it is becoming harder to distinguish between those tasked with providing security and those driving crime and conflict. The inability of governments to guarantee security encourages alliances among militias, community-based forces and national armies, complicating conflict management."

Read More: https://bit.ly/4xHJ5FK

State security forces, militias and vigilante groups increasingly overlap, making insecurity more profitable and conflict harder to resolve.

08/14/2026

Our recent APDD Lecture Series, "Flows Before Borders: Networked Sovereignty, Indigenous Knowledge, and Africa's Encounter with Artificial Intelligence (AI),” by Iginio Gagliardone, critically interrogates the idea that Africa does not have a significant, active role to play in the era of AI.

"Conversations about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Africa often begin from a familiar premise. A new technological wave arrives, carrying promises of efficiency and leapfrogging. At the same time, the continent is described through what it lacks: capital, compute[co1] , infrastructure, policy, data, expertise. AI is placing Africa once again within a double bind, where gadgetry is invited to perform the work of politics and history, while the continent is reminded that it remains structurally unprepared for the very future it is urged to embrace."

Read More: https://bit.ly/45wVPCY

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08/07/2026

NEW on Kujenga Amani | "Perspectives to the Discursive Strategy of “Silence” in the Security Governance of Southeast Nigeria: The Case of Indigenous People of Biafra’s (IPOB) Militancy” by Ifeyinwa Chukwuokoro:

"IPOB agitation revolves around socio-political exclusion and marginalization of the region.8 This has given rise to complex security problems, among which is the concept of ‘unknown gunmen,’ associated with armed robbery, kidnapping, communal violence, and other forms of insecurity in the region.9 Unfortunately, the federal government has not been able to fully address this."

Read More: https://bit.ly/4hV9Stt

08/07/2026

Anele Siswana (Next Gen 2025) published a book chapter, "Intersection of African spiritual practices and clinical psychology through the lens of my dual identity as a clinical psychologist and Igqirha kwaXhosa (Xhosa divine healer): I love my ‘dirty work’," in Decolonial African-Centered Community Psychologies, as well as a co-authored article, "Amawele (Twinship), tradition, and trans identity: Navigating cisheteronormativity among AmaXhosa traditional male initiation rite of passage," published in the South African Review of Sociology. We congratulate him on this professional success.📚🎉

Read the article: https://bit.ly/4pZvaZ3
Learn more about the book: https://bit.ly/4w4Xhr3

08/06/2026

Tamuka Chekero (Next Gen 2019) has authored the article, “Beyond Borders: What Informal Settlement Crises Teach Us about Everyday Peacebuilding,” published by The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.

Read more: https://bit.ly/4z1sSwx

07/30/2026

We are happy to share our most recent APDD Lecture Series, "Flows Before Borders: Networked Sovereignty, Indigenous Knowledge, and Africa's Encounter with Artificial Intelligence (AI),” by Iginio Gagliardone. 📚🎉

"Conversations about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Africa often begin from a familiar premise. A new technological wave arrives, carrying promises of efficiency and leapfrogging. At the same time, the continent is described through what it lacks: capital, compute, infrastructure, policy, data, expertise. AI is placing Africa once again within a double bind, where gadgetry is invited to perform the work of politics and history, while the continent is reminded that it remains structurally unprepared for the very future it is urged to embrace."

Read More: https://bit.ly/45wVPCY