AIKRN

AIKRN

Empowering Maasai Entrepreneurship through Indigenous Knowledge

Empowering Maasai Entrepreneurship through IndigenousKnowledge The Maasai community in Tanzania’s Monduli District offers a vibrant example of how Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) can fuel sustainable entrepreneurship and economic growth. Our recent studies in the villages of Mti Mmoja and Arkatani underscore how traditional practices, ranging from livestock management and beadwork to herbal medicine are important not only for preserving cultural heritage but also for driving local economic development. Harnessing Tradition for Economic Growth Livestock keeping remains central to the Maasai economy, incorporating techniques such as rotational grazing, which sustain pasturelands and livestock health. Women significantly contribute through beadwork, crafting jewelry that resonates with cultural identity and finds a ready market among tourists in Arusha and nearby national parks. Similarly, traditional herbal medicine, once primarily community-oriented, is emerging as a lucrative entrepreneurial avenue due to rising demand across urban centers and neighboring regions. Overcoming Challenges Despite these promising developments, the Maasai face substantial hurdles. Youth disengagement with traditional knowledge, driven by urbanization and formal education systems, threatens the continuity of vital skills. Infrastructure limitations further restrict access to markets, hampering growth and sustainability. Women’s entrepreneurship faces additional barriers due to cultural restrictions on property ownership and limited financial literacy. Opportunities for Change However, these challenges open doors to significant opportunities. Improved market access and infrastructure development, such as roads and dedicated marketplaces, could exponentially increase the reach and profitability of Maasai crafts and products. Incorporating indigenous knowledge into formal educational curricula can bridge the generational gap, empowering youth to harness traditional skills alongside modern entrepreneurial strategies. Community-driven initiatives like Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOS) and Village Community Banks (VICOBAs) have proven essential for supporting local entrepreneurship, particularly for women. Additionally, collaborative efforts with NGOs such as OIKOS East Africa have demonstrated effective integration of indigenous pastoral methods into broader environmental and economic strategies. Recommendations for Sustainable Development To sustain and enhance these positive outcomes, targeted policies must be implemented: Formal recognition and protection of indigenous knowledge and cultural products through intellectual property frameworks. Enhanced infrastructure investments to support better market access and tourism. Financial empowerment initiatives specifically aimed at women and youth entrepreneurs. Integration of indigenous knowledge into educational systems to ensure its transfer and evolution. Climate-resilient practices to counter environmental challenges such as drought and pasture depletion. Moving Forward By valuing and systematically integrating indigenous knowledge into modern economic practices, the Maasai communities in Monduli District can foster resilience, cultural preservation, and economic prosperity. Stakeholders, including government entities, development partners, and local leaders, must collaborate to ensure the thriving future of Maasai entrepreneurship, creating a model for communities worldwide. Join us in advocating for sustainable growth through the empowerment of indigenous communities. Together, we can ensure that the rich heritage and entrepreneurial spirit of the Maasai continue to thrive.

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Making a Case for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in Nigeria’s Climate Adaptation Policies and Projects

Indigenous communities in Nigeria are distinct social and cultural groups with ancestral ties to their lands and natural resources. These connections are fundamental to their identity, culture, survival, and holistic well-being. Members of these communities maintain their traditional heritage, native languages alongside their country’s official language while they possess traditional leadership structures distinct from Western models. These indigenous communities in Nigeria face significant environmental, socio-economic, and agricultural challenges due to climate change. They are particularly vulnerable to climate disruptions due to their deep connections with the environment through their ways of life, cultural practices, belief systems, traditional business enterprises and social structures. Their vulnerability is heightened by historical marginalization, which has stripped them of land rights and cultural traditions, making them especially susceptible to climate crisis.   Indigenous community’s loss and damage encompasses the societal and environmental costs of climate impacts, hunger, including economic losses (damaged infrastructure and reduced agricultural output) and non-economic losses (human lives, livelihoods, cultural heritage, identity, and biodiversity). Indigenous communities in Nigeria face irreversible climate change impacts, including severe flooding, rising sea levels, desertification, stronger winds, higher temperatures, prolonged droughts, heat waves, diminishing water resources, intense solar radiation, and altered rainfall patterns. These climate changes have increased hunger and disease rates among humans, crops, and animals. Recent decades have shown growing interest in how Indigenous knowledge can address climate change impacts and uncertainties in Nigeria. Indigenous knowledge system (IKS) provides crucial evidence of climate change impacts on vulnerable communities, particularly at the local level. It has proven valuable in developing and implementing adaptation strategies while supporting Indigenous peoples’ rights and fostering community ownership of these initiatives. The growing interest in documenting indigenous knowledge stems from both its cultural significance and potential to create locally relevant and acceptable climate adaptation solutions in Nigeria. Nevertheless, the recent interest in indigenous knowledge system faces challenges due to its gradual decline among various traditional communities. While substantial empirical research exists on indigenous knowledge, it hasn’t been adequately integrated into adaptation and mitigation planning, particularly in Nigeria. The preservation and transmission of indigenous knowledge system faces significant challenges, particularly in demonstrating its value within Western society. In addition to this, modern knowledge systems’ with limited capacity to incorporate local context, community values, and aspirations widens the gap in understanding climate risk. The interplay between traditional and modern knowledge systems underscores the need to integrate both perspectives into climate strategies, particularly when they complement each other. Strengthening Indigenous peoples’ resilience to climate change in Nigeria is crucial for promoting social equity and justice. We have implemented this approach in our project “Unlocking Sustainable Solutions for Employment and Entrepreneurship: Empowering African Youth Through Indigenous Knowledge.” The project examines case studies of fisheries, indigenous liquor production, palm wine tapping, traditional orthopedic practices (Bone Setters), palm oil production, traditional midwifery, cassava and timber logging in Lagos State communities   including Itoikin, Oke-ogun, Epe, Makoko, Igbo-Nla, Oko-Baba, Oriba and Alagomeji. The initiative leverages evidence-based indigenous knowledge to promote youth entrepreneurship, empowering communities, reduced poverty, enhance climate resilience, and to strengthen indigenous communities and their people. The article concludes that indigenous knowledge can significantly enhance climate policies and actions. By strengthening indigenous knowledge systems and empowering local communities, we can build climate-resilient societies. Furthermore, it is crucial to respect indigenous peoples’ rights in their ancestral lands, territories, resources, and traditional ways of life. Engaging indigenous peoples as key stakeholders in climate planning and implementation yields more contextually relevant and effective solutions, fostering innovation, local ownership, and enhanced impact of climate initiatives. Our research project advocates for the incorporation of indigenous knowledge systems into climate change adaptation strategies across local, national, and regional levels in Lagos State, Nigeria. We advocate for legislation that protects Indigenous intellectual property on locally produced items and traditional knowledge systems. The specific ways in which climate adaptation can support the various economic activities are listed below: * Creation of awareness and re-orientation among indigenous people about the reality and effect of climate change to the entrepreneurship endeavours of all stakeholders within various communities. * Irrigation methods of farming should be intensified and adopted by farmers when unfavourable climate change seasons beacons to ensure food sustainability throughout all seasons for indigenous people. * Diversification into other means of livelihoods that are capable of sustaining indigenous entrepreneurship endeavours for the people during scarce or harsh climate conditions; * For adaptation purposes, indigenous people should endeavor to easily adjust to the seasons initiated by climate changes to run their economic activities;   * Indigenous communities should address early warning signs of tough climatic situation to ameliorate the impact of climate change on fishing activities, traditional fisher folks should adopt aquaculture practices to reduce paucity of fish that might lead to inflation during drought. * There should be committed political will from our leaders for effective climate change policy to be implemented, so as to ensure sustainable fishing and other economic activities that will guarantee indigenous peoples means of livelihoods and food security. * Alternative products to wood log usage in building constructions should be encouraged for adaptation purposes, this is to discourage wood loggers from deforesting the trees.   By Dr Adebowale Ayobade Department of Social Work Faculty of Social Sciences University of Lagos Akoka, Lagos E-mailLaayobade@unilag.edu.ng, ayobade2000@yahoo.com   And Miss Ayodele Oloko Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Canada E-mail: a.oloko@oceans.ubc.ca

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CODESRIA invites calls for proposals: for its maiden African Fellowships for Research in Indigenous and Alternative Knowledges.

This new research and fellowship programme is offered with the support of the Mastercard Foundation as part of its commitment to advance education and skills for young people in Africa, and in recognition of the contribution of the late Ghanaian intellectual, Dr Sulley Gariba in advocating for the place of African knowledge in Research and Evaluation. Deadline: 15 May 2025. Call for Proposals: African Fellowships for Research in Indigenous and Alternative Knowledges (AFRIAK)

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The African Centre for Career Enhancement & Skills Support (ACCESS) is pleased to announce a call for applications for five doctoral scholarships.

The ACCESS project, financed since 2020 by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), analyzes the employability of university graduates within the African context.   It aims to research how graduates in Africa search and find work and build up their careers, and to develop and test innovative concepts for employability promotion at Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) in Africa. A monthly stipend of €1,300 and related travel grants will be paid according to DAAD guidelines. Participants will be supported for a maximum of three years, within which they will be expected to produce their PhD thesis in an appropriate subject area. The deadline for submission is 30 April 2025. Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed via Zoom. For more information about this scheme and details about applying, please refer to the call: https://lnkd.in/edv79nV4 Five ACCESS doctoral scholarships for graduates who have masters degree- Previous studies in areas such as history, politics, economics, business studies, education, anthropology, human geography, information systems, engineering, etc. – A PhD topic which is related to the aims of the ACCESS programme. – Be a citizen of Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, or Tunisia. Deadline: 30.04.2025

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AIKRN

How to enhance agency and entrepreneurial skillsets among the Batwa of Uganda

How to enhance agency and entrepreneurial skillsets among the Batwa of Uganda By Judith Irene Nagasha The Batwa, an indigenous people of Uganda, are among the most marginalized communities not just in the country, but in the whole world. Nestled in the impenetrable forests of Bwindi and Mgahinga in southwestern Uganda, the Batwa have historically lived as hunter-gatherers, often relying on the rich natural resources of their ancestral lands. However, their displacement from these lands in the 1990s, when the Ugandan government gazette their traditional forests as national park, marked the beginning of a long struggle for survival, identity and empowerment. Today, the Batwa community grapples with severe socio-economic challenges, ranging from limited access to education and healthcare to extreme poverty and social exclusion. Despite these hardships, Batwa women, in particular, exhibit remarkable resilience and possess an entrepreneurial spirit that, if properly harnessed, could transform their lives and uplift their communities. Following a study we have conducted titled: “Women’s Agency and entrepreneurial skill empowerment among the Batwa Indigenous community of Uganda,” this blog post explores the significance of women’s agency and entrepreneurial skill empowerment among the Batwa, highlighting the challenges the face and the opportunities that lie ahead. We are convinced that our findings can help augment and support Batwa women in improving their entrepreneurial skill sets. The Resilient Spirit of Batwa Women In the Batwa culture, women are the custodians of wealth of traditional/indigenous knowledge and skills. These have been passed down through generations. From crafting intricate beadwork and pottery to harvesting and utilizing medicinal plants, our study finds that these women have a deep connection to their environment and a unique understanding of local resources. This knowledge, coupled with their resilience and adaptability, forms the foundation of their entrepreneurial potential. However, the transition from a forest-dwelling lifestyle to a one that requires integration into a modern economy has not been easy for the Batwa. Over the years, they have been displaced from their ancestral lands. And this means they have struggled to find alternative livelihoods in an unfamiliar socio-economic landscape. Despite these challenges, Batwa women continue to innovate and create, drawing on their cultural heritage to produce goods that are not only unique, but also culturally significant. Challenges to Entrepreneurship The entrepreneurial journey of Batwa women is fraught with numerous obstacles. Key among these is the lack of access to financial resources. Traditional financial institutions often view the Batwa as high-risk clients due to their marginalized status and lack of collateral. As a result, Batwa women have limited opportunities to access credit, making it difficult to start or expand their businesses. Gender-based discrimination and inequality further exacerbate the challenges faced by Batwa women. In many indigenous communities, including the Batwa, patriarchal norms often restrict women’s participation in economic activities and decision- making processes.This marginalization is compounded by low levels of formal education and training, which limit their ability to engage in more lucrative entrepreneurial ventures. Additionally, our study has found out that Batwa women face significant barriers in accessing markets and networks. The remote locations of their communities and the lack of infrastructure, such as roads and communication systems, make it difficult for them to reach potential buyers or suppliers. This isolation limited their market reach and reduces their opportunities for growth. Balancing entrepreneurial activities with household responsibilities is another major challenge we found out from our study. Batwa women are often the primary caregivers in their families, responsible for tasks such as child-bearing, cooking, and fetching water. These duties leave them with time and energy to dedicate to their businesses, hindering their ability to scale up and succeed. How Women’s Agency can empower the Batwa Women’s agency, or the capacity to make decisions and act upon them, is a crucial factor in their empowerment. For Batwa women, strengthening their agency involves increasing their control over resources, enhancing their decision-making power, and improving their ability to negotiate better outcomes for themselves and their families. For instance, community-based organizations and NGOs working with the Batwa have recognized the importance of women’s agency in driving entrepreneurial success. These organisations have implemented various initiatives aimed at empowering Batwa women, including literacy and vocational training programmes, microfinance schemes, and leadership development workshops. One notable example is the Support for Women in Agriculture and Environment (SWAGEN), which has launched initiatives to support Batwa women in producing and marketing clay cooking stoves.  These stoves are not only environmentally sustainable but also commercially viable, providing women with a source of income while promoting the conservation of local resources. Another organization, the United Organization of Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU), has focused on enhancing the advocacy skills of Batwa women through paralegal training. This training equips them with the knowledge and tools to navigate legal systems, secure land rights, and advocate for their community’s needs. By empowering women to stand up for their rights, UOBDU is helping to strengthen their agency and improve their socio-economic status. Opportunities for Entrepreneurial Growth Despite the challenges, there are significant opportunities for Batwa women to grow their entrepreneurial ventures. The increasing global demand for sustainable and ethically sources products present a promising market for the unique goods created by Batwa women. Their products, which are deeply rooted in their cultural heritage, resonate with consumers who value authenticity and sustainability. Digital platforms and e-commerce also offer new avenues for  Batwa women to reach a wider audience. By leveraging technology, they can overcome the geographical limitations that have traditionally restricted their market access. Training in digital literacy and e-commerce can enable them to sell their products online, connect with global buyers, and expand their businesses beyond their local communities. Moreover, the growing recognition of the value of traditional knowledge and products provides Batwa women with an opportunity to capitalize on their cultural assets. Collaborations with cultural institutions, museums, and tourism organizations can help promote their crafts and attract customers interested in indigenous art and culture. Is a Gender-Responsive Approach to Empowerment possible? To fully realize the entrepreneurial potentials of Batwa women,

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Dr. Zainab Monisola Olaitan

Indigenous Knowledge-based entrepreneurship and the informal economy in Africa: Rethinking the grammar of economic policy

Indigenous Knowledge-based entrepreneurship and the informal economy in Africa: Rethinking the grammar of economic policy Zainab Monisola Olaitan, PhD The grammar of communicating economic policy in Africa matters both for content, design and impact. Since colonial times, the grammar of economic policy at the national level has been constructed around epistemic views from elsewhere. Yet, this grammar has either been misapplied or used to subjugate dominant economic orientation and practices on the continent. A critical part of this is the grammar of informality which has been used to describe the economic activities that employs more than two-third of Africans, especially women. By describing these economic activities as informal, the operators are left with little or no government support. Rather, they are harassed, persecuted and extorted by government officials, who are acting on the basis of coloniality of knowledge. The International Labour Conference (ILC) in 2002 provided a new framework for understanding the informal economy . They defined the informal economy as “all economic activities by workers and economic units that are – in law or in practice – not covered or insufficiently covered by formal arrangements”. The definition covers a broad spectrum of employment and economic activities that lack work-based safety nets, such as street vending, home-based employment, waste collection, domestic work, and temporary contract work etc. The dichotomisation of economies into formal and informal is geared towards the formalization and transition of informal economies to the mainstream economy. ILO notes that the informal economy signifies a crucial development challenge in Africa. Notably, majority of the African population are engaged in what the ILO termed the ‘informal economy’. It is estimated that 9 in ten Africans in rural and urban areas perform informal jobs, most of whom are women and young people who depend on the informal sector to survive and make a living. It is important to stress that the share of women involved in the informal economy is much more than men especially in Africa. In most African countries where gender-disaggregated data are available, women work in non-agricultural informal employment at a higher rate than men. Compared to men who make up 61% of non-agricultural employment in Africa, women make up 74% of the informal economy. Women constitute a large portion of the informal economy because they are the primary entrepreneurs in Africa. The World Bank Gender Innovation Lab note that women are more likely than men to be entrepreneurs, they make up 58% of the continent self-employed population. From time immemorial, trading has been a major economic activity that African women engage in. Despite the colonial intrusion that sought to undermine the role of women in the economy through the introduction of wage economy, they continue to play important roles in the economy. However, their contributions are not acknowledged as part of the formal economy making their entrepreneurial work less relevant due to the dichotomy. There are also misconceptions as to why women make up the informal economy, some state that the reason for the large number of women working in the informal economy is because they have no other options. They posit that women only work in this sector in order to survive and they would quit if they had the option to work in a respectable job. These misconceptions follow a western model of what work should be without considering how integral trade is to the African continent. The ILO dichotomies depict that if something is not easily modeled after Eurocentric models, it is left out of the equation in mainstream economics. The home-based worker, the work from home personnel, the woman trader mess up the model of productive labor established by mainstream economics, as they do not fi t within the established norms. Thus forcing us to acknowledge that dichotomies do not always work in certain contexts. The informalisation of African economies, and women’s participation in the trade perpetuates an ignorance of Indigenous knowledge-based businesses and women’s strides in entrepreneurship. Trading has been part of the African business ecosystem before the era of colonization in Africa, hence it is one of the economic activities Africans engaged in for economic development. Scholars and practitioners have sought ways to harness indigenous/local knowledge for entrepreneurship. Due to the fact that indigenous knowledge-based entrepreneurship challenge the externally imposed knowledge and policies developed by experts. It seeks ways to create collaborative, sustainable and valuable employment based on indigenous ways of knowing, thinking, and managing a community’s local environment. Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) has many benefits for how businesses can be modeled in Africa especially bridging the gap between traditional knowledge and practices and contemporary challenges. Part of these challenges is mainstreaming the place of women entrepreneurs as frontliners in the socio-economic development of Africa. Notwithstanding the benefits that IKS has for entrepreneurship in Africa, current approach to entrepreneurship in Africa still take a western outlook where the structures and models of business are based on what the funders require, which in this case are mostly from the global north. Entrepreneurship is not novel to indigenous communities in Africa. However, in recent times, the idea that most businesses are built upon the wealth of knowledge and wisdom that indigenous communities possess, embracing their traditional practices, cultural heritage, and sustainable ways of living is increasingly gaining momentum. For instance the Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research Network https://africaindigenousresearch.com is focused on working with partners in Africa to study the ecosystem of the intersection between Indigenous knowledge and entrepreneurship in Africa. The Network is aimed at creating awareness that by leveraging indigenous knowledge systems into entrepreneurship, businesses will be able to create economic opportunities while preserving and revitalizing indigenous cultures. Businesses modeled on indigenous knowledge systems often recognize the value of indigenous knowledge systems that have been developed over generations and adapt them to address contemporary challenges. Indigenous knowledge-based businesses or ventures can empower their communities by providing them with a platform to showcase their skills, talent, knowledge, culture and values. Indigenous Knowledge Systems provide an enabling framework to stimulate and strengthen the

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Paper Presentation: Indigenous Knowledge, COVID 19 and sustainable livelihoods in Africa

Paper Presentation: Indigenous Knowledge, COVID 19 and sustainable livelihoods in Africa

Paper Presentation: Indigenous Knowledge, COVID 19 and sustainable livelihoods in Africa Members of the Africa Indigenous Knowledge Network presented papers at a panel on Agbajowo: Indigenous Knowledge, COVID 19 and sustainable livelihoods in Africa during the Lagos Studies Association conference, University of Lagos, June 25-29, 2024.

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Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research Network (AIKRN) (3)

Networking priorities for African indigenous knowledge

Networking priorities for African indigenous knowledge – Blog Series, No. 1 Wole Oladapo, PhD Research Associate, Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research Network Shirley Williams became a full professor in 2003. She rode the wealth of her indigenous knowledge to that prestigious title. Now, at 85, she is a professor emeritus of Indigenous studies at Trent University in Canada. Hers is one testimony out of many that attitudes towards Indigenous knowledge are fast changing. And it is changing even in unexpected places! The United Nations (UN) is clear about this fact when presenting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the UN presents indigenous knowledge as complementary to mainstream approaches. It is no longer considered antithetical. This is a big win for all Indigenous peoples across the world. For Africa, this development presents an important opportunity to promote our indigenous knowledge systems. African Indigenous communities have individuals like Shirley Williams in various aspects of life. However, Africa is yet to have systems that recognise such individuals as custodians of valid knowledge. The good thing is that local African institutions can lead the way in addressing this challenge, just as universities, institutes, and academies in other climes are doing. To this end, the African Indigenous Knowledge Research Network (AIKRN) was formed as a network of African and Canadian universities. With its base at the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University in Canada, and with support from the Mastercard Foundation, the Network mobilises stakeholders to reflect on the present state of African indigenous knowledge systems. It challenges them to present convincing justification for the continued relevance of African Indigenous knowledge systems. AIKRN is an assembly of practitioners, researchers, research groups, institutions, non-governmental organizations and Indigenous communities that seek to demonstrate to the world with empirical evidence that African indigenous knowledge systems are no less knowledge systems. Interestingly, indigenous knowledge is gaining popularity elsewhere within the mainstream knowledge systems. If this development says anything to us, it is that indigenous knowledge is not antithetical to scientific knowledge. Indigenous knowledge is neither mysticism nor superstition. It is knowledge with which people live and make sense of their daily lives. If African indigenous knowledge will thrive, it must find expression within our mainstream knowledge systems. It is encouraging that some African institutions are already working hard towards this. One heartwarming example is the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Centre . It is a partnership of five South African universities: North-West, UNISA, Kwazulu-Natal, Limpopo, and Venda. The Centre explores “local skills, understandings, philosophies, technologies, and knowledge.” The universities use simple criteria to guide their activities. The communities that they study have unique knowledge and skills. The communities guide their daily lives with their local knowledge and skills. They use their skills to solve diverse problems. The problems include agriculture, natural disaster control, food security, and climate change. Like these five South African universities, there are others scattered across the continent that are equally engaged in great indigenous knowledge initiatives. While individual efforts are great, Africa needs this indigenous knowledge collaboration now more than ever before. As a continent, we have spent some time chanting “African solutions to Africa’s problems.” As exciting as singing one’s praise could be, it does not solve one’s real-world problems. It is time we worked together to show the world that African solutions are indeed solutions. Youth unemployment remains one of Africa’s wicked problems. As of 2023, more than 10 out of every 100 willing and able young Africans were unemployed. These young Africans are turning to the digital industries for productive employment. However, many of them do not know that there are job opportunities within African indigenous knowledge systems. Groups at AIKRN are already working hard to connect young Africans to these less-known opportunities. If you want to be part of this effort, you can join AIKRN here. Download The Networking priorities for African indigenous knowledge Document Here

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Redefining-the-dynamics-of-power-and-economic-partnership-in-a-complex-global-order-book

New Book Release: Africa-EU Relations and the African Continental Free Trade Area

Redefining the dynamics of power and economic partnership in a complex global order Redefining the Dynamics of Power and Economic Partnership in a Complex Global Order Book | © 2024 Overview Editors: Leon Mwamba Tshimpaka, Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba Analyses the economic partnership between Africa and the EU via the African Continental Free Trade Area Examines the establishment and implementation of the AfCFTA Looks at how traditional dynamics of power continue to influence economic cooperation About this book This book examines the establishment and implementation of the AfCFTA, which is the largest free trade area globally, covering 54 African countries. It explores how this initiative has the potential to reshape Africa-EU relations by promoting intra-African trade, economic integration, and diversification, as well as inter- regional trade. Both continents have the potential to serve as global actors in reshaping the global order in ways that can affect how multilateralism fosters inclusive development. However, whether this will happen would be a function of how the EU and AU define their interests and relationship. Table of contents (14 chapters) Introduction: Redefining the Dynamics of Power and Economic Partnership in Africa–EU Relations Through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba, Leon Mwamba Tshimpaka Pages 1-12 Euro-African Relations in a Changing Global Order: Shifting Balance Through the Russia–Ukraine War and the African Continental Free Trade Area? Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba Pages 13-26 Analysis of the AU–EU Relations Under the AfCFTA Framework in a Neoliberal Context John Mary Kanyamurwa, Ronald Kaddu, Robert Karemire Pages 27-51 Improving Intra-African Trade for AfCFTA and Non-AFCFTA Trade Flows Through Trade Policy Regime: Lessons from European Union Adebayo Sunday Adedokun Pages 53-77 Hackathons as a Support Tool for the AU-EU Partnership JAES: A Case Study Anna Masłoń-Oracz, Marta Odete F. Da Silva Coelho Pages 79-112 Africa–EU Digital Technology Exchange and Agribusiness Development in Developing Economies Within the African Continental Free Trade Area: The Case of Leribe and Thaba-Tseka Districts in Lesotho Nthabeleng Lekhanya Pages 113-127 Brexit and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA): Some Lessons and Challenges from East Africa Ambrose T. Kessy Pages 129-151 The Practice of Soft Power in Africa-EU Relations: Is it Optimal or One-Sided? Mercy Atieno Odongo Pages 153-163 The European Union’s Soft Power in Africa: Model or Placebo? Oluwaseun Tella Pages 165-189 African–European Trade Cooperation and the Promise of African Continental Free Trade Area as Africa’s Soft Power Victor Fakoya, Bolaji Omitola Pages 191-221 Global Challenges, Regional Interventions: Exploring the Climate Change Adaptation Strategies of the African Union and the European Union Olanrewaju Emupenne, Michelle Small Pages 223-251 “No One Should Be Left Behind”: EU and Inclusion of Civil Society in the African Continental Free Trade Area Leon Mwamba Tshimpaka Pages 253-282 Towards Redefined Dynamics of Power and Economic Partnership in Africa-EU Relations in the Complex Global Order Leon Mwamba Tshimpaka, Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba Pages 283-292 Correction to: Africa-EU Relations and the African Continental Free Trade Area Leon Mwamba Tshimpaka, Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba Pages C1-C1 Editors and Affiliations Center Study of Governance Innovation, Univ of Pretoria, Fl 21, Humanities Bldg, Pretoria, South Africa Leon Mwamba Tshimpaka 439 Paterson Hall, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba About the editors Leon Mwamba Tshimpaka is Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation (GovInn) and the SARChI Research Chair in the Political Economy of Migration in the SADC Region in the Department of Political Sciences of the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba is Assistant Professor at the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and Honorary Professor at the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs, University of South Africa, where he was previously an Associate Professor. Read More here

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Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research Network (AIKRN) (13)

Call for Panels, Roundtables and Papers

Call for Panels, Roundtables and Papers Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research Network, Institute of African Studies, Carleton  University, Ottawa, ON Canada Maiden Annual International Conference on Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Restorative Development in Africa, May 20-23, 2025 Entebbe, Uganda Since gaining political independence in the late 1950s, African countries have experimented with different models of development from socialism and capitalism to mixed and outright market -oriented economies. As the seemingly elusive search for the most appropriate models of development continues on the continent, scholars have raised concern about the proper contextualization of development and whether Africa has even started the journey of development at all. This question arises because of the obvious mimicry of development models from other parts of the world especially the West. At the root of the crisis of development in Africa is the extraversion in its epistemology, design and practice, which to a significant extent has been framed with little consideration given to the history of how pre-colonial African societies were organized on the based on their Indigenous knowledge systems. Despite the challenges associated with silencing and othering African Indigenous knowledges, they have shown resilience, and relevance as evidenced in the continued use of herbal medicine, application of the various Indigenous knowledges in livelihood and entrepreneurial activities, agriculture, cattle rearing, food preservation, climate adaption and migration. The extractive nature of the capitalist mode of production that underpins economic growth and development in Africa requires a shift in ways that can be restorative to the society, people and the environment. Beyond the targets contained in the UN Sustainable Development Goals is the need for restorative development. Restorative development transcends personal accumulation to include consideration for the plight of marginalized people, preservation of nature and the environment, leisure and rest, inter-group harmony and reconciliation. African Indigenous knowledge systems include the insights, memories, culture, histories and practices of African people that they have applied to their livelihoods, entrepreneurship, governance institutions, growth, reconciliation and harmony, across different generations. As the search for restorative development continues, Africa Indigenous knowledge systems provide useful perspectives that cannot only contribute to addressing the challenges of unemployment, poverty, environmental degradation, climate change, and conflict resolution but provide complementary approaches to Western knowledges that continue to define development processes in Africa. The need to rethink development in a way that makes it restorative and more inclusive necessitates recentering it in academic and policy discourses on Indigenous knowledge. With focus on the potentials inherent in Africa Indigenous knowledge systems to foster theoretical and empirical rethinking in entrepreneurship, livelihood, arts and entertainment, sports, dance, spirituality and healing, herbal medicine, commerce and industry, climate change, financial inclusion, natural resources governance, agriculture, traditional governance and institutions, scholars are invited to submit panels, roundtables and individual abstracts on any of the following areas: Theoretical issues ● Theorizing Indigenous knowledge ● Africa Indigenous knowledge systems: Concepts and contexts ● Extraversion and Endogeneity in African Indigenous knowledge systems ● African Philosophy and Africa Indigenous knowledge systems ● African Indigenous knowledge and cultural epistemology ● African Indigenous knowledge and philosophy of education ● Endogenous knowledge and development Empirical Issues ● Indigenous knowledge and entrepreneurship ● Indigenous knowledge and livelihoods ● Indigenous knowledge and finance management ● Indigenous knowledge and arts, music, dance and entertainment ● Indigenous knowledge and herbal medicine ● Indigenous knowledge, plants and the environment ● Indigenous knowledge and natural resources governance ● Indigenous knowledge and climate change ● Indigenous knowledge and governance ● Indigenous knowledge and social organization ● Indigenous Knowledge Systems and agricultural ● Indigenous Knowledge Systems and rural development Methodological Issues ● Approaches to conducting research in Indigenous communities ● Building trust in community research and managing expectations ● Navigating gatekeepers in community research ● Data ownership and protection in community research ● Research and reporting back to Indigenous communities ● Indigenous knowledge and intellectual property rights ● Gender and data collection in Indigenous communities ● Customs, gifts and consent for research in Indigenous communities Comparative Issues ● Comparative Indigenous knowledge and entrepreneurship ● Comparative Indigenous knowledge and methodology ● Comparative Indigenous knowledge, innovation and technology ● Comparative Indigenous knowledge and herbal medicine ● Comparative Indigenous knowledge and governance The abstract which should be between 250-300 words should be sent to Laura Babika (LauraBabika@cunet.carleton.ca) with a copy to (info@africaindigenousresearch.com) no later than October 30, 2024. The conference will be organized as a hybrid and there are no registration fees. Authors whose papers are accepted after a rigorous peer review and who may not be able to afford the cost of participation may receive some support to travel to the conference. Members of the Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research Network, https://africaindigenousresearch.com/ especially students and early career scholars, will be given preference. Selected papers will be subjected to rigorous peer review and, if accepted, be published in edited book volumes and special editions of the AIKRN journals, after rigorous peer review. Download the Call for Panels, Roundtables and Papers Document Here

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