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This policy brief by the Institute for Security Studies examines the relationship between armed conflict and forced displacement in Africa. It evaluates the African Union's (AU) 'Silencing the Guns in Africa by 2020' initiative, arguing that while the AU has established necessary infrastructure for early warning and preventive diplomacy, poor governance and structural root causes continue to drive conflict and displacement.

The December 2019–January 2020 issue of the Peace & Security Council Report examines the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council's (PSC) effectiveness in conflict prevention, the challenges of its membership election process, the AU's efforts to rationalise its numerous external partnerships, and the progress of its Youth, Peace and Security agenda.

This report by the Institute for Security Studies examines the territorial dispute between the self-declared state of Somaliland and the autonomous Puntland State of Somalia over the Sool and Sanaag regions. It analyzes the intersection of colonial legacies, clan dynamics, and national political tensions that drive conflict and hinder resolution.

This research paper evaluates the suitability of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) for the African context. It examines the GCR's objectives, the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF), and the challenges of implementing these non-binding frameworks in countries like South Africa and Tanzania, highlighting a critical gap between international policy and the fiscal and political realities of host states in the Global South.

This report synthesizes the results of ten projects funded under Round 1 (R1) of the Global Resilience Partnership (GRP), which were supported by USAID. The projects focused on transforming risks from climate shocks and stresses into opportunities across sub-Saharan Africa and South and Southeast Asia. The synthesis evaluates progress across four Impact Pathways: policy influencing, finance and investment, innovation and scaling, and knowledge and partnership. Key outcomes include the support of over 5 million beneficiaries, the development of innovative digital and financial tools, and the empowerment of vulnerable groups, including women and people with disabilities.

This report examines the design and implementation of preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) projects in Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda. Based on data from 148 projects implemented by 117 organisations, the study finds that P/CVE work in East Africa often overlaps with general peacebuilding and developmental aid, with a heavy focus on youth, women, and community awareness. The report highlights significant challenges, including distrust between civil society and governments, a lack of standardised monitoring and evaluation (M&E) methods, and the impact of climate change on intercommunal violence.

The September 2019 Peace & Security Council Report by the Institute for Security Studies examines the coordination between the African Union (AU) and the UN Security Council (UNSC), the challenges of the AU's 'Amnesty Month' initiative, and specific political crises in the Central African Republic, Sudan, South Africa, and Cameroon.

The July 2019 Peace & Security Council Report examines the progress of African Union (AU) institutional reforms, the coordination between the AU and Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and specific political transitions in The Gambia and Algeria. It also analyzes the potential for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to stabilize the Horn of Africa and evaluates the 'Silencing the Guns' initiative.

This report analyzes Egypt's 2019 chairmanship of the African Union (AU), highlighting its focus on economic goals and regional repositioning, while noting significant policy gaps regarding governance and the need for Egypt to ratify the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) agreement.

This guide, produced by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), Overseas Development Institute (ODI), and SouthSouthNorth (SSN), distils the 2019 IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate specifically for African decision-makers. It details how human-induced warming is altering ocean chemistry and temperature, accelerating sea level rise, and melting high mountain frozen lands, all of which threaten African ecosystems, food security, and coastal livelihoods.

This policy brief argues that the 2021 deadline for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to transfer primary security responsibilities to the Somali National Security Forces (SNSF) is unrealistic. The author contends that the transition is currently driven more by donor funding preferences than by actual security improvements on the ground. To ensure a successful transition, the brief recommends enhancing AMISOM's operational capabilities and resolving the political deadlock between the Federal Government of Somalia and its federal member states.

This November 2018 report from the Institute for Security Studies analyzes recent activities of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC), focusing on institutional reforms led by Rwandan President Paul Kagame, political instability in Somalia, the 2018 elections in Madagascar, and the fragile peace process in South Sudan.

This report examines the intersection of gender and migration in South Africa, arguing that current migration policies are largely gender-neutral or geared toward men, which increases the vulnerability of women migrants. Through focus groups and interviews with mixed migrant women in the Western Cape, the study highlights the 'triple discrimination' of xenophobia, racism, and misogyny faced by African women migrants, and calls for rights-based, gender-sensitive policy reforms.

This report presents preliminary findings from research into 42 preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) projects implemented by 32 organisations across Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda. It examines project design, funding, evaluation methods, and implementation challenges to promote evidence-based approaches to addressing terrorism in the Horn of Africa.

This report analyzes the conditions necessary for African states to achieve a demographic dividend, noting that most are currently several decades away due to high youth dependency and slow fertility declines. It argues that while global growth is slowing due to aging populations, Africa's expanding working-age population offers a comparative advantage if coupled with investments in contraception, female education, and basic infrastructure. The report warns that without these interventions and significant job creation, Africa will continue to diverge from global averages in income and health.

This report identifies and ranks the supply-side market barriers that increase the cost and limit the access of formal remittance services in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It analyzes the remittance value chain across the first, middle, and last miles, categorizing impediments into business case, regulatory, infrastructure, and consumer-related barriers. The study finds that SSA is the most expensive region globally for remittances, with an average cost of 9.4%, driven by a combination of rigid KYC requirements, a persistent preference for cash, and underdeveloped payment infrastructure.

The 'Innovations for Resilience Convening,' held in Munich in November 2017, brought together public and private sector partners to explore sustainable innovations that build resilience and enhance development outcomes. Co-hosted by the Global Resilience Partnership (GRP), World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and One Billion Coalition for Resilience (1BC), the event focused on the role of technology in addressing the increasing frequency of disasters and shocks, while identifying barriers to scaling these solutions globally.

The May 2018 Peace & Security Council Report examines several African Union (AU) initiatives and regional challenges, including the FemWise-Africa network for women mediators, the proposed AU Humanitarian Agency, the protocol on free movement of people, and the political situation in Liberia and the Horn of Africa. It also features an interview regarding the transformation of the NEPAD Agency into the AU Development Agency.

This report from the Institute for Security Studies provides a retrospective of the African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) for the term April 2016 to March 2018, analyzes the role of South Africa and Nigeria in continental initiatives like the AfCFTA, and features an interview with Morocco's Minister of Foreign Affairs regarding its entry into the PSC.

This March 2018 report from the Institute for Security Studies analyzes the African Union's Peace and Security Council (PSC), focusing on its struggles to implement counter-terrorism frameworks, funding crises facing the AMISOM mission in Somalia, constitutional disputes in Burundi, and structural instability in the CEMAC region of Central Africa.