West Africa

Citation:

Fanneron, Evelyn, Eunice N. Sahle, and Kari Dahlgren. 2019. "Transitional Justice, Gender-Based Violence, and Women's Rights." In Human Rights in Africa, edited by Evelyn Fanneron, 89-144. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Authors: Evelyn Fanneron, Eunice N. Sahle, Kari Dahlgren

Abstract:

In this chapter, Evelyn Fanneron, Eunice N. Sahle, and Kari Dahlgren examine sources of gender-based violence in the context of conflict. Further, they explore the gendered underpinnings of transitional justice drawing on transitional justice mechanisms (TJMs in Rwanda and Sierra Leone). The chapter pays particular attention to these TJMs’ approach to wartime sexual violence in order to assess the ways in which they have begun to account for gendered harms and the ways in which they have not yet achieved gendered justice. To achieve its aims, the chapter draws insights from feminist concerns regarding human rights discourse and TJMs’ approaches to gender-based violence and wartime sexual violence.

Topics: Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Gender-Based Violence, Justice, Transitional Justice, Rights, Human Rights, Sexual Violence Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, West Africa Countries: Rwanda, Sierra Leone

Year: 2019

Citation:

Yaya, Sanni, Olalekan A. Uthman, Ghose Bishwajit, and Michael Ekholuenetale. 2019. "Maternal Health Care Service Utilization in Post-war Liberia: Analysis of Nationally Representative Cross-Sectional Household Surveys." BMC Public Health 19. doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-6365-x.

Authors: Sanni Yaya, Olalekan A. Uthman, Ghose Bishwajit, Michael Ekholuenetale

Abstract:

Keywords: Liberia, post-war era, maternal healthcare service utilization, antenatal care, facility-based delivery

Topics: Gender, Women, Health, Reproductive Health, Post-Conflict Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Liberia

Year: 2019

Citation:

Kindervater, Lisa, and Sheila Meintjes. 2018. "Gender and Governance in Post-Conflict and Democratizing Settings." In The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Conflict, edited by Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Naomi Cahn, Dina Francesca Haynes, and Nahla Valji, 468-484. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

Authors: Lisa Kindervater, Sheila Meintjes

Abstract:

Women have the opportunity to make significant economic, political, and sociocultural gains during transitions to peace and democracy; however, these gains are frequently lost when competitive electoral politics resumes. This chapter identifies the key mechanisms responsible for this loss, providing examples from several countries in sub-Saharan Africa. These mechanisms include institutional constraints, historical political conditions, donor-driven agendas, prevailing cultural norms, and the nature of the women’s movement. The chapter suggests that while the enactment of laws and policies related to women’s rights are an important first step, a feminist and transformational agenda in post-conflict societies requires focus on patriarchal cultures and practices. The chapter argues that such transformation is aided by the fostering of strong relationships between grassroots women activists and politically elite women.

Keywords: post-conflict, electoral politics, patriarchal cultures, feminism, women's movement, donor agenda, Sub-Saharan Africa

Topics: Class, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Governance, Livelihoods, Post-Conflict, Political Participation, Peace Processes Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa

Year: 2018

Citation:

Wood, Alexa L., Prince Ansah, Louie Rivers III, and Arika Ligmann-Zielinska. 2019. “Examining Climate Change and Food Security in Ghana through an Intersectional Framework.” The Journal of Peasant Studies. doi:10.1080/03066150.2019.1655639.

Authors: Alexa L. Wood, Prince Ansah, Louie Rivers III, Arika Ligmann-Zielinska

Abstract:

As the effects of climate change intensify, subsistence farmers in Ghana are expected to face increased food insecurity, due to their reliance on rainfed agriculture. Within households, young women are expected to support all aspects of household food security, and will experience a more burdensome load of labor, as a dwindling stock of natural resources will make daily tasks more time consuming. The intersection of age, gender, and location inhibits young women's decision-making responsibilities and wage-earning potential. Climate change exacerbates this dynamic, which restricts opportunities to acquire sufficient food and places increased stress on household food systems.

Keywords: climate change, food security, intersectionality, Ghana, farming

Topics: Age, Youth, Agriculture, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Women, Households, Livelihoods, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana

Year: 2019

Citation:

Connolly, Lesley. 2018. "Sustaining Peace in the 'New Gambia.'" In Sustaining Peace in Practice: Building on What Works, edited by Youssef Mahmoud, Lesley Connolly, and Delphine Mechoulan, 59-64. International Peace Institute.

Author: Lesley Connolly

Annotation:

Summary:
“This chapter highlights three main areas that should be prioritized for the purpose of sustaining peace in the Gambia: women’s empowerment, youth empowerment and entrepreneurship, and transitional justice and good governance. It explains how investment in these areas has helped prevent the escalation of conflict and how it can contribute to the maintenance of long-term national peace and stability” (Connolly 2018, 59-60).

Topics: Age, Youth, Conflict Prevention, Conflict, Gender, Women, Governance, Post-Conflict Governance, Justice, Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict, Peace Processes Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Gambia

Year: 2018

Citation:

Dzanku, Fred Mawunyo. 2019. “Food Security in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring the Nexus between Gender, Geography and Off-Farm Employment.” World Development 113: 26–43.

Author: Fred Mawunyo Dzanku

Abstract:

How to eradicate hunger and achieve food security remains a key developmental issue, particular in countries south of the Sahara. Most of the empirical literature focuses on agriculture-based interventions although it is well known that rural households have a gamut of income generating activities that constitute their livelihood. This article uses panel data for six African countries to examine the association between off-farm income and household food security and tests key hypotheses that have not been previously explored. We hypothesize that the association between food security and off-farm income is neither gender-neutral nor the same for households living in low and high agroecological potential areas. Because a nontrivial number of households do not earn off-farm income, we also hypothesize that the food security effect of nonparticipation differs by gender and geography. The results show that although off-farm income has a strong statistically significant association with food security the correlation magnitudes are not as strong. However, off-farm income has a significantly stronger association with food security among female-headed and poor region households than it has among male-headed and rich region households in most countries. The gender-related result supports the notion that households tend to benefit more from women's greater control over resources than when such resources are controlled by men. We also show that nonparticipation in off-farm income is more costly, food security wise, for female-headed households and households who live in low agroecological potential regions than it is for male-headed households and those who live in high potential regions. The rural nonfarm sector in high agroecological potential areas tends to be associated with greater poverty reduction among female-headed households than among male-headed households. From a policy and development practice perspective, the results suggest that focusing rural development policies on factors that raise farm productivity alone (e.g., input subsidies) may not lead to gender-neutral welfare outcomes. This means that interventions such as rural nonfarm microcredit schemes that targets female-headed households or women in general could help achieve gender-equitable poverty reduction, as others have shown.

Keywords: Sub- Saharan Africa, off-farm employment, Gender, geography, food security, panel data

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Economies, Poverty, Gender, Households, Livelihoods, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia

Year: 2019

Citation:

Baiden, Regina Akosua Dede. 2019. "In the Aftermath of Reparations: The Experiences of Female Beneficiaries of Ghana's Reparations Programme." Journal of Peacebuilding & Development 14 (1): 22-35.

Author: Regina Akosua Dede Baiden

Abstract:

With increased attention to the needs of women in conflict and post-conflict situations, a multitude of resolutions on Women, Peace and Security have been adopted at the international level. Security Council Resolutions 1325, 1820, and 2122 all reflect an increased recognition of the need to engage, monitor, and increase women’s participation in post-conflict recovery process. Although scholars on reparations have focused on the benefits that a gendered perspective brings to reparations programmes, scare research exists on the experiences of women years after the acquisition of reparation. This article investigates the lived experiences of female beneficiaries of Ghana’s reparations programme 8 years after completion of the programme. It highlights the violence experienced by four female beneficiaries of the programme, showing the long-term impacts of violence on their lives. The article reveals the reparations programme’s inability to adequately address the effect of violence on the lives of female beneficiaries.

Keywords: gender-based violence, women's rights, reparations, transitional justice, economic violence, resilience

Topics: Gender, Women, Justice, Reparations, Post-Conflict, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325, UNSCR 1820, UNSCR 2122, Violence Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana

Year: 2019

Citation:

Jennings, Kathleen M. 2019. "WPS and Peacekeeping Economies." In The Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace, and Security, edited by Sara E. Davies and Jacqui True, 237-47. New York: Oxford University Press. 

Author: Kathleen M. Jennings

Abstract:

In recent years, scholars have sought to understand the relationship between international interveners and locals within peacekeeping communities. To do so, these scholars explore the everyday encounters between these actors through their interactions in the “peacekeeping economy.” Peacekeeping economy refers to the formal and informal economic activity that would or would not occur at a lower scale and pay-rate, without the presence of international peacekeepers and peace-builders. They are highly gendered in ways that accord to common understandings of “women’s work” and “men’s work.” However, the venues and services of the peacekeeping economy offer the rare opportunity for peacekeepers and “ordinary” locals to meet, transact, and interact in peacekeeping environments. This chapter examines the peacekeeping economies in Liberia and the DR Congo gaining unique insight into how the goals of “protection” and “prevention” are understood and embodied in the largely informal, “everyday” spaces that populate peacekeeping environments. Drawing on these case studies, this chapter argues that the everyday political-economic contexts in which peacekeeping missions unfold challenge the WPS aims of gender equality.

Keywords: DR Congo, Liberia, peacekeeping economy, everyday spaces, women's work, men's work

Topics: Economies, Gender, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, International Organizations, Livelihoods, Peacekeeping Regions: Africa, Central Africa, West Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia

Year: 2019

Citation:

Blakemore, Sarah, Rosa Freedman, and Nicolas Lemay-Hébert. 2019. "Child Safeguarding in a Peacekeeping Context: Lessons from Liberia." Development in Practice 29 (6): 735-47.

Authors: Sarah Blakemore, Rosa Freedman, Nicolas Lemay-Hébert

Abstract:

This article reviews how peacekeeping officials safeguard children from sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in Liberia, more than 15 years after the landmark reports published on this issue. Based on original fieldwork conducted in Liberia and in New York, the article introduces an innovative framework to assess whether or not organisations effectively safeguard children from SEA. It reviews three interrelated issues: reinforcing the institutional environment in the country, strengthening prevention of and accountability for child SEA by UN actors. The article concludes with specific policy recommendations for actors involved in peacekeeping activities.

Keywords: aid, accountability, aid effectiveness, civil society, NGOs, gender and diversity, youth, Rights, Sub-Saharan Africa

Topics: Age, Youth, Civil Society, Gender, Girls, Boys, NGOs, Peacekeeping, Sexual Violence, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, Americas, North America Countries: Liberia, United States of America

Year: 2019

Citation:

Pruitt, Lesley J. 2018. "A Global South State’s Challenge to Gendered Global Cultures of Peacekeeping." In Revisiting Gendered States: Feminist Imaginings of the State in International Relations, edited by Swati Parashar, J. Ann Tickner, and Jacqui True, 122-137. New York: Oxford University Press.

Author: Lesley J. Pruitt

Abstract:

This chapter explores the first all-female formed police unit (FFPU) in UN peacekeeping, deployed from India to Liberia. The FFPU has fostered important outcomes supporting the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. However, global norms that presume efforts can only be “legitimate” when conducted in ways that align with particular, Global North approaches can hinder implementation of the WPS agenda. Such norms marginalize differences that intersect with gender and influence participation. Effective implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the WPS agenda will not occur under assumptions that only some states, or only certain kinds of states, can credibly contribute; instead, a plurality of approaches is needed.

Keywords: peacekeeping, United Nations, policing, women, India, Liberia, WPS

Topics: Gender, Women, Peacekeeping, Peace Processes, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325 Regions: Africa, West Africa, Asia, South Asia Countries: India, Liberia

Year: 2018