BFRP leveraged its $9.5 million transition activities pool (TAP) to implement 220 activities supporting locally led solutions to address the most pressing sources of instability in the program’s target communities. BFRP awarded grants to 114 partners consisting of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community groups, and host-country government offices. BFRP cleared its first activity in October…
This post originally appeared on the XCEPT project website. In February 2021, three months into the war in Tigray in northern Ethiopia, researchers noticed something that would confirm their worst fears about the nature of the conflict. With a communications blackout and access to the region largely closed off, the team from research organisation Vigil…
Countries already suffering from conflict and instability are often also on the frontlines of climate change. In Mali, rainfall has decreased by about 30% in the last 40 years, a severe crisis in a country where 80% of people depend on rain-fed agriculture. In Yemen, climate change has increased the country’s vulnerability to droughts and floods, deepening acute…
Sarah Ahmed is a development professional with 17 years of experience in U.S. government-funded projects in democracy and governance, and peace, stability, and transition across the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. As senior vice president of Talent, Learning, and Development, she is responsible for creating efficiencies through improved processes and guidance in the…
Chemonics’ recently published toolkit offers peacebuilders a practical guide to applying “Elite Bargains and Political Deals” (EBPD) theory to their activities. Through her work delivering stabilization programming in Mali, Jaclyn Grace co-authored the toolkit. She explains how EBPD theory helps development practitioners see localized conflicts in a new light. 1. What is Elite Bargains and Political Deals…
The event examined how informal power drives conflict through the lens of “Elite Bargains and Political Deals” theory. By exploring the new approach’s potential, the presenters sketched a roadmap for engaging often elusive power brokers in peacebuilding programming. Panelists, drawn from across academia and implementation, discussed how “Elite Bargains and Political Deals” theory sheds new…
Today’s conflicts are long, intractable, and more complicated than ever. The last decade saw a marked rise in state-based armed conflict for the first time since the end of the Cold War, all involving non-state actors. Radicalization, organized crime, climate change — and now pandemics — bring new challenges to convoluted conflict systems. Yet, the…
Michael has spent much of the past decade working in conflict-affected environments, mostly as an adviser for FCDO and USAID OTI programs in locations including Uruzgan and Syria. He also served as the civilian stabilization adviser to the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Syria/Iraq Stabilization Review in 2017. In 2020 he led the startup team…
The free, open-access toolkit provides organizations a step-by-step guide to plan and run a two-to-four-day workshop on applying “Elite Bargains and Political Deals” (EBPD) theory in community-level conflicts. The workshop explains foundational EBPD concepts and helps local organizations translate theory into practical peace and stabilization activities. Peacebuilding and stabilization efforts must consider informal power structures…
Since 2012, Mali has faced a succession of violent conflicts. This violence has fractured Mali’s political landscape, with several warring factions holding power in different parts of the country. In Mali’s Sahel region, local and international NGOs are promoting dialogue among influential groups to revitalize the stalling peace process, reduce violence, and deliver long-term stability.…
Six years into the Yemen conflict, the war shows no sign of abating. The situation is dire: 80% of Yemen’s population of 30 million requires some form of humanitarian assistance; nearly half the population is in acute need. With violence spilling across Yemen’s borders and threatening maritime security in the Red Sea’s strategically important Bab el-Mandab Strait, regional…
Chemonics is pleased to announce Sahar Tabaja as its new Peace, Stability, and Transition Practice (PST) director. Ms. Tabaja is an accomplished stabilization expert with more than 10 years of experience in governance, conflict prevention, and managing capacity building programs in conflict-affected and fragile environments. Prior to this role, Ms. Tabaja served as a stabilization…