abstract

Current discussions of peace and security-related policy in Africa focus disproportionately on the work of governmental actors, regional organisations, and the African Union. Implicit in such a framing is the assumption that policy change is driven primarily by state and international institutions. This paper pushes back on that assumption by showing how girls’ and young women’s grassroots activism can function as a source of innovative policymaking. Writing as a collective of activist-scholars on the ground in South Sudan, Sudan, Lesotho, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Kenya and the United States, we identify four key strategies driving intergenerational peacebuilding work: working on multiple scales; building networks of care and solidarity; mobilising difference as a resource; and recognising that violence takes many shapes. By identifying key threads that link women and girls’ intergenerational organising work across diverse national contexts, we aim to expand core understandings of who counts as a policymaker.

摘要

当前对非洲和平与安全相关政策的讨论过分关注政府行为者、区域组织和非洲联盟的工作。这种框架隐含的假设是政策变化主要由国家和国际机构驱动。本文通过展示女孩和年轻女性的草根激进主义如何作为创新决策的源泉，推翻了这一假设。作为南苏丹、苏丹、莱索托、乌干达、刚果民主共和国、尼日利亚、喀麦隆、津巴布韦、加纳、肯尼亚和美国的实地激进学者集体写作，我们确定了推动代际建设和平工作的四个关键战略：在多个尺度上工作；建立关怀和团结网络；调动差异作为资源；并认识到暴力有多种形式。通过确定在不同国家背景下将妇女和女孩的代际组织工作联系起来的关键线索，我们旨在扩大对谁是决策者的核心理解。