This work will be undertaken by four
staff members: Professor Liisa Laakso, research coordinator Pekka
Virtanen, and Päivi Pirkkalainen and Mahdi Abdile as
researchers and PhD candidates.
The project leader Dr. Liisa
Laakso (PhD, University of Helsinki) is Professor, UNESCO Chair, at the
University of Jyväskylä, the Master’s Programme in
Development and International Cooperation. She has extensive research
experience on development cooperation, conflicts, and democratisation
in Africa, including the Horn of Africa.
The research coordinator and researcher
Dr. Pekka Virtanen holds a PhD in International Relations with
specialisation in development studies. He has extensive experience in
both academic and applied development research, development cooperation
and project management, including extensive field experience from
Africa and Latin America.
Mahdi Abdi Abdile (MA, University of
Helsinki, 2003) is a PhD Candidate at the Institute of Development
Studies, University of Helsinki since 2006. His main role in the
project will be to carry out field research under WP3 in his country of
origin, Somalia, focusing on the political activities of the diaspora
networks in Somalia.
Päivi Pirkkalainen (MA, University
of Jyväskylä, 2005) is a PhD candidate of Sociology and
Development and International Co-operation at the University of
Jyväskylä since 2005. She is the project manager for WP1 and
will contribute to the empirical research under the work packages 2 and
4 focusing on the Somali diaspora.
Bonn
International Center for Conversion (BICC), Germany
BICC is an independent, non-profit
organization dedicated to promoting peace and development, through the
sustained and effective transformation of military-related structures,
assets, functions and processes. Disarmament frees funds which can be
used to combat poverty. Conversion allows for a targeted and best
possible re-use of these financial resources. Both processes complement
each other and contribute to improving human security.
BICC’s services can be divided into the
following groups: applied research, consultancy, and capacity-building
by designing concepts and modules for education and training.
BICC is in the process of reorienting
and systematically enhancing its focus on research and consultancy, as
can be seen in the fields of small arms control; disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration of former combatants; migration and
diaspora; natural resources; security sector reform and the security of
failed states. Along with conducting research, organizing conferences
and publishing their findings BICC’s international staff are also
involved in consultancy, providing policy recommendations, training,
and practical project work. BICC was established in 1994 with support
from the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). The Center’s Trustees
include the two Federal States of North Rhine-Westphalia and
Brandenburg as well as the NRW.BANK, and the
Landesentwicklungsgesellschaft NRW (LEG).
-
Building
on its previous research on African and especially Eritrean diaspora
communities in Germany, BICC will primarily focus on the following
aspects of DIASPEACE:
-
Inventory and case studies of diaspora
organizations and networks in Europe and their modes of operation;
-
Field research on impact of diaspora
activities in Eritrea;
-
Assessment of the interactions between
European institutions and diasporas in conflict resolution and
peacebuilding.
This work will be undertaken by three
staff members: BICC`s director Peter Croll, Andrea Warnecke
as project manager, and Clara Fischer,
a research assistant at BICC.
Peter J. Croll studied economy and
languages in Giessen and Germersheim. After having worked in
international companies, he worked as an associate expert for
industrial development in the Economic Commission for Latin America
(ECLA). Since the early 1980s, Peter J. Croll has been working for the
German Technical Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische
Zusammenarbeit, GTZ) in various senior management positions in Germany
and abroad. He was also GTZ country director in Harare (Zimbabwe) and
in Nairobi (Kenya) until he was appointed executive director of BICC in
2001.
Andrea Warnecke studied history, English
and communication sciences in Bochum and Newcastle. During her studies,
she worked at the Institute for Diaspora and Genocide Research (IDG),
where she carried out research on the structural and societal causes of
genocide and mass violence. In her present work and recent projects,
she focuses on the repercussions of international migration on
development and conflict management in Sub-Saharan African states, and
on the formation of transnational diaspora networks.
Clara Fischer holds an MA in Regional
Studies and has been working as a research assistant at BICC since late
2006.
Max Planck Institute for Social
Anthropology (MPI), Halle/Saale, Germany
The Max Planck Institute for Social
Anthropology in Halle, Germany, was founded in 1999 as a research
institute of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science
(MPG). In the eight years since its establishment the Max Planck
Institute for Social Anthropology has developed into an internationally
recognized and highly esteemed centre of research in social
anthropology. The research team from the MPG comes from the department
‘Integration and Conflict’ which investigates issues related to
identity formation, identity politics, and integration in pluri-ethnic
systems. Within the project, the MPG is assigned the following tasks:
The team leader Professor Günther
Schlee (PhD, University of Hamburg, 1977) has published widely in
the field of conflict resolution, Somali diaspora, identity and
ethnicity. His role in this project will be to examine the role of the
Europe-based diaspora in peace and conflict dynamics under WP2. For
further information, see: http://www.eth.mpg.de/people/schlee/index.html
Markus V. Höhne (MA, Ludwig
Maximilian University in Munich), is finalising his PhD on conflicting
political identities in northern Somalia during 2008. His contribution
to the proposed project will be to coordinate WP 3 and to conduct field
research in Somalia. For further information, see: http://www.eth.mpg.de/people/mhoehne/index.html
Dereje Feyissa (PhD, Martin
Luther University, 2003) is an Anthropologist with a specialisation on
identity, conflict and transnationalism. His role in this project will
be to conduct field research in Ethiopia on the impact of political and
social remittances. For further information, see: http://www.eth.mpg.de/people/feyissa/index.html
Isir Schlee is a Kenyan Somali.
In 1981 she followed her husband Günther Schlee to Germany. She is
a founding member of the Somaliland-Association of
Northrhine-Westphalia and well connected to the Somali diaspora in
Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
International Peace Research Institute,
Oslo (PRIO), Norway
The International Peace Research
Institute, Oslo (PRIO) was founded in 1959 as one of the first centres
of peace research in the world. PRIO is independent and international
in staff and perspective. Our working language is English. The staff at
PRIO comprises 60-70 people, of whom two-thirds are researchers.
Scholarly research is at the core of all institute activities. Research
at PRIO concentrates on the driving forces behind violent conflict and
on ways in which peace can be built, maintained and spread. In addition
to theoretical and empirical research, PRIO also conducts
policy-oriented activities and engages in the search for solutions in
cases of actual or potential violent conflict. This combination of
scholarship and practice has brought PRIO closer to meeting the
normative ambitions of peace research: to apply high-quality academic
standards to the study of peace and conflict, and to help diminish
violent conflict in practice. PRIO hosts the editorial offices of two
international journals that are published by SAGE in London: Journal of
Peace Research and Security Dialogue. PRIO’s scholarly work is
disseminated through publication in peer-reviewed journals, as well as
through books, reports and conference papers.
Within the project, PRIO is assigned the
following tasks:
-
Contributing to a refinement of
analytical and methodological framework (WP 1)
-
Contributing to WP2 on the involvement
of Somali diaspora based in Germany in the peace process
-
Contributing to the Somali case study
for ‘Diasporas as Agents of Conflict and Peace’ (WP 3)
-
Lead participant for ‘The interaction
between European Institutions and Diasporas in Conflict Resolution and
Peace Building’ (WP 4)
-
Contributing to WP5.
The team leader Cindy Horst (e-mail:
cindy[at]PRIO.NO) holds a PhD in anthropology with a
specialisation from the Refugee Studies Centre in Oxford, and currently
works as a Senior Migration Researcher at PRIO. She has carried out
extensive fieldwork amongst Somalis in refugee camps and urban centres
in Kenya, as well as in Europe and the US. Cindy has published widely
from her fieldwork, which focuses, inter alia, on remittances,
transnational political engagements, cultures of migration, diaspora
participation and refugee livelihoods.
Rojan Ezzati has MA in Sociology. She
has studied questions of identity among Norwegian men of Muslim origin.
She is working as a research and management assistant within PRIO's
migration and DIASPEACE teams.
African
Diaspora Policy Centre (ADPC), the
Netherlands
The African Diaspora Policy Centre
(ADPC) was established in the Netherlands in 2006. The Centre serves as
a platform of knowledge and expertise in the area of migration and
development, and recently the theme of conflict has acquired a higher
prominence in the activities of the Centre. The ADPC achieves its goals
by conducting evidence-based policy-related research, organizing expert
meetings and conferences, undertaking capacity building training,
facilitating contacts and networking relations and providing
consultancy and information services. Within the project, ADPC is
assigned the following tasks:
-
Contributing to the preparation of a
joint article in an academic journal (WP2)
-
Contributing substantially to the
discussions papers both for WP2 and for WP4
-
Field-work both in the Netherlands and
support to work in the UK
-
Support in facilitating interactive
processes with diaspora organisations
The team leader Abdullah (Awil)
Mohamoud (PhD, University of Amsterdam, 2002) is the Executive
Director of ADPC. He has rich experience in peace-building and
post-conflict recovery, having served regularly as an election observer
in multilateral missions to conflict and war-torn societies and
countries such as East-Timor, Kosovo, Nigeria, Serbia, and Zimbabwe.
Giulia Sinatti has a backgroundin
sociology and obtained a PhD from the University of Milan-Bicocca in
2006. She has been working in the field of migration for various years,
with a main focus on the context of West Africa and covering issues of
diaspora formation, transnational and circular
migration,migration-development linkages, return and irregular
migration. Alongside academic appointments at British and Italian
universities, she also has experience conducting research at the
applied level. She joined the ADPC to coordinate research for DIASPEACE
in 2009.
Centro Studi di Politica Intenazionale
(CeSPI), Italy
CeSPI is an independent research
institute established in Rome since 1985. With around 25 researchers,
CeSPI is the leading Italian centre for applied research in
international development and cooperation, international migration and
migratory policies, with specific attention to the link between
migration and development and to migrants’ remittances. For a list of
relevant publications, see: http://www.cespi.it/PDF/PubbliCespiMigrazioni08.pdf
Tasks within the Diasporas for Peace
project will include:
The
team leader Petra
Mezzetti
(Master in Development Studies, University of Pavia, 1999)
defended her PhD thesis in Sociology at the University of
Milano-Bicocca in March 2009. She has worked in International
Organisations at UNHCHR, and at UNDP drafting the Human Development
Reports 2000, 2001 and 2002. She joined CeSPI as a senior researcher
in 2002. Her main research topics are: international and
decentralised cooperation policies and migration transnational
studies with particular regard to African immigrant groups.
(Responsible for field work research within WP2, will also contribute
to WP1, WP4 and WP5.) For a full list of publications see: http://www.cespi.it/Curricula/Mezzetti2.html
Silvia Aprile (Post-graduate
diploma, LUISS University, Rome, 1996) is currently senior research at
Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale, focusing on crisis management
and post-war reconstruction processes. (Will be involved in WP4) For a
full list of publications see: lhttp://www.cespi.it/Curricula/Aprile2.html
Matteo Guglielmo is a PhD student
in African Studies at the University of Naples. His research topic is
‘The Regional dimension of Somali crisis: political actors, security
and political Islam in the Horn of Africa’. Among his recent
publications on the Horn of Africa, see “Eritrea: what regional
policy?”, in Journal of Middle Eastern Geopolitics, n. 7, January-March
2007. (Will be involved in field work research under WP 2).
Academy
for Peace and Development, Hargeysa, Somaliland
The Academy started in 1999 as a
research institution applying the methodology of Participatory Action
Research (PAR). The staff comprises 30 people. Since 2004 the APD team
has been conducting research on selected strategic areas related to
peace and stability under the Interpeace Dialogue for Peace
Initiatives. The main role of APD in this project will be to
participate in and facilitate the fieldwork carried out in Somaliland.
In addition, the team leader will co-author work with participants
under WP3.
The teamleader Mohamed Hassan Ibrahim
(MA, University of Oklahoma, 1989) will carry out fieldwork in
Somaliland together with PRIO, MPI and JYU. He has previous experience
of joint research with PRIO on topics related to diaspora and conflict.
Nasir Osman Sheikh Hasan (BA,
Somaliland, will work as a Research Assistant in this project, and help
in particular with data collection and processing.
