Institute for African Development
Institute for African Development Monthly Global Webinar Series
October 23, 2020
9:00 am
Africa's youth and a Continent on the Move: Experience of Youth Bridge Foundation
As of 2015, globally, there were approximately 1.2 billion youth aged 15-24, accounting for one out of every six people (17%) worldwide. According to the United Nations, it is estimated that there will be 1.3 billion youth by 2030.
In 2015, the total African population comprised of 226 million youth aged 15-24, representing nearly 20%, making up one fifth of the world's youth population (UN). According to the African Youth Charter, the youth age bracket includes individuals aged 15-35 years. Therefore, by international and African definitions, the share of youth in African population is forecasted to increase to at least 42% by 2030 and is expected to continue to grow throughout the remainder of the 21st century, doubling more than the current levels by 2055. Africa's youthful population, if productively harnessed through quality education, will open an opportunity for rapid economic growth and social progress.
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Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Institute for African Development
IAD Global Africa Monthly Webinar Series
Prospects and Impediments to Peaceful Democratic Transitions in West Africa: Focus on Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali and Nigeria
Friday, December 11, 2020 December 11, 900am-12:00pm (EST)/2:00pm-5:00pm (GMT)
This webinar will focus on the geo-politics of the democratic process in selected members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Scholars, members of political organization, practitioners and civil society representatives will share their insights and provide forward-looking perspectives toward social progress in the West African region.
When most African countries acquired their independence in the middle of the 20th century, many of their leaders adopted the one-party system. While coming out of the struggle for decolonization was a unifying factor, dissenting voices demanded political pluralism. These claims set the stage for political instability which was exacerbated by military coups in many countries.
At the turn of the 21st Century, a wave of democratization ushered in a renewal of political pluralism with ensuing democratic elections. However, the process of democratic transitions has either slowed down and stalled or reversed. Indeed, while to date a few countries are in the process of consolidating their relative peaceful democratic transitions through regular elections, others have faced major destabilizing conditions due to many factors such as violent power struggles, political manipulations of ethnicity or religion, economic decline and/or extreme economic dependency on foreign powers and multinationals, political clientelism with the privatization of the political office, and above all, the manipulation of their state constitutions. The reversals of the democratic gains are producing failures in the systems of governance, which are reflected in the violent means used to crush unarmed populations, silence civil society, and ignore condemnation by various organizations on the global stage including the voices of the African Diaspora. Furthermore, even countries that have consolidated their democratic transitions routinely engage in practices that undermine democratic norms by ignoring the rule of law or by violating the human rights of the citizens.
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Students’ Summers Saved with Global Virtual Internships
Ecuador, Ghana, and Beyond: Einaudi's Virtual Interns
Tapping worldwide connections, the Einaudi Center matched dozens of students with paid summer internships and research in their fields.
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Institute for African Development Special Topic Seminar Series: African Cultural Heritage: Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the Strategies of Managing Diseases during Pandemics
October 15, 2020
3:00 pm
Ladislaus M. Semali is a Professor Emeritus of Education of Pennsylvania State University, in the Department of Learning and Performance Systems. Academically, he specializes in adult literacy education, comparative and international education and non-Western place-based educational epistemologies. He has published extensively and with renowned sources such as International Review of Education, Journal of Social Anthropology, and Comparative Education Review. He is author of Literacy in Multimedia America (Routledge/Falmer), Postliteracy in the Age of Democracy (Austin & Winfield) and editor of What is Indigenous Knowledge? Voices from the Academy with Joe Kincheloe (Garland).
Register at https://cornell.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAkf-Gurz0sHd0WqGZGgl4wpxWqT8…
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Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Institute for African Development
Global Studies Gateway Series: The Myth of Economic Development
October 13, 2020
12:00 pm
Ndongo Samba Sylla, Research and Programme Manager for the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation
Dr. Ndongo Samba Sylla will present a lecture articulated on what Celso Furtado, the late Brazilian economist, called the ‘myth of economic development ’. He is a Senegalese development economist, interested in Fair Trade, labour markets, social movements, democratic theory, and monetary sovereignty. Coauthor of the forthcoming "Africa's Last Colonial Currency: the CFA franc story", Dr. Sylla will defend the view that the Covid-19 pandemic could be seized as an opportunity to break from the dominant economic paradigm in Africa in favor of alternative models more equalitarian and more sustainable in their outcomes.
This lecture will be integrated into the "Global Studies Gateway" (GOVT 2274), which takes a thematic and interdisciplinary approach to major questions of our time, including health, development, migrations, security, technology, inequality, and innovation.
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Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Institute for African Development
African Cultural Heritage: Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the Strategies of Managing Diseases during Pandemics
LADISLAUS M. SEMALI Professor, Department of Learning and Performance Systems, Penn State University Thursday, October 15, 2020 @ 3:00pm
The presentation will not only discuss what constitutes indigenous knowledge but how it can be used in times of crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Register at https://cornell.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAkf-Gurz0sHd0WqGZGgl4wpxWqT8nq7oRe
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Global Challenges to Democracy: Perspectives from Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America
October 2, 2020
11:00 am
Over the past decade, democracy has been in retreat in a large number of countries in different regions, at least partially reversing the wave of democratization that swept across much of the world in the late 20th century. This webinar explores patterns of "democratic backsliding" in different world regions and their implications for democratic rule and its political resiliency in the face of autocratic challenges.
Panel: Valerie Bunce, Tom Pepinsky, Rachel Riedl, and Kenneth Roberts
Co-sponsored by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, Latin American Studies Program, Institute for African Development, Institute for European Studies, and Southeast Asia Program.
Please register through the following link:
https://cornell.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_PWKFidVjSgy3Pwxf7xmmXg
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Program
Einaudi Center for International Studies
Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Southeast Asia Program
Institute for African Development
Institute for European Studies
Einaudi Director Launches Podcast Season
Check Out Ufahamu Africa Season 5
Ufahamu Africa is a podcast about life and politics on the African continent, cohosted by Rachel Beatty Riedl. A new episode of Ufahamu Africa is available each Saturday wherever you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and SoundCloud.
“Ufahamu” is a Kiswahili word that translates to “understanding” or “consciousness” in English. Every Saturday, a new episode seeks to expand collective understanding of Africa through in-depth interviews with diverse thinkers and innovators who are deeply ingrained in the life, culture, and politics of the continent. Weekly episodes also feature news highlights and overviews of what Rachel and Kim are reading and learning.
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Federal Funding Barrier: Billions More For Farmers
The government is paying a record amount of subsidies to farmers this year. The supports will equal 36% of net farm income, said Chris Barrett on social media. Median income of farm households this year would be $20,000 higher than median U.S. household income in 2019, he said.
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The Secret to Revitalizing Urban Downtowns
Large populations and high median incomes would seem necessary for pedestrian malls to survive, but they’re not always a prerequisite for success, according to the study, coauthored by Institute for African Development Professor Stephan Schmidt.