Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Norway - New project to determine the causes of violent conflict and migration in the Sahel

Title:

New project to determine the causes of violent conflict and migration in the Sahel

 

By:

Jayne P Lambrou

 

Published:

Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), 21 July 2022

https://www.nmbu.no/en/faculty/landsam/department/noragric/news/node/45749

 

From the news article:

 Small-scale farmers and pastoralists stripped of access to land are more likely to migrate or resist violently. This is the hypothesis that will be investigated in a new project headed by NMBU’s Tor A. Benjaminsen and funded by the European Research Council (ERC). 

 

University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa - New MOOC to launch: Gender, violence and post-conflict states

Title:

New MOOC to launch: Gender, violence and post-conflict states

 

Published:

University of Cape Town, 26 August 2022

https://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2022-08-26-new-mooc-to-launch-gender-violence-and-post-conflict-states

 

From the news article:

A team of researchers, including the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Dr Robert Morrell, recently produced a massive open online course (MOOC) on gender, violence and post-conflict states. The project leaders were Dr Thomas Brorsen Smidt and Dr Giti Chandra of the University of Iceland.

Understanding post-conflict mental health needs and co-producing a community-based mental health intervention for older adults in Colombia: a research protocol [Scholarly Article - BMC Health Services Research, 2022]

Title: 

Understanding post-conflict mental health needs and co-producing a community-based mental health intervention for older adults in Colombia: a research protocol  

 

Authors: 

Clarissa Giebel, Maria Isabel Zuluaga, Gabriel Saldarriaga, Ross White, Siobhan Reilly, Erica Montoya, Dawn Allen, Ginger Liu, Yeferson Castaño-Pineda & Mark Gabbay  

 

Published: 

BMC Health Services Research, Volume 22, Article number: 253 (24 February 2022) 

https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-022-07645-8   

 

Abstract: 

Background 

Older adults in Colombia have seen a number of stressful life events – including the Colombian armed conflict, forced misplacement and recently COVID-19. These events likely have had and are having a substantial impact on people’s mental health and well-being, whilst mental health care provision in Colombia is not sufficient and often access is limited and unaffordable. Therefore, the aim of this study is to understand the impact of stressful life events on the mental health of older adults living in Colombia, and co-produce, pilot, and evaluate a community-based mental health intervention in Turbo.  

 

Methods 

This 3-year international mixed-methods study comprises of three phases: Phase I will explore the impact of stressful life events on the mental health of older adults living in Colombia, and their mental health needs, via quantitative needs assessments and qualitative interviews and focus groups; Phase II will involve synthesising the findings from Phase I as well as conducting a systematic review and qualitative interviews with experts into implementing mental health interventions in LMICs to co-produce a community-based mental health intervention with older adults and local community group leaders and care providers; Phase III will involve the piloting and evaluation of the mental health intervention via quantitative and qualitative assessments. Co-production and public involvement underpin each element of this project.  

 

Discussion 

Appropriate mental health care is as important as physical health care, but this study also looks at how we might integrate these findings into community-level public health initiatives for application both within Colombia and more widely in both LMICs and more developed countries. This study protocol will act as a guide for the development and adaptation of psychosocial mental health interventions in different cultures and contexts.

 

Tentative lifeworlds in Art Deco: young people’s milieus in postwar Asmara, Eritrea, 2001–2005 [Scholarly Article - Journal of Eastern African Studies, October 2021]

Title:

Tentative lifeworlds in Art Deco: young people’s milieus in postwar Asmara, Eritrea, 2001–2005

 

Author:

Magnus Treiber

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany

 

Published:

Journal of Eastern African Studies, published online 8 October 2021

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17531055.2021.1987701?src=

 

Abstract:

After the end of the Ethiopian-Eritrean border war (1998–2000) life resumed in Asmara, where the young generation flocked to cafés, bars and nightclubs after work or study. During my ethnographic fieldwork (2001–2005) I identified three larger social milieus that pursued and staged their own ideas of a good life: the chic, the shabby and the pious. Until the ‘political spring’ of summer 2001, young people looked forward to building up promising life careers inside the country. Eritrea needed young professionals more than ever before, and not everyone had fallen out with Eritrea’s guerrilla government. 2001s clampdown quickly changed future prospects for individuals, families and for society as a whole. In the different milieus’ meeting places, these events were well observed and cautiously discussed. Social life went on, but from now on performed visions of a good life became unreachable in real life. Migration appeared as the only answer. An existential view of selected protagonists and ethnographic sketches from the early 2000s will help to re-interpret the youth life-worlds of Asmara’s recent past in a regional history of ongoing violence.