Aims of the Center
Africa is an emerging continent with untapped opportunities and unlimited potential. In its current state however most countries struggle with a history of violence, conflict and fragile institutions. This has put particularly the bulk of its population, women and children at high risk of mental and physical distress, trauma, and abuse. The Nordic-Africa Center for Development Research is established to undertake research using multidisciplinary approach on the unfolding social and economic vulnerability of Africa’s young, children and women to cycles of instability, extreme weather induced by climate change, epidemics, and weak institution that failed to provide protections. It is expected that the findings of the research provides evidence for Nordic-Africa development partnerships to arrive at common understanding on the deep impacts that widespread violations, trauma and psychosical problems cause on human development.
The center aspires to transform the lives of vulnerable groups including the elderly, children, adolescents, or women in Africa and work towards fulfilling their potential.
The center focuses in the following areas of development research.
- Redefining vulnerability. This area of research focuses on the link between Psycho social distress caused by widespread violence, conflict , epidemics and other social relations and vulnerability.
- Psycho social dimensions of poverty. Much is researched and well known on the economics of poverty in Africa. But little is known about the psycho social dimension of extreme poverty, its debilitating role in diminishing hope, erode effort to escape poverty and impede motivations. Such incidences undermine development and limit the impacts of anti-poverty social and economic policies.
- Social cohesion and inclusive development.
- Other related topics including domestic violence and its impact on child development, etc.