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Cooperative Research Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Cooperative Research Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa Knowledge for Tomorrow – Cooperative Research Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa First Grantees Meeting 25 - 28 November 2007 Bamako, Mali VolkswagenStiftung, Hannover/Germany University of Frankfurt, Germany Point Sud, Center for Research on Local Knowledge, Bamako/Mali Contents Words of Welcome/Souhaits de bienvenue 6 Program 14 Political, Economic, and Social Dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa 18 ● Shari’a Debates and Their Perception by Christians and Muslims in Selected African Countries 18 ● States at Work. Public Services and Civil Servants in West Africa: Education and Justice in Benin, Ghana, Mali and Niger 66 ● Belief in Paranormal and Occult: Its Influence on the Socio- Economic-Political Life in West Africa in the Era of Globalization 143 ● Governance and Social Action in Sudan after the Peace Agreement of January 2005: Local, National, and Regional Dimensions 185 Communicable Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa 207 ● Molecular Characterization and Estimation of Public Health Relevance of Hemorrhagic Fever Viruses Circulating in Ghana and Nigeria 207 ● Wolbachia Endobacteria in Filarial Infections – Exploring Their Usefulness as Targets for Novel Chemotherapies that Are Anti- filarial, Reduce Filarial Pathology and Interrupt Transmission 212 ● Phase Change Material to Treat Buruli Ulcer through Heat Treatment 224 ● Meningococcal Meningitis in Sub-Saharan Africa: From the Understanding of the Dynamics of Colonization and Disease Patterns to Improved Control 226 ● Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Northern Cameroon: Immunological Studies of Leishmania and Leishmania/ HIV Coinfection in the Mokolo Endemic Focus 238 4 Violence, its Impact, Coping Strategies, and Peace Building 241 ● Local Strategies of Conflict Management in Guinea-Bissau 241 ● Travelling Models in Conflict Management. A Comparative Research and Network Building Project in Six African Countries (Chad, Ethiopia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Sudan) 279 ● Reconciliation and Social Conflict in the Aftermath of Large-scale Violence in Southern Africa: The Cases of Angola and Namibia 304 List of Participants 332 Addresses 338 Contents 5 Words of Welcome To support communication and cooperation among researchers from different disciplines, institutions, and countries, to facilitate international exchanges and the creation of efficient, effective, and sustainable collab- orations. To enable African researchers, in particular the young genera- tion of doctoral and postdoctoral fellows, to participate in internationally competitive research endeavours, and to make European academics more aware of intercultural differences and pressing issues their colleagues in sub-Saharan Africa are faced with. – These are the prime objectives of the Volkswagen Foundation’s funding initiative “Knowledge for Tomorrow” which started in 2003, and since then has been opening up opportuni- ties for research projects and partnerships in six topically defined areas: ● Political, Economic, and Social Dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa ● Communicable Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa – from the African Bench to the Field ● Violence, its Impact, Coping Strategies, and Peace Building ● Resources, their Dynamics and Sustainability – Capacity Development in Comparative and Integrated Approaches ● Negotiating Culture in the Context of Globalization ● Resources, Livelihood Management, Reforms, and Processes of Structural Change At the conference in Bamako about 160 scholars involved in projects resulting from the first three calls for proposals will present their work, and we are very happy and proud to meet especially the young researchers from altogether 17 African countries. I am confident that this meeting will provide a first opportunity to demonstrate some of the outstanding results achieved so far, but I am even more looking for- ward to an open exchange of experiences and ideas with respect to the overall development of our funding initiative, and in particular its future directions when it comes to ensuring ownership on the side of the African scholars through truly symmetric partnerships. More and more these will have to rest on strong inner-African networks. They will become a crucial factor in order to enable African scholars to perform independently top notch research. 6 On behalf of the Volkswagen Foundation I do thank all of you for coming here. My special thanks are due to the organizers, Professor Mamadou Diawara, Dr. Stephan Schmid, and Sabine Zeck from the University of Frankfurt, Dr. Moussa Sissoko from Point Sud in Bamako, and Dr. Detlef Hanne, Ms. Nicole Richter, Dr. Adelheid Wessler and Ms. Ute Steinert from the Foundation’s offices in Hanover for making this conference possible. Also, I would like to take the opportunity to thank Dr. Antje Gunsenheimer who has just left the Foundation in order to continue her academic career at the University of Bonn, for her strong commitment to making the start of the Africa initiative a success. Last but not least I wish us all an inspiring meeting, full of illuminating presentations and interesting debates, a lot of new ideas and acquaintances. Although we like to be complemented for our achievements, I do think that it is neces- sary to also look at those things which need to be improved. Therefore, I should like to encourage you to openly address whatever point you con- sider to be necessary in making the Africa initiative of the Volkswagen Foundation a sustainable success. By pointing at mistakes made in the past as well as by addressing the challenges and opportunities of future funding you will help us to jointly prepare the initiative for the way ahead. With best wishes and kind regards. Yours, Dr. Wilhelm Krull Secretary General Volkswagen Foundation Words of Welcome 7 Souhaits de bienvenue Soutenir la communication et la coopération entre chercheurs de diffé- rents pays, disciplines et institutions, faciliter les échanges internatio- naux et la création de réseaux de collaborations efficaces, effectives et durables, permettre à des chercheurs africains, en particulier à la jeune génération en doctorat et post-doctorat, de participer à des projets de recherche compétitifs internationalement, sensibiliser les universitaires européens aux différences culturelles et aux problèmes urgents auxquels leurs collègues de l’Afrique subsaharienne sont confrontés. Tels sont les objectifs fondamentaux de l’initiative de financement “Les savoirs de demain” créée par la Fondation Volkswagen en 2003 et qui offre déjà des possibilités de subvention de projets de recherche et de collaborations dans six domaines thématiques distincts: ● Dynamiques politiques, économiques et sociales en Afrique subsaharienne ● Maladies contagieuses en Afrique subsaharienne – des analyses en laboratoire à l’engagement sur le terrain ● La violence, son impact, les moyens d’y faire face et d’engager un processus de paix ● Dynamiques et développement durable des ressources – développe- ment des compétences dans une approche comparative et intégrée ● Négociations de cultures dans le contexte de la mondialisation ● Ressources, stratégies de subsistance, réformes et processus de changement À la conférence de Bamako, environ 160 universitaires participant à des projets de recherche issus des trois premiers appels de candidatures viendront présenter l’état actuel de leurs travaux. Nous sommes particu- lièrement fiers et heureux d’y accueillir la jeune génération de chercheurs venus de 17 pays africains différents. Je suis convaincu que cette rencontre sera une première occasion de présenter quelques-uns des résultats les plus remarquables obtenus ces derniers mois et j’attend avec encore plus d’impatience un vif échange d’idées et d’expériences sur le développe- ment global de notre initiative de financement, en particulier en ce qui concerne ses orientations futures. En effet, en favorisant un partenariat 8 symétrique, celle-ci devrait garantir l’association étroite des chercheurs africains aux bénéfices des projets, ce qui renforcera les réseaux inter- africains déjà existants. À leur tour, ceux-ci devraient ainsi contribuer de façon déterminante à ce que des universitaires africains puissent mener de manière indépendante leur recherche au plus haut niveau. Au nom de la Fondation Volkswagen, j’aimerais vous remercier d’être tous ici présents. J’aimerais en particulier exprimer ma reconnaissance aux organisateurs, au Professeur Mamadou Diawara, au Dr. Stephan Schmid et à Sabine Zeck de l’Université de Francfort, au Dr. Moussa Sis- soko de Point Sud à Bamako, ainsi qu’au Dr. Detlef Hanne, à Mme Nicole Richter, à la Dr. Adelheid Wessler et à Mme Ute Steinert du siège de la Fondation à Hanovre qui ont rendu possible cette conférence. J’aimerais également profiter de l’occasion pour remercier la Dr. Antje Gunsenheimer, qui vient juste de quitter la Fondation pour continuer sa carrière univer- sitaire à l’Université de Bonn. Son engagement déterminant a permis à la phase initiale de l’initiative africaine d’être couronnée de succès. Enfin, et ce n’est pas le moins important, je souhaite à tous une conférence qui nous inspire, riche en présentations éclairantes et en débats captivants et pleine d’idées originales et de nouveaux contacts. Et si nous apprécions les compliments pour ce que nous avons déjà réalisé, il me semble tout aussi important d’aborder ce qui exige encore d’être amélioré. Par consé- quent, je ne peux que vous encourager à nous adresser ouvertement tous les commentaires contribuant à long terme au succès de l’initiative africaine de la Fondation Volkswagen. En soulignant
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