African Youth during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Ibrahim Bangura is an associate professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. He is a partner of Transition International, a consultancy firm based in the Netherlands and has worked extensively in the fields of youth, gender, transitional justice, disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of ex-combatants (DDR), security sector reform, sustainable livelihoods and conflict resolution in Africa. He is a ROM expert who has assessed EU funded projects in more than 30 countries in Africa. Bangura holds a BA in Political Science and History, and Master’s degrees in Gender and International Development Studies, and a Doctorate in Economics.Cyril Obi is the Programme Director for the African Peacebuilding Network and the Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa programme, bringing his extensive research, networking and publishing experience on African peace, security and development to the Council. After completing his doctoral studies in political science at the University of Lagos, he joined the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs. He was also awarded the Claude Ake Visiting Chair at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at the University of Uppsala. He led the research cluster on "Conflict, Displacement and Transformation" at the Nordic Africa Institute in Uppsala and serves on the editorial boards of several peer-reviewed journals. Irene D. Mngutyo is the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Deputy Director of the Center for Research Management as well as a lecturer at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Benue State University. Irene’s research interests include urban design, architectural history, gender, migration and environmental studies. She holds a Master’s in Architecture and a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning. She has over 60 academic publications and is a two-time fellow of the prestigious Next Generation Social Science in Africa Fellowship Programme of the SSRC. She has also been involved with several planning consultancy projects with international organisations such as UN Habitat.

"More than elsewhere, the COVID-19 pandemic has contorted livelihoods in Africa, and those of African youth. The chapters in the present volume provide nuanced analyses of how youngsters in countries as diverse as Sierra Leone, Nigeria, South Africa and Ethiopia have dealt with the challenges the pandemic produced." Arnis Vilks, Professor Emeritus and Former Dean of HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Germany."African youths are frequently noted in studies of African politics and conflicts, but their lived experiences often get lost under the weight of the pathologies of the state. This work puts the experiences of the youth at the centre by examining how they navigate precarious spaces marked by socio-economic, and political problems of African states, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic."Abu Bakarr Bah, Presidential Research Professor and Chair of the Sociology Department, Northern Illinois University, USA. "This book takes on urban mobilities and peacebuilding trajectories vis-a-vis African youth during the global pandemic. It draws on robust cases from East, West and Southern Africa. This is topical scholarship underscored by penetrating analysis as well as empirical and theoretical breadth. Students of peace-building in Africa will find this refreshing." Temitope Oriola, Professor of Criminology/Sociology| Associate Dean Research, Alberta University, Canada."With insightful case studies, this volume underlines how Africa’s young generation continues to be at the center of the tumultuous events shaping the fortunes of the continent in the twentieth-first century. In addition to deepening our understanding of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, it calls on African states to harness their dynamism and resilience rather than framing them as an antagonistic challenge."Ismail Rashid, Professor and Marion Musser Lloyd '32 Chair, Vassar College, USA."In addition to deepening our understanding of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, this insightful volume calls on African states to harness the dynamism and resilience of the continent's youth rather than framing them as an antagonistic challenge."Irene Elorm Hatsu Fiebor, Senior E-Learning Officer, Kofi Annan International Peacebuilding Training Center, Ghana.

• 1. Introduction: Youth, Urban Mobilities and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Emerging Trajectories for Peace and Development in Africa 2. Navigating a Complex Space: Youth, Urban Mobility and Marginality in COVID-19 Affected Sierra Leone 3. Resilience and Innovation: Young Migrant Women Navigating the COVID-19 Crisis in Ghana's Informal Sector 4. Invisible Urbanites: Displaced Youth, Mobility and Access to Urban Goods in COVID-19 Affected Nigeria 5. COVID-19 and Transnational Youth Mobility: The Lived Experiences of Nigerien Traders in Northern Nigeria 6. COVID-19 and the Emerging Trajectories of Peace and Development among the Youth in Urban Spaces in Uganda 7. Urban Unemployment, Youth Protest and Government Response in COVID-19 Affected Ethiopia 8. Negotiating Livelihoods in Pandemic Times: Experiences of Urban Youth in the Informal Economy in Harare, Zimbabwe 9. Gang Identities, Belonging and Territorialities: Temporalities and Embodied Practices in South Africa 10. Conclusion: Shifting From Business as Usual – Youth and the Future of Africa Postcript: The COVID-19 Pandemic, Youth and the Changing Dynamics of Peace and Security in Urban Africa