FBA in Africa

A large number of the world’s conflicts is in Africa. It is also the continent where the majority of UN’s peace operations are deployed. Within the framework of Sweden’s regional development cooperation, FBA is commissioned to support peace and security in Africa.

Contemporary conflicts commonly involve many different armed groups, both state and non-state actors, and tend to spill over borders. Civilian populations are often victims of violence. In order to solve today’s complex, cross-border conflicts and build sustainable peace, regional cooperation is needed.

FBA supports regional actors Africa regional actors in their efforts for peace and security, mainly the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

FBA's work in Africa is focused on two areas:

Women, peace and security
Women have traditionally played a marginalized role in peace processes in the region. ECOWAS aims at increasing the participation of women in their work, and at better recognizing and meeting the different security needs of women, men, boys and girls. FBA supports ECOWAS’ gender mainstreaming efforts, for example through training and expert advice.

Dialogue and peace mediation
FBA offers expert advice on dialogue and peace mediation to the AU, in order to strengthen the organization’s role as a key mediator in African conflicts. FBA also offers dialogue and mediation training for ECOWAS and key actors within the ECOWAS member states, in order to enhance their capacity to prevent electoral violence. Violence in connection with elections is a widespread problem in West Africa.

Click here to read the entire strategy for Sweden’s regional development cooperation with Africa 2022–2026.

Strengthening Africa’s regional forces for peace

Electoral violence a threat to peace and democratic development

West African standby forces trained in detecting conflict-related sexual violence

African conflict prevention and peace-making: From early warning to early action

Factsheet about FBA’s work in Africa (English)

Factsheet about FBA’s work in Africa (French)

Photo: UN Photo/Catianne Tijerina

FBA launches new international research working groups

FBA welcomes 23 researchers as members of the agency's international research working groups for the period 2025–2029, thereby deepening its work on integrating research for peace, security, and development.

2025-09-19 09:47

Read our publications

The Gender-Responsive Leader's Handbook

Gender equality is both a goal and a prerequisite for sustainable peace and development. FBA’s Gender-Responsive Leadership (GRL) Initiative is designed to support leaders and managers within organizations such as the EU, UN, ECOWAS, OSCE and the African Union to fulfill their central role in enabling gender equal peace, security and development work.

Documents

More Publications

On international deployment

Teresa Wiklund

Monitor at EUMM in Georgia

Kajsa Norman

Election observer

Catalina Perdomo Rodriguez

Adviser to the UN in Colombia

Karolina Riedel

Statistician in election observation missions

Björn Tedeman

Election observer

THE FBA BLOG

>

Posted by Marie Blomdahl
A safe online space to share experiences to support leadership in the UN

>

When I joined the Leadership and Cooperation Unit at the Folke Bernadotte Academy in August 2018, after working many years mainly in the private sector, I had a feeling that this job really would offer me an opportunity to use my skills and experiences to make a difference, and at the same time grow as a professional. FBA was at the time already working actively with leadership development support for leaders in key functions within the ... Read entire post »
2021-06-03 10:54
>

Posted by Rhodri Williams
Civil Society as a Critical Partner: Rule of Law and Accountability in the Liberian COVID-19 Response, Part II

>

Part One of this post highlighted the importance of the rule of law in supporting crisis response in countries struggling with the effects of conflict. One of the most important rule of law principles in such settings is accountability, particularly “downward accountability”, in which state authorities focus on serving citizens dependent on them.

Corruption and poor governance can lead to excessive upward accountability directed toward political superiors, leaving a gap between the state and ordinary citizens. Civil ... Read entire post »

The post Civil Society as a Critical Partner: Rule of Law and Accountability in the Liberian COVID-19 Response, Part II first appeared on FBA-bloggen.
2021-02-15 13:43
>

Posted by Kristin Valasek
Time for a joint vision on gender-responsive leadership

>

Right before the winter break, 236 women and men from 105 different organizations and 46 countries around the world joined our International Dialogue on Gender-Responsive Leadership, to discuss an absolutely critical and often missing part of the gender equality puzzle: gender-responsive leadership.

After twenty years of struggling to achieve the commitments of the global women, peace and security agenda, we at the FBA have learned that executives and managers are essential to success. Not just as supporters, ... Read entire post »

The post Time for a joint vision on gender-responsive leadership first appeared on FBA-bloggen.
2021-02-10 16:09

Navigate to FBA Blog

FBA in Africa

Read more

FBA launches new international research working groups

Latest news

Working for peace in the shadow of a frozen conflict

FBA releases new research brief on mission leadership

Sara EL Khatib in Palestine awarded FBA’s 1325 scholarship

Read our publications

The Gender-Responsive Leader's Handbook