Workshop on the climate-food-conflict nexus

On 23-25 June, the Sudan-Norway Academic Cooperation (SNAC) organized a workshop in Nairobi on how to understand the climate-food-conflict nexus in Sudan.

The workshop was hosted by the Rift Valley Institute, and gathered participants from several of the project’s regional partner universities: Red Sea University, the University of Gadarif, the University of Kassala, the University of Nyala, and El Dalang University.

The workshop consisted of two parts. The first day was facilitated by Professor Hussein Sulieman (University of Gadarif) and Associate Professor Gidske Leknæs Andersen (UiB). They focused on the connections between climate stress, food insecurity and conflict in Sudan, and introduced the participants to central concepts within the climate-food-conflict nexus. Based on these concepts, discussions revolved around how a better understanding of the nexus can support recovery, resilience, and peacebuilding in Sudan.

The two following days focused on blog writing, and after a presentation on what distinguishes blogs from academic writing, what to remember when writing for an online format, and how to carve out your main message, the participants worked in groups and presented their blog outlines to be discussed with the larger group. Topics for the blogs ranged from land use to scarcity of drinking water, and changes in consumption behaviour, all inspired by current challenges in Eastern Sudan and connected to the climate-food-conflict nexus.

The blogs coming out of this workshop are to be published in the SNAC project’s blog Sudanese Perspectives in September.