Center for International Studies: Communication and Development

Bor, Angelah., Master of Arts International Studies, December 2022,
African Studies program
Identifying Research Gaps in the Role of Small-Holder Women Farmers in Improving Food Security and Nutrition in East Africa
Director of Capstone Project: Thomas Smucker

This paper aims to identify the gaps in research on the involvement of women in improving food security in East Africa at the household and community levels. Substantive research has been done addressing food insecurity in Africa, and some research and reports have data involving women's contribution to food security. This paper looks closely at gaps missed or not focused on by other research in this area, with the hope that other researchers, governments, and non-governmental organizations in agriculture, health, and nutrition can use the findings to further invest in women's participation in food security. The findings were obtained through a review of peer-reviewed journals, books, articles, reports, and position papers. These materials were compiled and written by researchers and professionals in food security and nutrition, government bodies, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and stakeholders in the private sector. This research concluded that there had not been a keen interest in capacity development building among women, especially in a region where women are still marginalized, even though they contribute a lot to producing food for their households and communities. There, therefore, is a need to work closely with them to create solutions that will achieve the Food and Agriculture Organization's Four Pillars of Food Security.

Statistics show that a combined 3.572 billion viewers – more than half of the global population aged four and over – tuned in to watch the world’s ultimate football competition, the 2018 World Cup, according to Federation International de Football Association (FIFA), (FIFA,
2018). FIFA 2018 also noted that the final match between France and Croatia on 15 July attracted a combined global audience of 1.12 billion, comprising 884.37 million viewers tuning in to linear TV coverage and a further 231.82 million out-of-home and digital-only viewers. This paper looks at the FIFA World Cup and its contribution to diplomacy through sports diplomacy.
Diplomacy is defined as the established method of influencing the decisions and behavior of foreign governments and peoples through dialogue, negotiation, and other measures short of war or violence. Diplomacy is a way that countries exercise soft power.
Sports diplomacy falls under public diplomacy, defined by Gilboa (2008 as cited in Esherick, Baker, Jackson, & Sam, 2017) as a tool to improve intermediate and long-term relations between states by influencing the public abroad to accomplish foreign policy goals.
Diplomacy is a dialogue between states. Sport is an essential component of culture, and sports diplomacy is used to bring people together and for countries and teams to showcase and exchange their talent and culture. The essence of cultural diplomacy is to
educate, enhance, and sustain relations to build dialogue, understanding, and trust between all peoples, according to the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, Berlin.
Countries are looking for ways of using sports not only as a recreational activity and cross-cultural agent but also as an agent of diplomacy and nation branding. The Australian government has come up with the Sports Diplomacy 2030 strategy framework meant to use sports to empower Australian sports to represent Australia globally and to build linkages with its neighbors, maximize the trade, tourism, and investment opportunities, and strengthen communities in the Indo-Pacific and beyond (Government, 2019).

Researchers have argued that fast fashion’s second-hand market has affected seamstresses’ lives in various facets from business to livelihoods. This study seeks to explore effects the fast fashion’s second-hand clothing market has on seamstress’ businesses and livelihoods in Ghana. It also asks the question of how relevant formal and non-formal education is in the trade. Drawing on 12 semi-structured interviews in Accra, I argue that background, location, skill, and education of seamstresses all contribute to the level of impact experienced by the SHC market on their business and livelihoods. The results suggest that there are both positive and negative impacts of the fast fashion second-hand market. The results also show that the effects of education are complicated, as both formal and non-formal avenues of training are accepted in the custom-made industry. Furthermore, fast fashion is portrayed as just one of the many ways neoliberalism affects the economy and the movement of materials between the global North and the global South.

Panarchy theory has been utilized to first conceptualize the entrenched conflict that lasted for nearly 30 years between Aceh and Indonesia and second, the development of peace prior to and shortly following the tsunami of 2004. The purpose of this paper is to show how panarchy or complex adaptive systems theory can be used to explain the previous
state of the Aceh-Indonesia conflict as a sustained maladaptive system and how it was eventually changed into an adaptive system harboring the potential for peaceful sustainability. There are four main questions that this thesis answers. First, how can the Aceh-Indonesia conflict be explained as a rigidity trap? Second, what were the main elements or inputs from cyclical systems below or above the Aceh-Indonesia conflict
scale that led to the collapse of the rigidity trap and the generation of a healthy or complex adaptive system? Third, what role, if any, did the tsunami of December 2004 play in achieving the peace of the new complex adaptive system and fourth, what elements or inputs into the new healthy system may or may not lead to the systems peaceful sustainability? The conflict and the peace achieved between the two former antagonists appears to be an example of a maladapted cyclical socio-economic and political rigidity trap that was acted upon by new inputs from cyclical scales above the Aceh-Indonesia conflict scale. It is thought that this is the first time panarchy theory has been applied to an aspect of conflict transformation modeling. It is hoped that this initial 4 attempt will encourage others to test panarchy theory; maladaptive and adaptive system models, in the field of conflict transformation.