The second international workshop on “Germany’s West Africa policy: new approaches, perceptions and expectations from the region”, was held from February 11th until February 13th 2020 in Dakar, Senegal. In contrast to the first workshop in Berlin (2018), which particularly dealt with the European and German perspectives on the security situation in West Africa, this year’s workshop in Dakar naturally placed special emphasis on West African perspectives and challenges with regard to security, human, and economic conflicts and an in-depth analysis of the efforts that have been made to address them, and the challenges that remain. At the same time, this project’s guiding research question pertains to the role and limits of Germany’s West Africa policy with regard to a closer consideration of expectations from the region in order to address the most delicate conflicts.
Coordination of the workshop on the German side was carried out by the Helmut-Schmidt-University (Prof. Dr. Michael Staack) and the Institute for Theology and Peace (Prof. Dr. Heinz-Gerhard Justenhoven), both situated in Hamburg, Germany. The majority of leading scholars, political analysts and practitioners came from West Africa, particularly from Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Capo Verde, and Senegal. A few participants came from Europe, namely from Germany and France. Cooperation partners from within the region are the West Africa Institute (Prof. Dr. Djénéba Traoré) in Praia, Cabo Verde, and the Centre d‘Etudes Diplomatiques et Stratégiques (Prof. Dr. Oumar Ndongo) in Dakar, Senegal.
The Workshop was funded by Deutsche Stiftung Friedensforschung (DSF) – German Foundation for Peace Research.
