Amani Africa Training on the AU and Field Research Stay in Addis Ababa

From Octo­ber 16 to October 18, Hilda Koyier attended the 5^th edition of the Amani Africa Trai­ning Institute on the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethio­pia, as one of the 25 selected partici­pants. The three-day session focused on equipping partici­pants with exten­sive knowledge on the practical functioning of diffe­rent organs of the AU and the overall decision-making pro­cess(es) of the AU. The pool of facilitators comprised of a di­verse range of AU Policy Officials and experts in the field. The partici­pants, of diffe­rent profes­sional back­grounds, were keen on under­standing how the func­tioning of different AU organs relates to their indivi­dual work(s). Each partici­pant received a certifi­cate of com­pletion of the course. 

In the after­math of the Amani Africa training ses­sions, Hilda Koyier com­pleted a two week field research at the AU Head­quarters, conducting semi-structured inter­views with AU officials in the con­text of her Research Project within the ANCIP compe­tence network on the role of AU liaison offices in African non-mili­tary conflict inter­ventions. Through the appli­cation of a practice lens, the inter­views served to under­stand how the activi­ties of the AU liaison offices posi­tioned in different AU mem­ber states are groun­ded within the larger works of AU depart­ments at the AU head­quarters. In addition to the inter­views, Hilda Koyier made exten­sive use of the Know­ledge Resource centres of the AU, such as the library and the ar­chives, accessing impor­tant outcome documents of the AU’s Peace and Security Coun­cil and other relevant organs for AU conflict manage­ment.