About this episode

Séverine Autesserre discusses the shortcomings of top-down peacebuilding approaches in the DRC and the importance of local community involvement.

International peacebuilding efforts in conflict-affected countries, including the DRC, typically prioritize top-down approaches. According to Séverine Autesserre—an expert on peacebuilding, humanitarian aid, and African politics—international peace organizations rarely tap into local knowledge and expertise or consider the voices of local communities. For episode 2 of the APN (SSRC) Kujenga Amani podcast, we spoke with Séverine Autesserre, a professor of Political Science at Barnard College, about the overall impact of international peacebuilding efforts in the DRC, the difficulty of building peace from the top down and without input from the intended beneficiaries, and the potential for local peacebuilding efforts to transform conflict situations in the DRC and beyond.

People in this episode

Guest: Séverine Autesserre

Topics covered

• peacebuilding
• local knowledge
• conflict resolution
• international aid
• community involvement

Keywords

• peacebuilding
• DRC
• local communities
• international organizations
• conflict transformation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Barnard College, African Peacebuilding Network

Places: DRC

More episodes of Kujenga Amani: Peacebuilding in Africa

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• Radical Hope and Entanglement: Imagining New Realities for Africa · May 8, 2025 · 37 min
• Monde Muyangwa · November 20, 2018 · 26 min
• Lena Slachmuijlder · October 30, 2018 · 27 min
• Paul D. Williams · September 20, 2018 · 35 min
• Ambassador Macharia Kamau · July 12, 2018 · 15 min

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