Democratic Republic of Congo: Situational Awareness of Recent Escalation

Name: Democratic Republic of Congo: Situational Awareness of Recent Escalation
Start: 2023-03-01T13:00:00-0500
End: 2023-03-01T14:00:00-0500

RSVP Required Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students

The Democratic Republic of Congo has seen recent surge in violence, but very limited international attention. Reports of foreign mercenaries, competition for access to critical natural resources, and changing political dynamics complicate peace efforts. This panel will look at the humanitarian impact and the political and economic consequences of the conflict to the Great Lakes Region and globally.

Registration:

This event is in-person only. Guests are required to show Harvard ID to access the facility.

Speakers:

Dr. Yvan Yenda Ilunga, Assistant Professor, Political Science and International Relations, Salve Regina University

Emmy-Lou Nicolaï, Emergency Officer, UNICEF

Joshua Walker, Director of Programs at the Congo Research Group

Moderator:

Dr. Jocelyn Kelly, Director, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative’s (HHI) Gender, Rights and Resilience (GR2)

Date: Wed, Mar 1, 2023 Time: 01:00pm - 02:00pm Location: Rubenstein Building - Room 414 A/B

Stylized flag of DRC with hand in foreground

Speakers

Dr. Yvan Yenda Ilunga is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations Salve Regina University (USA), and serves as Deputy Director for the Joint Civil-Military Interaction (JCMI) Research and Education Network. He is the author of ‘Humanitarianism and Security: Trouble and Hope at the Heart of Africa’ (Palgrave McMillan Inc, 2020).

Emmy-Lou Nicolaï is a French UNICEF humanitarian worker who has been present in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo for over a year. She coordinates emergency responses to support internally displaced persons, with a focus on fighting epidemics and providing education in emergencies. She graduated from Harvard Kennedy School in 2022 with a Master in Public Administration. Prior to HKS, she earned a Master’s Degree in History, a Master in Public Affairs, and an Executive MBA. Her previous professional background is at the confluence of the public and private sector as a high school history teacher and manager at a French strategy consulting boutique.

Joshua Z. Walker is the Director of Programs at the Congo Research Group. He has been working in and researching the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since 2004. Before joining CIC, he was a research associate at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has also worked for The Carter Center and the UN Peacekeeping mission in the DRC. His research–on politics, economy, and culture in the DRC—sits at the intersection of academic knowledge and policymaking. It has included work on extractive economies and their social effects, public culture, and conflict and politics in the DRC. Walker holds a Ph.D. in sociocultural anthropology from the University of Chicago, a Master’s degree in anthropology and development from the London School of Economics, and a B.A. in political science from McGill University.

Dr. Jocelyn Kelly is the Director for Harvard Humanitarian Initiative’s (HHI) Gender, Rights and Resilience (GR2) program, where she designs and implements projects to examine issues relating to gender, peace, and security in fragile states. Dr. Kelly has been conducting health-related research using qualitative and quantitative research methods for over a decade in national and international settings. She has given briefings related to gender and security to the United Nations Security Council, the U.S. State Department, USAID, the World Bank, OFDA, the Woodrow Wilson Center, and the U.S. Institute of Peace. Dr. Kelly’s work focuses on understanding and preventing gender-based violence and human trafficking in complex crises, with an emphasis on specially examining mechanisms for resilience in these settings. Dr. Kelly’s current research interests include: promoting and measuring GBV risk mitigation in humanitarian emergencies; understanding the continuum of GBV before during and after humanitarian crisis; and measuring and promoting social cohesion and community resilience as a pathway to reducing violence.