Pre-Programme #BAYMAU25

Current trends in regional (dis)integration in Africa

Location: S50, RWII

Regional integration processes in Africa are facing major challenges. In West Africa, Partner States are withdrawing from regional commitments and forging newer regional organisations. East Africa is also facing persistent tensions and infighting among its member states despite recent regional expansion. The workshop touches on these developments as a window into understanding the tensions, contradictions and implications of African countries joining multiple and often overlapping regional organisations. Workshop participants will critically discuss the drivers and constraints of regionalisation – beyond intra-REC conflicts – to the role of various national, regional and international actors in shaping the trajectory of regional integration on the continent.

Short Bio

Diana Kisakye is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bayreuth. She is currently conducting her PhD in Political Science at the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS) at the University of Bayreuth. Her PhD study investigates institutionalisation processes in Africa’s Regional Economic Community (REC) courts. Diana’s research interests include judicial politics, African development politics and regional integration processes in Africa. Previously, she has worked as a Research Associate at the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bayreuth.

Planetary Health Risks in Africa—Adapting Health Systems, Achieving Climate Justice, and Navigating a Multipolar Geopolitical Landscape

Location: Hybrid (Online and S66, RWI)

Africa faces intersecting challenges at the nexus of climate change and shifting global power dynamics. Climate change significantly impacts public health by exacerbating disease burdens, straining healthcare infrastructure, and deepening social inequalities. This workshop provides a comprehensive platform to explore how African nations can build climate-resilient health systems, advance climate justice for vulnerable populations, and strategically position themselves in a multipolar world.

By integrating rigorous scientific analysis with real-world case studies and policy dialogue, experts from public health, climate science, and governance will offer insights into innovative solutions, governance frameworks, and community-driven responses. The workshop aims to provide practical strategies for addressing insecurities while seizing emerging opportunities, ensuring that Africa’s health systems are both adaptive and equitable in the face of climate change.

Short bio

Melvine A. Otieno is an Environmental Health scientist, climate change activist, and founder of Planetary Health Eastern Africa. She is dedicated to advancing climate action, sustainability, and global health, collaborating with KLUG – German Alliance on Climate Change and Health. She is an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Eldoret, Kenya, and a PhD candidate at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.

Melvine coordinates the DAAD-funded, SOPHEA project in Kenya (and has contributed to multiple international research initiatives on environmental health, aquaculture, and food security. A former Next Generation Network Fellow at the Planetary Health Alliance, she actively mentors emerging leaders in planetary health. Through her research, advocacy, and leadership, she drives transformative solutions at the intersection of climate change, environmental health, and planetary well-being.

Africa and the Shadow of the Global Far Right

Location: S59, RWI

How can we think about the rise of the far right from an African perspective? One could imagine a view from Africa that understands the rising political tensions and social polarization in Europe and North America, on which the rise of Trump’s MAGA Republicans, Germany’s AfD or Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia built, as internal issues of other countries; white men’s issues that they need to solve amongst themselves. Why fight another man’s war? Africans had done it earlier, by force, with no rewards or recognition. This, of course, might be contrasted with a position that flags the very transnational nature of the rise of the far-right, connecting countries as different as the US, Brazil, Germany, Hungary, Argentina and India, and South Africa (and other African countries), too. Another view might be that of a geopolitical strategist, who understands the rise of the far-right, particularly the revanchist second term of Donald Trump and his willingness to completely turn both domestic and international orders upside down, as marking the beginning of a new era African leaders need to reckon with. In this reconstituting world order, Africa needs to assert its place; it needs to rethink everything – from aid to trade, from global partnerships to domestic structural transformation.

A third view, the one embraced in this workshop, adopts a different angle. This one scrutinizes the ideological foundations of the far-right; it excavates why Africa and elements of far-right thinking are not mutually exclusive; it probes why ‘Africa’ as both continent and category is far from irrelevant to the global far right. In this workshop, we will elaborate on four points currently absent in the emerging debate on Africa and the (global) far-right.

Short bio

Professor Stefan Ouma is Chair of Economic Geography at the Department of Geography at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. His scholarship has focussed on the political economy and ecology of global agri-food commodity chains, and the financialization of land and agriculture. More recently, he has delved into research on race, economy, and inequality, particularly the worlds of Big tech, start-up finance, and the ideological underpinnings of Silicon Valley. His work has involved research in West and East Africa, Aotearoa New Zealand, and Germany. Professor Ouma has an extensive list of publications, including ‘Farming as Financial Asset: Global Finance and the Making of Institutional Landscapes’ (Agenda Publishing, Columbia University Press, 2020) and ‘Assembling Export Markets: The Making and Unmaking of Food Connections in West Africa’ (Wiley, 2015) and operates the influential Institutional Landscapes website, which acts as a portal for research on agricultural financialisation and land acquisition. He is the former Co-Editor of the leading social science journal Antipode.

Empowering African SMEs: Financial Statement Analysis & Credit Risk Assessment for Sustainable Growth

Location: S59 RWI

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role in Africa’s economic development, yet access to finance remains a significant challenge. This interactive workshop will equip participants with practical financial skills to analyze SME financial statements, assess creditworthiness, and explore financing options. Topics include financial statement interpretation, key credit risk indicators, and financing strategies. Participants will engage in hands-on exercises, discussions, and scenario-based learning to better understand SME financing and risk assessment in an evolving economic landscape.

Short bio

Ayomikun Shonowo is a Development Finance Professional specializing in SME financing, credit risk assessment, and financial inclusion. He has experience in development finance and rural economic development, working with institutions such as the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and KfW Development Bank. He holds an MBA in Finance and a Master’s in Agricultural Economics & Rural Development. As an incoming trainee at the European Investment Bank (EIB), he is passionate about financial access, SME investment strategies, and economic transformation in Africa.

Exposure, Reception, and Response to Information Flows amidst Sociopolitical Turmoil

Location: S66, RWI

Profound social changes are occurring across the world. The military taking over in some African countries starting in 2020 increasingly fits into this context. While creating social upheavals, such context gives rise to significant information flows and narrative constructions around various issues related to capital accumulation, liberation movements, and social cohesion. It is also a moment for rehabilitating the bonds of humanity to inhabit the planet together. Propaganda and censorship regimes clash in ideological arenas where individuals are the primary information consumers. This workshop offers participants a space for collective reflection. Together, they will analyze individuals’ exposure, reception, and responsiveness to information flows in the context of social perturbations. Discussions will focus on discourses, narratives, and knowledge that individuals have not experienced in concrete reality, particularly in the new contexts of military rule in West Africa. The goal is to meditate on everyday human interactions outside and in relation to conventional media, showing that information and its mediation are hardly neutral in their representation of reality.

Short bio

Saïkou Oumar Sagnane born and grew up in Guinea. He holds a BA in sociology and a MA in socio anthropology, focusing on public health communication, from the University of Sonfonia-Conakry. He joined the University of Bayreuth for his doctoral study as part of the “Politics of the Unknown” research group. Extending his master’s dissertation on “The Social Life of Health Messages”, and taking Guinea’s political regime change in 2021 as a case study, his current work analyses the Circulation of Information Flows and the Logic of Quest in the context of Unexpected Events. He is also interested in exploring knowledge traditions, their ecologies, and their applications to contemporary issues, such as social cohesion. Sagnane previously worked on the Representations of the Ebola epidemic and those who recovered from the virus in the Guinean print media. He still contributes to research activities, strategic planning, and operational interventions in health promotion. One of his recent projects was “Preventing and Managing Rumours” in response to COVID-19. Besides his research and teaching activities, Sagnane is involved in knowledge transfer practices and consultancies.