Global Affairs Canada (Fall 2024)

Project Background

Global Affairs Canada (GAC) is responsible for defining, shaping and advancing Canada’s interests and values in a complex global environment. GAC manages diplomatic relations, promotes international trade, provides consular assistance and leads international development, humanitarian and peace and security assistance efforts. It also contributes to national security and the development of international law.

The Strategic Coordination and Analysis unit, in the Transnational Threats and Conflicts Bureau, produces tailored analysis and advisory support to inform Canada’s peace and security programming in conflict settings. It also works alongside other parts of the department and diplomatic missions on responses to conflict and security threats and conducts analyses on emerging security challenges.

Definition of Opportunity

Since 2018, Coastal West Africa (CWA) has seen an increase of instability with a spike of violent extremist attacks and widespread intercommunal tensions and conflicts in northern regions along the borders with the Sahel. In order to address the window of opportunity to prevent more instability from emerging and spreading, GAC developed a Conflict Prevention Framework to guide its peace and security approach in southern regions of the Sahel (Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger) and northern regions of CWA (Benin, Côte d’ivoire, Ghana and Togo). The framework is underpinned by an in-depth analysis of conflict drivers and regional trends, intended to inform Canada’s engagement in the region to prevent the spillover of conflict and instability in transborder regions. Of the various conflict drivers examined, the relationship between climate and security needs further research. GAC is interested in understanding how climate change impacts security dynamics in northern regions of CWA. For instance, how are strict conservation and environmentalist policies fuelling community grievances in northern Benin (W—Arly—Pendjari Parks)? How are violent extremist organizations (VEOs) capitalizing on these grievances to recruit disenchanted youth and marginalized communities? How are governments in Coastal West Africa responding to the rising security threats amid rising tensions over access to natural resources?

Definition of Success

We would be delighted to have short and insightful research that allows us to better understand the linkages between climate change and security in Coastal West Africa. Short analytical pieces and mappings will boost our knowledge about this thematic. We want to clearly identify how these thematic fuels conflict drivers and enable the spillover of violence and VEO activity in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo.

Meet the Team

Final Deliverable

Partners In Health & PIH Engage (Spring 2025)

Project Background

Partners In Health (PIH) is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to providing high-quality healthcare to marginalized communities, addressing social determinants of health, and advocating for health equity. PIH Engage is its grassroots advocacy and fundraising network, mobilizing volunteers to support PIH’s mission through community organizing, education, and policy change efforts.  

PIH is a member of the EndTB campaign to combat tuberculosis (TB) through advocacy, treatment expansion, and awareness-building. As momentum builds, engaging incoming members of US Congress will be essential for advancing key policy initiatives, including the EndTB Act, the Paul Farmer Memorial Resolution (PMFR), and the Community Health Worker Access Act (CHWAA).

Definition of Opportunity

A Notre Dame student team will research and identify newly elected members of Congress with potential interest in TB advocacy, global health, and partnerships with institutions such as the NIH, CDC, USAID, and the Global Fund. John Green’s forthcoming book Tuberculosis is Everything and his advocacy, along with efforts from young activists (Nerdfighters), are increasing interest in TB activism, particularly among young people. His visit to Notre Dame on February 5, 2025, presents a strategic opportunity to expand engagement and advocacy efforts in legislative circles.

Definition of Success

• A detailed list of incoming members of Congress with relevant health and global development interests, including linkages with organizations such as NIH, CDC, Global Fund, and USAID.

• Develop bios and background information for use during PIH Engage’s Hill Day on April 9, 2025 equipping advocates with key details for meetings on Capitol Hill.

• A comprehensive Champion Scale assessment of targeted MoCs, with tailored engagement strategies to advance their commitment.

Meet the Team

Final Deliverables

U.S. Department of State (Spring 2025)

Project Background

The University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs is collaborating with the U.S. Department of State on an initiative focused on global conflict prevention research. As part of the Academic Centers of Conflict Anticipation and Prevention (ACCAP) partnership, the Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO) is engaging universities to provide supplemental research, analysis, and data to enhance its ability to anticipate, prevent, and respond to global conflict. 

The CSO leads the formulation and implementation of conflict prevention and stabilization strategies, policies, and programs for the State Department. This partnership will provide undergraduate and graduate students at the Keough School with access to key State Department research tools, including its Instability Monitoring and Analysis Platform, which officials use to monitor conflict risks and implement evidence-based policies.

Definition of Opportunity

The student team will conduct research on illicit gold mining and its implications for violent extremism and broader instability dynamics in Coastal West Africa (CWA) focusing on Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, and Togo. The project will explore the relationships between illicit mining activities, financial flows, and governance challenges to inform future policy interventions. The student research will fill a critical knowledge gap for the Africa team within CSO, providing evidence-based analysis to support future Global Fragility Act (GFA) programming in the State Department. This project aligns with the broader mission of conflict prevention by identifying strategies to mitigate instability and strengthen governance structures.

Definition of Success

The team will explore the implications of illicit gold mining on violent extremism and broader instability dynamics in 1-2 countries in Coastal West African countries ((Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, and Togo). The final product should help address the following questions: What can legal mining operations do to promote formalization of these activities?  What local and national governments do to promote formal, legal employment and ensure gold mining revenues benefit citizens?

Meet the Team

Final Deliverables

Vital Strategies (Fall 2021)

Project Background

 Vital Strategies is a global health organization that believes every person should be protected by a strong public health system. We work with governments and civil society in 73 countries to design and implement evidence-based strategies that tackle their most pressing public health problems. Our goal is to see governments adopt promising interventions at scale as rapidly as possible.

Birth registration has been called the “first right of a child” as it is the first official recognition of an individual after birth.  UNICEF has estimated that four out of ten children who are born do not have their births registered.  80 percent of the children whose births are not registered are born in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. It is also estimated that less than half of all deaths occurring in the world are registered. Additionally, the cause of death in far fewer of these cases is medically certified and recorded.  In the context of the Covid-19 sweeping the world, this is a major obstacle to focusing attention and resources to contain and prevent the spread of the pandemic.  

Functional civil registration systems and vital statistics (CRVS) systems provide the fertility and mortality statistics including the cause of death estimates which help to plan, deliver and monitor health and social development programs.   They are thus a key element in the governance mechanisms tracking progress towards national and international commitments such as the Sustainable Development Programmes.  However, the results in terms of timely registration of all birth and deaths; the ability to record the proximate and underlying causes of deaths; publish national vital statistics reports drawing data from civil registration sources are all far from satisfactory in most countries in Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia. Birth registration rates have seen a significant improvement in several countries in South Asia and in some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.  But death registration rates and the generation of data from causes of death still remain a major concern. 

Definition of Opportunity

The objective is to move the conversation beyond the constituencies that are traditionally engaged in this area (demographers, statisticians, medical professionals) to stakeholders in the area of governance, public policy, public administration, the general public, etc.

Definition of Success

We hope that the team will work on developing, prototyping, and testing communications vehicles that the most effective communication vehicles to reach these audiences? Can we articulate the CRVS concerns of practitioners and scholars through opinion pieces that can take the content in such articles to a wider audience?

Meet the Team

Final Deliverables