Event Date: February 10, 2021 - 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm
Location: online

Video of webinar available here:

Presented by CIPS and The Africa Study Group (CIC)

The talk will explore the relationship between international development donors and Zimbabwean civil society organizations in the 2010s, focusing on the promotion of democracy, human rights, and good governance. It shows how Zimbabwean civil society transformed from being a cohesive movement for reform to a fragmented, internationalized space, driven by donor priorities and market demands. It also highlights more positive developments and potential for productive change through the rise of new forms of resistance and activism among young activists.

Speaker:

Dr. Farai Chipato is a CIPS postdoctoral fellow (2020-2022) for the Changing Orders project. Farai has a PhD in Political Science from Queen Mary University of London. His thesis research investigated the relationship between international development donors and local civil society organizations in Zimbabwe, focusing on the promotion of democracy, good governance and human rights. Farai’s other research interests include citizenship, resilience, and race in International Relations. His future work will explore new African challenges to contemporary global order, working with Afropolitanism to examine trends in African philanthropy and social movements. Farai is also Reviews Editor for Review of African Political Economy.

Moderator:

Bruce Montador  is the Honorary Senior Fellow at GSPIA and serves as the Chair of the Africa Study Group of the Canadian International Council’s National Capital Branch and as Director and Treasurer of CODE (a Canadian NGO working on literacy and development). From 2016 to 2019 he was a member of the Management Board of the African Legal Support Facility. From 2011 to 2016 Bruce was a Senior Fellow with the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs of the University of Ottawa. Bruce was Executive Director for Canada at the African Development Bank from September 2007 to September 2011. From 2002 to 2007, he was a Vice-President responsible for multilateral programs at the then Canadian International Development Agency. 

Introduction by:

Prof. Alexandra Gheciu, Associate Director and Full Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) at the University of Ottawa. Her research interests are in the fields of international security, international institutions, Euro-Atlantic relations, global governance and the liberal order, the Global Right, state (re)building, and International Relations theory.