APSACO Talks 2020 - Workshop 1: Human security index in Africa

September 25, 2020

This workshop falls within UNECA’s contribution to “Silencing the Guns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development”. The overall objective of the workshop is to provide an overview of the principles that embody the human security approach and elaborate on the usage of human security as a tool for developing effective policies and programmes by Governments and nongovernmental entities, as well as regional and sub-regional intergovernmental institutions towards the achievement of Agenda 2063 and the SDGs. The specific objectives of the workshop are: • Probe human security concepts, practices and methodologies; • Identify the relevance and significance of developing an African perspective on human security; • Explore the nexus of economic security, peace, and human security; • Leverage an AU – ECA human security approach aligned with AU Agenda 2063 and UN 2030 Agenda; • And develop the set of recommendations that will form the way forward on the efforts of developing a methodology. WORKSHOP 1: Human Security Index in Africa Speakers : Jalal Abdel-latif, Senior Fellow, Policy Center for the New South (PCNS), Framing Human Security in Africa : Sara Hasnaa Mokaddem, International Relations Specialist, Policy Center for the New South (PCNS) Approaches and Options in Designing the AHSI: Eleanor Keeble, Fellow, Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Challenges of the AHSI construction: Saad Badaoui, Senior data scientist, Policy Center for the New South (PCNS)

Speakers
Jalal Abdel-Latif
Ethiopia
Senior Fellow
Jalal Abdel-Latif is Senior Fellow at Policy Center for the New South and Senior Social Policy Advisor, Gender and Poverty, Social Policy Division, UNECA. Jalal has over 25 years of professional experience in the areas of corporate social responsibility, civic engagement, grant making, project design and enhancing the capacities of non-profit organizations. He began his career as researcher and capacity analyst at UCLA African studies center, before working as Grants manager for USA for Africa (the We Are the World project) in California. He was also a co-founder and CEO of Inter-Africa Group, a regional think thank.  He was previously appointed by the late Prime Minister of Ethiopia to serve on the Ethiopian Telecommunications Board of Directors to assist in its moderniz ...
Sara Hasnaa Mokaddem
Manager - Strategic Monitoring & Analysis Unit
Sara Mokaddem is the Manager of the Strategic Monitoring & Analysis Unit at the Policy Center for the New South. Prior to that, she has worked as a research analyst in charge of specific due-diligence reporting and risk analysis on private placements for a London-based investment fund focused on the mining and energy sectors. She has also worked with firms and individuals on attaining FCA authorization and regulation in the United Kingdom. Her previous professional experience includes a position as a visiting researcher at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in 2011 and 2012 where she has produced research on the post-revolutionary situation in Tunisia and Libya and on the security of the Sahel. Having written modules on corporate forensics and on employee protectio ...

RELATED CONTENT

  • July 17, 2025
    In this episode, we explore Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in Atlantic Africa, a crisis that drains marine resources, harms coastal livelihoods, and threatens regional security. Luis Miguel Escudeiro da Costa Cabral from the Atlantic Centre joins us, sharing how his ...
  • Authors
    Niccola Milnes
    July 14, 2025
    Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), alongside the Front de Libération de l’Azawad (FLA), has pioneered drone warfare in the Sahel–evolving from its first armed strike in September 2023 to over a dozen coordinated operations by June 2025. JNIM’s drone-enabled attacks–spanning kamikaze strikes, ISR- guided assaults, and visual propaganda–now target Mali, Burkina Faso, and Togo. It is the only known armed group in Africa–and one of the few globally–to conduct sustained, opera ...
  • July 11, 2025
    In this episode, we speak to Zineb Benalla, international consultant and CEO of Eirene Associate, as she reveals the vital yet often hidden roles youth and women play in peacebuilding, sh ...
  • Authors
    Khadija Mamouni
    July 3, 2025
    While global attention has been focused on the Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea, Somali pirates have seized the opportunity to escalate their own attacks and violence along these strategic waterways. The threat is increasing dramatically due to an emerging network of allies between Al-Shabaab, the Houthis, and Somali pirates, as well as overlapping national and international factors. The first successful Somali piracy incident since 2017 took place in December 2023, a month ...
  • June 20, 2025
    As the African continent grapples with a new generation of complex and interconnected threats, ranging from violent extremism and transnational crime to governance-related tensions and climate-induced insecurity, Southern Africa is also called upon to reinforce its contribution to conti...
  • June 19, 2025
    In 2024, Africa’s sub-regional landscape reflects deepening tensions between normative commitments to regional integration and the emergence of competing political and security alignments. From institutional paralysis to political withdrawals, the coherence of Africa’s regional blocs is...