In this episode, students speak with Pearson Associate Rebecca Wolfe and Maurice Amollo of Mercy Corps, who have worked together on the USAID-funded “Community Initiatives to Promote Peace,” a multifaceted program aimed to bring together pastoralists and farmers by engaging community and faith-based leaders to promote peace in Nigeria. They discuss the roots of conflict in Nigeria, how the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a disruption in their programs, and the importance of building trust between people and institutions.

Frances Z. Brown is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She recently co-authored a report titled “Coronavirus in Conflict Zones: A Sobering Landscape”, which examines how the COVID-19 pandemic is playing out in 12 different conflict-affected states, and how efforts to contain the virus increase the likelihood of aggravating those conflicts.

The Citizenship Amendment Act and Article 370 was passed late in 2019 in the Kashmir, which further restricted autonomy in the region and increased unrest in the state. In this episode, students speak to Harris alum Salwa Shameem, who is a film maker and strategy consultant, and Rohool, a local activist in Kashmir, about the conflict and its broader implications.