How can social network analysis help tackle West Africa’s challenges?
Posted at 17:09 PM in by adminby Marie Trémolières and Matthew Stephenson, SWAC Secretariat, 31 July 2015
Why is social network analysis (SNA) relevant for West Africa and the Sahel? The challenges these countries share are of a regional, national and local nature, often transcending national boundaries. Actors interact both across countries and within regions in the same country, whether on issues of food security, physical security, trade or migration. These regional and national relationships are therefore ripe for SNA modelling. SNA's graphical and spatial dimension can bring clarity to complex relationships and interactions between actors in West Africa.
By Laurent Bossard, SWAC Secretariat
The Sahara is a shared space whose risks and opportunities cannot be tackled without strong transregional co-operation. North African and Sahelian challenges cannot and should not be dealt with separately. In the short-term, it must of course be a priority to “re-conquer” and stabilize the area so that businesses and people can feel secure. In the long run, however, it is much more difficult and more expensive to militarily control an unsettled area than to develop a vibrant economic area