The African Leadership Centre (ALC), is pleased to invite you to the ALC Research seminar series event titled “Beyond the Usual Suspects: New Voices for Women, Peace and Security” happening on Tuesday, 27 October 2026, from 11:00 AM GMT/14:00 EAT.

About the Event 

This research seminar examines why the UN Women, Peace and Security agenda must move beyond its established community of policymakers, gender experts and activists—the agenda’s “usual suspects”—and become a broader societal movement. Over the past 25 years, the WPS agenda has increased recognition of women’s roles in conflict prevention and peacebuilding, strengthened accountability for conflict-related sexual violence, and established gender as an important analytical tool in international peace and security. However, implementation remains slow, top-down and insufficiently connected to the people and institutions that influence everyday attitudes, behaviour and security. The lecture will briefly examine the WPS agenda’s African roots and the substantial role of African states, regional institutions and civil-society organisations in its development.

It will then consider why formal mechanisms—including national action plans, mediation networks, gender advisers and gender focal points—have not yet generated sufficiently broad or transformative change. The central argument is that WPS must engage “everyday influencers”: people whose professional, cultural, religious or social authority allows them to shape attitudes and practices at community level. These include teachers, youth mentors, police officers, judges, health workers, artists, musicians, social-media influencers, religious leaders, traditional leaders and customary authorities.

About the chair

Dr Shuvai Nyoni, Executive Director, African Leadership Centre.

About the speaker

Dr Angela Muvumba Sellström's, Senior Researcher, The Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) work focuses on the determinants of Africa’s security policies and the gendered dimensions of conflict and peace processes. She is Senior Researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute (NAI). With over 25 years of experience, she has led multiyear projects on sexual violence and armed groups’ wartime behaviour, and the role of elected members of the UN Security Council. She is currently exploring how global governance and geopolitical competition shape peace and security dynamics. Dr Muvumba Sellström is also a Visiting Researcher at Uppsala University’s Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Life and Peace Institute (LPI), a Non-resident Fellow at the International Peace Institute (IPI), an Associate Senior Researcher of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

About the discussant 

Ms. Vicky Karimi is a human rights lawyer with expertise in Women, Peace and Security and Gender Justice. She has considerable experience in legal and policy work and has worked on gender equality, constitution-making, development of legal frameworks and human rights issues in Kenya, Liberia, Northern Uganda, Sudan, South Sudan and Sierra Leone among other countries. Vicky has a demonstrated commitment to gender equality, good governance, constitutionalism, democracy and human rights. She is an alumnus of the Women, Peace and Security Fellowship of the African Leadership Centre/King’s College, London (2009/2010).

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