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Armed conflicts in the Horn of Africa have generated pervasive and sustained patterns of gender-based violence, affecting women and girls across multiple stages of conflict and post-conflict transition. Over the past two decades, international, regional, and national actors have developed a range of policy frameworks and interventions aimed at preventing such violence, supporting survivors, promoting women’s participation in peace processes, and advancing accountability. Yet the effectiveness, political sustainability, and transformative potential of these responses remain limited.
This panel examines the promises and limits of contemporary responses to conflict-related gender-based violence in the Horn of Africa, drawing on case studies from Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Sudan. The panel analyzes service-oriented interventions targeting survivors, initiatives promoting women’s inclusion in peace and security governance, and efforts to advance justice and accountability in contexts marked by ongoing insecurity and geopolitical contestation. Particular attention is paid to the extent to which existing responses address — or fail to address — the structural and political conditions that underpin gender-based violence in conflict settings. By interrogating the gap between normative commitments and political realities, the panel seeks to assess whether current approaches offer pathways toward meaningful prevention, accountability, and transformation, or whether they risk reproducing cycles of impunity and gendered insecurity.
Guiding questions include:
- To what extent do conflict and post-conflict responses confront the structural foundations of gender-based violence in the Horn of Africa?
- What have been the achievements and limitations of women’s participation in peace processes across the region?
- How do regional and global power dynamics undermine or reshape efforts to prevent violence and secure accountability?
- And what are the political, social, and ethical costs of continued failure to address conflict-related gender-based violence?
- How do local women’s movements and survivors shape and contest international GBV frameworks in the Horn of Africa?
About the speakers
Dr. Alagaw Ababu Kifle (South Sudan)
Dr. Alagaw Ababu Kifle is a research fellow and head of fellowship at the African Leadership Centre, Nairobi Kenya. Alagaw holds BA degree in Political Science and International Relations from Addis Ababa University and two MA degrees in Peace and Conflict Studies and Conflict Security and Development (distinction) from Addis Ababa University-University for Peace and King`s College London respectively. Alagaw is the 2023 first ever Joint PhD graduate of the University of Pretoria, South Africa and King`s College London in Leadership and Security Studies.
Dr. Alagaw has over ten years of teaching and research experiences and has widely published both academic and policy-oriented works. His areas of research and publication traverse leadership and the formation of developmental coalitions, political settlement and peace building conversations in Africa, International Financial Institutions and their engagement on fragile and conflict affected African states, Adhoc security arrangements and peace building in Africa, and localized conflicts and state building in Africa.
Ms. Maggie LoWilla (South Sudan)
Ms. Maggie LoWilla is a gender, peace and security practitioner, with nearly a decade of experience in research, leadership training, and peacebuilding programming. Her work sits at the intersection of African feminism(s), African futures, and emerging technologies on the continent. From women’s leadership in conflict-affected contexts to political resistance in creative & digital spaces, she asks critical questions about who holds power, who is silenced, and how we might design futures that are feminist, inclusive, and African-led.
Ms Maggie is currently the Fellowships Coordinator and Team Lead for the Working Group on South Sudan at the African Leadership Centre. In those roles, she oversees the delivery of leadership programmes that cultivate purpose-driven African leaders, translates research into compelling narratives that reframe public debate, and convenes dialogues that imagine futures grounded in justice, dignity, and possibility.
About King's Africa Week
Hosted by the African Leadership Centre and Africa research group, Africa Week is an annual celebration of research, education and outreach activities on Africa.
King's Africa Week brings together academics, researchers and students from across King's – and offers the opportunity to hear from African scholars, leaders and thinkers. It also showcases King's collaboration with African universities and partners.
Find out more about Africa Week
African cuisine at King's Food
Explore the diverse flavours from the African continent through a specially curated lunch menu featuring traditional dishes and desserts in celebration of Africa Week 2026. Visit any King's Food outlet during lunch service on Tuesday March 3 to savour these distinctive flavours and celebrate the continent's rich culinary tradition.