Social Resilience, Gendered Dynamics, and Local Peace in Protracted Conflicts
About
The ResilienceBuilding project studies the causes and consequences of community vulnerability and social resilience; gender dimensions of conflict and peace building; civilian agency and violence prevention in complex and multi-level conflicts; and the interaction of local and national peace processes. We focus in particular on the unintended effects of protective civilian agency and resilience building in conflict contexts characterised by civil war and communal conflict, climate change, local peacebuilding, and international peacekeeping. The research team pursues empirical multi-method research in South Sudan, Nigeria, and Kenya.
The project is led by Professor Jana Krause at the University of Oslo, with collaborators based at Uppsala University and the Peace Research Institute Oslo.
NEWS
Prof Jana Krause conducts research stay at the British Institute in Eastern Africa in Nairobi from January to March 2026.
1-3 December 2025, Nairobi: Workshop on Gender, Peace and Security: Resistance and Resilience brought together 38 scholars and researchers from African, European and American universities and research institutes. See the program here.
Doctoral student Imrana Buba has been awarded the 2026 Kenneth Boulding Award for his outstanding paper, titled ‘Collective Action Capacity and Civilian Compliance in Civil War: Insights from Nigeria’.
Latest Publications
Buba, Imran and Jana Krause. (2026). Civilian Militia Formation and Protection Against Rebel Violence: Evidence from Nigeria. Political Geography.
Toscano, Leonor. (2026). Women's Institutional Choices and Local Peacebuilding: Insights from Nairobi and Mombasa's Informal Settlements. Peacebuilding.
Krause, Jana, Juan Masullo, Emily Paddon Rhoads and Jennifer Welsh (eds). 2023. Civilian Protective Agency in Violent Settings. Oxford University Press.
Buba, Imrana 2023. Civilian Protection Payment and the Escalation of Violence against Civilians in Northwestern Nigeria. Global Studies Quarterly, 3:2.