This article from Global Africa Sciences analyzes the legal challenges of Africa’s digital economy. It highlights the transformative impact of digital technologies and emphasizes the need for coherent legal and regulatory frameworks. Key challenges include data governance, cybersecurity, payment system interoperability, and user rights protection. Despite frameworks like the Malabo Convention and African Union digital strategies, implementation remains slow due to fragmented jurisdictions and limited enforcement capacity. The article advocates for a “third way” of regulation that combines legal rigor (hard power) with flexible experimentation (soft power), including the use of regulatory sandboxes. This hybrid approach aims to develop a sustainable, inclusive, and sovereign African digital economy aligned with local needs and global standards.

Governance, Economic Development, Numérique, Cybersecurity

This article explores the role of Mbororo women in climate change adaptation in Cameroon’s North-West region. Despite their marginalization due to patriarchal traditions, these indigenous women have developed resilient agro-pastoral strategies such as small-scale livestock farming, dairy production, pasture cultivation, and income diversification. Using an ecofeminist framework, the study shows that women possess ecological knowledge systems passed across generations, including weather prediction and traditional veterinary practices. While facing barriers such as discrimination, limited access to land, education, and credit, their contribution to sustainable livelihoods is substantial. The author calls for greater recognition of indigenous knowledge and enhanced inclusion of women in climate adaptation policies.

Pastoralism, Women, Discrimination

The article “Revisiting an Aporia: The Effectiveness of the Legal Framework Against Violence Toward Women in Burkina Faso”, written by Paliguewinde Martin Sawadogo, Doctor in Public Law and Postdoctoral Researcher at Université Laval (Canada), examines the strengths and limitations of Burkina Faso’s legal system in combating violence against women (VAW). Using an empirical and positivist approach, the author highlights that while legislative and institutional progress has been made, several shortcomings persist: the lack of legal definitions for some forms of violence, weak sanctions, and underfunded mechanisms. He suggests a more integrated strategy that includes traditional and religious authorities as key players in social transformation. Their involvement could enhance the effectiveness of legal measures and promote broader societal change. The article ultimately calls for bridging formal law with cultural and local leadership to address VAW more comprehensively.

Women, Violence, Customs, Law

This study aims to understand the vulnerability of livestock farming in the urban commune of Filingué, Niger, to environmental changes. A total of 240 household heads were surveyed across eight selected villages. Findings reveal that pastoralists perceive climate change through increased temperatures (24% of respondents), prolonged droughts (58%), and more frequent violent winds (18%). These factors negatively impact pastoral activities, making livestock farming highly vulnerable. Adaptation strategies include transhumance (25%), purchasing livestock feed (22%), destocking animals (15%), and forage storage (15%). During critical periods, 23% of pastoralists use a mixture of bran and millet glumes or cardboard to feed their livestock. These indigenous strategies require support to enhance their effectiveness.

Pastoralism, Climate change, Vulnerability

In contexts of insecurity, qualitative research requires constant "adaptations," encapsulated by the phrase "the field dictates." This article explores ethnographic approaches that diverge from traditional methods, drawing on collaborative research conducted in Niger's Liptako-Gourma region—a transborder area between Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, and the epicenter of insecurity since 2015. Inspired by Michel de Certeau's concept of "tactics," the author employs "adaptation" to analyze practices in qualitative research under insecure conditions. Ethnographic constraints are viewed not as insurmountable obstacles but as opportunities to develop new methods while maintaining scientific rigor. These adaptations involve variations in usage and room for maneuver, influenced by the specific relationships between the researcher and the subject of study. The analysis of "ways of doing" encompasses both practical and ethical dimensions, as conducting research in insecure contexts leads to sensitive responses laden with emotions, discomfort, and empathy, which in turn influence knowledge production.

Knowlege production, Insécurité, Ethnography, Qualitative research

The article "Maintaining Patriarchal Order through Silencing: Literary Territories of Female Subordination in Cameroon" by Nadine Machikou examines the controversy triggered by the debut novel of Marzouka Oummou Hani, a high school student from northern Cameroon. Her fictional narrative addresses patriarchal violence in a setting modeled on the real village of Idool. The backlash, including a lawsuit and state mediation, unveils the institutional mechanisms used to silence women’s voices. While the novel is defended as fiction, authorities push for a revision and public apology, reinforcing patriarchal control over female expression. Based on both ethnographic research and literary analysis, the article highlights how literature becomes a site of feminist resistance, where themes of gender, age, religion, and class intersect. It also sheds light on the symbolic and political forces that shape who is allowed to speak, write, and define social reality in contemporary Cameroonian society.

Governance, Women, Discrimination

The article titled "Rural Women Marginalization in Niger Republic: Women's Access to Agricultural Water Use," authored by Mahaman Tidjani Alou, Illiassou Mossi Maïga, and Aminatou Daouda Hainikoye, was published in the journal Les Cahiers d’Outre-Mer in April 2015. It examines gender inequalities in access to irrigated perimeters in Niger, revealing that rice cultivation is predominantly a male activity. The few women involved are often unsupported, divorced, or widowed, with several children to care for. Discriminatory criteria, such as the status of head of household, have been used to exclude them from the allocation of developed plots. Furthermore, the arduous nature of rice cultivation is cited to justify their marginalization, thereby depriving them of the benefits of this activity.

Agriculture, Gender, Women, Discrimination

The article "Performing (In)securities in West Africa: Territorial meshing and local participation in cross-border security" by Charline Kopf, published on December 19, 2023, by Presses universitaires de Louvain in the journal Anthropologie & développement, analyzes the International Organization for Migration's (IOM) border community engagement program in Senegal's border regions. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2019, the article examines various initiatives aimed at enhancing cooperation between security forces and local communities, such as awareness-raising theater performances, comics, and a crisis simulation exercise. These "territorial meshing" practices promote a border control culture that shifts security responsibility to citizens. However, the author highlights that the emphasis on "local communities" participation contrasts with the global standardization of spaces and temporal logics of prevention and preparedness, creating tension between envisioned scenarios and their actual unfolding, thus opening space for criticism and questioning

Governance, Migration, Boundary, Security

The article titled “Defending the Village and Fighting for the Land: Armed Mobilization of Self-Defense Groups and Agricultural Labor in the Dogon Country, Central Mali” by Ibrahima Poudiougou, published in 2024 in the Revue internationale des études du développement, examines how armed self-defense groups affect rural communities in central Mali. Focusing on the June 8, 2022 attack on Makou village—where 350 jihadists displaced 422 households—the author explores how the rise of militias like Dan Nan Ambassagou has normalized violence and reshaped local sociopolitical dynamics. The article highlights the dual identity of these fighters, who are both peasants and combatants, managing agricultural work alongside armed resistance. It also delves into kinship-based solidarities and local agreements, which structure resistance and power relations in the Dogon region. The study offers insights into the complex intersection of security, rural livelihoods, and community resilience in conflict settings.

Governance, Agriculture, Security, Violence, Groupes armés non étatiques, Selfdefense