Pan-African network for the arts in environmentally sustainable development
Lead Research Organisation:
Institute of Development Studies
Department Name: Research Department
Abstract
This project uses the arts as a way to facilitate communication between citizens and policy actors, on issues of environmentally sustainable development. The project will establish a network of people across Africa to trial this, learn about how it works in different places, and even achieve policy impact in relation to live environmental issues that concern them.
It draws on two previously funded AHRC projects. In our previous projects, we found that various art forms, including song and music, photography, sculpture and plays, can be used to facilitate dialogue between citizens and policy actors. Often, policy actors communicate directives 'down' to citizens, citizens communicate concerns directly 'up' to policy actors, or citizens agitate through art to create public pressure on policy actors. Rarely, co-creation of understanding between these actors may take place.
The project will create a network of people across five countries: Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Ghana and Kenya. We will bring together artists, citizen groups, researchers and policy actors from each country. These network members will organise national level workshops, each one based on a specific theme of concern to environmentally sustainable development. These include: changes to pastoral livelihoods in the contexts of climate change, the role of apiculture, flooding, desertification, and farming in the context of sea level rise. The theme running through these issues is development in the context of climate change. Artists will facilitate an artistic or cultural activity, such as production of a song or photographs, through which citizens and policy actors will share ideas and perspectives on these issues. They will work towards specific policy actions that need to happen. The exact format each workshop will take is decided at national level by the workshop participants before and during the workshop. It will be guided by the work we did in previous projects.
We will share our national level artworks on a group digital space, and have an online dialogue session where all international participants learn about each other's experiences. This will help us all understand what worked in different places and how, and the different roles the arts can play in facilitating communication between citizens and policy. We will actively invite other groups to view our works, attend our online exhibition/ performances, and join our network by sharing their own experiences
This is a truly novel activity, especially in our study contexts, and it has the potential to engender powerful changes. Academic research has begun to consider the role of the arts and humanities in building and understanding climate change scenarios, and the different meanings people ascribe to different environmental futures. But, these approaches are fairly new in the East and West African contexts, and have not been widely applied to other environmental issues or beyond scenario building. The work therefore has potential to make significant changes. It will also be challenging: our former work found that entrenched hierarchies and sectoral silos can prevent transdisciplinary change. This work will show whether these need to be challenged for the arts to make policy impact.
The website hosting our outputs will remain live after the project lifetime. The network will continue to function through it, meaning that this work can go on to develop into other national or international projects, and have enduring impact.
It draws on two previously funded AHRC projects. In our previous projects, we found that various art forms, including song and music, photography, sculpture and plays, can be used to facilitate dialogue between citizens and policy actors. Often, policy actors communicate directives 'down' to citizens, citizens communicate concerns directly 'up' to policy actors, or citizens agitate through art to create public pressure on policy actors. Rarely, co-creation of understanding between these actors may take place.
The project will create a network of people across five countries: Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Ghana and Kenya. We will bring together artists, citizen groups, researchers and policy actors from each country. These network members will organise national level workshops, each one based on a specific theme of concern to environmentally sustainable development. These include: changes to pastoral livelihoods in the contexts of climate change, the role of apiculture, flooding, desertification, and farming in the context of sea level rise. The theme running through these issues is development in the context of climate change. Artists will facilitate an artistic or cultural activity, such as production of a song or photographs, through which citizens and policy actors will share ideas and perspectives on these issues. They will work towards specific policy actions that need to happen. The exact format each workshop will take is decided at national level by the workshop participants before and during the workshop. It will be guided by the work we did in previous projects.
We will share our national level artworks on a group digital space, and have an online dialogue session where all international participants learn about each other's experiences. This will help us all understand what worked in different places and how, and the different roles the arts can play in facilitating communication between citizens and policy. We will actively invite other groups to view our works, attend our online exhibition/ performances, and join our network by sharing their own experiences
This is a truly novel activity, especially in our study contexts, and it has the potential to engender powerful changes. Academic research has begun to consider the role of the arts and humanities in building and understanding climate change scenarios, and the different meanings people ascribe to different environmental futures. But, these approaches are fairly new in the East and West African contexts, and have not been widely applied to other environmental issues or beyond scenario building. The work therefore has potential to make significant changes. It will also be challenging: our former work found that entrenched hierarchies and sectoral silos can prevent transdisciplinary change. This work will show whether these need to be challenged for the arts to make policy impact.
The website hosting our outputs will remain live after the project lifetime. The network will continue to function through it, meaning that this work can go on to develop into other national or international projects, and have enduring impact.
Organisations
- Institute of Development Studies (Lead Research Organisation)
- Research Group in Applied and Theoretical Economics (GREAT) (Collaboration)
- Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) (Collaboration)
- University of Cape Coast (Collaboration)
- The Source Plus (Project Partner)
- Mauritanian Organization for Development (Project Partner)
- GREAT (Project Partner)
| Title | Cultural aspects of milk in Baringo County |
| Description | This painting was created by an artist in reponse to the dialogue that was held during a workshop on milk and honey commercialisation in Baringo. The painting features images associated with the traditional role of milk in livelihoods, such as traditional breeds of cattle, and storage gourds. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | None noted |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/kenya |
| Title | Effects on the poor of sea level rise and coastal pollution in St Louis |
| Description | A pair of paintings with collage underlays, created by 2 groups of amateur artists, facilitated by a professional painter. Amateurs conceived the paintings and positioned the collage pieces on the canvas, then painted over them. The professional tidied up the paintings and conceived the activity. One image shows the inequitable effects of climate change, as sea level rises above the poorer houses to the right of the picture, leaving the buildings on the left hand side untouched - for now. The second painting illustrates the threat of waste across the city located between the sea and the river, with a focus on plastic and metal waste which spills onto the beaches, creating an unsanitary environment within the city of Saint Louis. This painting also displays industries and other infrastructure that produce waste and contribute to pollution and unsanitary conditions. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | The creators of the images developed working realtionships with each other and experienced for the first time how to have dialogue with peers through the creation of art. |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/senegal |
| Title | Ensemble pour un avenir meilleur |
| Description | A songwriter produced the song 'Ensemble pour un avenir meilleur' or 'together for a better tomorrow' based on inspiration from participants in a workshop where they discussed the issues of discrimination against some social groups in Mauritania, and climate change, which disproportionately affects some groups. The song draws on the idea that the Islamic religion is the only thing bringing Mauritanians together. The song is partly in French and partly in Hassaniya. There is a music video comprising a montage of images. The lyrics are: FRENCH: La religion qui nous unit, nous interdit de détériorer l'environnement. Sa protection est un devoir commun. Ensemble, on protège la mer, tous ensemble. Ensemble, luttons contre l'utilisation des sables maritimes. Ensemble, protégeons la littorale, ensemble. Ensemble, luttons contre la déforestation. Ensemble, pour le bien et la sante de tous, unissons-nous ensemble. La Mauritanie, nous l'aimons - Unissons-nous ensemble, soyons la même, dans l'équite et la justice, s'il faut la bâtir. Le changement climatique. La protection de l'environnement. Et la diversité culturelle. Ensemble pour un monde meilleur. ENGLISH TRANSLATION: The religion that unites us forbids us to damage the environment. Its protection is a common duty. Together, we protect the sea, all together. Together, let's fight against the use of maritime sands. Together, let's protect the coast, together. Together, let's fight against deforestation. Together, for the good and the health of all, let's unite together. Mauritania, we love it - Let's unite together, let's be the same, in equity and justice, if it must be built Climate change. Environmental protection. And cultural diversity. Together for a better world. |
| Type Of Art | Composition/Score |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | Some participants realised that art can be used for communication of messages they had hitherto conveyed through verbal discussion. Relationships were developed through the experience of working together. |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/mauritanie |
| Title | Kojolan |
| Description | Workshop participants in Mali produced a poem, 'Kojolan', by each contributing one line. The Bambara word KOJOLAN means dried up or dried up pond. These are the ponds, backwaters, rivers or branches of the various dry rivers that are encountered during the dry season. KOJOLAN Without water, no vegetation, no animals, no life Without water there is no life Water, source of life Water can dry up by nature and by man Let's make the fight against the drying up of water resources a national cause Letting our water sources dry up is putting us in danger Faced with the environment, let us bequeath good behaviour to future generations Water, a miracle cure Waterways, a source of miracles Smart management of our water reserves Let's ensure the survival of our ponds, lakes and backwaters... Water, what a wonder of life Let's worship our waterways, a gift from heaven Stop wasting water Let's all act for a blue world! KOJOLAN Sans eau, pas de végétation, pas d'animaux, pas de vie Sans eau, pas de vie L'eau, source de vie L'eau peut tarir par la nature et par l'homme Faisons de la lutte contre le tarissement des ressources d'eau une cause nationale Laisser tarir nos sources d'eau c'est nous mettre en danger Face à l'environnement, léguons de bons comportements aux générations futures L'eau, remède miracle Les cours d'eau, source de miracle Gérons intelligemment nos réserves d'eau Assurons la survie de nos mares, lacs et marigots L'eau, quelle merveille de la vie Vénérons nos cours d'eau, don du ciel Interdisons-nous de gaspiller l'eau Agissons tous pour un monde bleu ! |
| Type Of Art | Creative Writing |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | Participant developed woring realtionships. They gained the courage to express creative thoughts in a policy workshop, to the extent that they appreciated the value of this novel method. |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/mali |
| Title | Painting on climate change in Mauritania |
| Description | A painter created an image, inspired by discussion between other stakeholders in the workshop about the effects of climate change. It shows a desert landscape where the painter imagines the source of pollution to be factories and power stations, and the effects to be flooding and insalubrious urban surroundings. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | None noted |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/mauritanie |
| Title | Water resource depletion in Mali |
| Description | To create this painting, two professional artists prepared a canvas with a wash background. Then, every participant of the workshop held the paintbrush for a few minutes and drew the image they wanted, from their personal experience. The experiences were all to do with water. These experiences included the joy of feeling the freshness of the rain as a child, concern for water-based life, and uncertainty about the future, symbolized by a question mark. The artists then blended the spaces between the images, to make a composite picture. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | For several participants, this was the first time they had held a brush. Through participation in this activity, they appreciated the role that non-rational notions could play in a discussion about tangible environmental phenomena, and appreciated that the arts could have a role to play in such a discussion. |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/mali |
| Title | We are friends |
| Description | This song was created by a group of pastoralists' representatives, policy and local government actors and farmers' representatives. The song uses five langages, which are supposed by the authors to be the languages of the groups they wish to hear the song, and take on its message of peace between pastoralists and farmers and care for the land they use. The languages are English, Fulfulde, Twi, Hausa and Dagbani. The song and final lyrics were composed and performed by musicians following the workshop where participants gave their opinons on what the song should comprise. All translated to English, the words are Intro Spoken Word (English): One for all, all for one; United we stand, divided we fall One hand washes the other, that life may be better I'm your friend, you're my friend, we are friends, the cow, land and man We are friends, and I'll be your friend, until the end of time (until the end) Let's come together, let's help the nation, because we are one, we are one You are a farmer, and I'm a herdsman; we're not enemies, we're friends, we're not enemies Bush burning is bad, it destroys our farms, and our livestock perish, they perish indeed Hold firm - In unity Hold firm - In belief Hold firm - In peace Hold firm - In love - in excitement Unity unity, unity is crucial my beloved; Know that in unity people are safe Conflict destroys goodness, property and peace; Listen and listen well Unity indeed breeds progress among people Be you Fulani or any other tribe - Let's come together and unite Let us help one another because we are all the same - Be you Fulani or other tribe Let us venture into diverse trades and practice modern ways of herding There shouldn't be fighting between crop farmers and herdsmen; because we are all the same Brothers and sisters let's unite - In patience, let's love one another Let's pursue peaceful coexistence, so that our country will make progress I'm your friend, you're my friend, we are friends, the cow, land and man We are friends, and I'll be your friend, until the end of time This land, we till to grow the crop and herb This land, on it we graze our herd It is man that tills to grow the herb Yet it's man that grazes the herd This man must talk to harmonize Not in any way to jeopardize Peace, we need, that the land may grow Peace, we need, to feed the herd we hold Peace, we need, to reap the seed we sow Peace, we need, to milk the herd we hold Peace! Yes, peace! |
| Type Of Art | Composition/Score |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | Participants were convinced of the ability of arts to play a role in deliberation. Relationships were developed between workshop participants. |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/ghana |
| Description | At academic level, we have compiled examples of how the arts have been used in African contexts to communicate between artists, the civil society realm, and policy actors - this has mostly been in a way that serves to communicate the opinion of one or more groups towards another, or into the public realm, and sometimes provoke social dialogue as a result of this. The use of the arts to intentionally provoke dialogue in a dedicated space is rare. Maybe because of this, the participants in our arts-based co-creative workshops prioritised communication towards the public over dialogue between themselves. This shows that the use of arts for communication will be easier and more successful than the use of arts to provoke dialogue. The use of the arts as a communicative medium and a mode of dialogue work in different ways, and may have slightly different effects. In our meetings, participants had complex verbal discussions, but in the process of making the artworks, simplified these discussions because they were concerned to come to some kind of consensus over the message to convey. The skill of the artist plays an important role in communication, and cannot be replaced by group work. Artists who facilitate this sort of activity need great people management skills, as well as to be respected as professionals. Both policy and citizen actors expressed value-based and emotional opinions in discussions. The artworks reflected these to a small and uneven extent, but did not necessarily convey the emotions of individual creators to the viewing public. The ways dialogue was prompted in the workshops were not immediately obvious, and seemed to be secondary considerations for participants. However, in a context where there are weak relationships and low trust between policy, art and civil society actors, observations about the use of art in dialogue are insightful. The use of arts appeared to create a comradely atmosphere and sense of common purpose, which facilitated working relationships. It also served to partially defuse tensions over fraught issues. These small achievements in bringing disparate groups together through the arts may be very significant in these contexts. The issues participants came together around were quite challenging and contentious, including racism, exclusion from citizenship, land use, peace and conflict, and climate change. There are often long held animosities between groups, and using the arts-based approach within dialogues appears to have hd some ability to create a more convivial environment in which these difficult challenges can still be reflected on, but mediated through a shared experience that helps smooth some of the rougher edges of relationships. At practical level, we have developed a network within which stakeholders have established new relationships, both internationally and between sectors in their countries. a network. The network has a Facebook group and a whattsapp group which is occasionally used to promote activities - whattsapp is more popular than Facebook, partly due to network requirements and ease of access. Artistic and academic outputs have been posted on a website which does not require maintenance and can be easily viewed on a mobile phone. This will be updated as more academic outputs emerge. Network members including ourselves can share project outcomes by sharing the website. Stakeholders have been exposed to an entirely new method for communication and dialogue, which can be used in policy, research or civil society domains. Stakeholder groups were able to share their specific concerns with other stakeholders, including those they has not had contact with before, e.g. flooding in Mauritania, livestock value addition in Kenya. Environmental issues are inextricable from social, political and economic ones in this context. |
| Exploitation Route | The findings about how arts can be used in dialogue, and that they are more likely to be used in communication, will inform the work of citizen groups, and possibly policy actors, who need to mobilise novel means of communication and instigating dialogue and deliberation in the west and east African context. It is more likely that these actors are interested in using the arts for communication than dialogue. The specific method of co-creating an artistic piece can be used by any actor group within the study context, and others outside, to generate relationships between groups who rarely have contect with each other. They will be better equipped to do so if they participated in the workshops. This method appears to have aprticular value for tackling complex, contentious issues such as slavery, climate injustice, resource struggle, and ethnic discord. The network can be used by any member to publicise their activities through Facebook and WhatsApp, and thus generate interest and activity to do with pertinent national and regional issues. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/ |
| Description | Because this was a follow-on award, it is our outcomes as well as findings that have been used. The network was an outcome and it has been used by members to publicise their projects and concerns, and reach a wider audience. For example, videos about specific environmental and political issues have been posted to the Facebook group. Exposure to the method during the workshops was revelatory for research, civil society and policy actors. In all countries except Kenya, there was interest in using these arts-based dialogue methods to facilitate future engagements between diverse stakeholders. It is expected that the arts-based methods will be used more widely after a bespoke publication on the method is shared. We will do more work to encourage and document take-up of the method. The artistic outcomes have been shared on local social media channels and between peers, leading to some degree of raised awareness about specific issues. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Communities and Social Services/Policy,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Policy & public services |
| Description | Raising capacity to implement arts-based dialogue/ deliberation and communication |
| Geographic Reach | Africa |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Title | Co-creative arts-based dialogue |
| Description | This is the novel method we used in the 5 national workshops. Members of different groups convene in workshops with the aim of creating an artwork, as a group. The workshop must be facilitated by an artist or an artist and a researcher/ practitioner. groups agree on a theme or are given a theme by facilitators. The first stage is for participants to see examples. The second stage is discussion of the theme. Participants may be divided into workgroups, with members of each stakeholder group in each workgroup. Within the workgroup, they discuss how they want the artwork to look. The artist will have given them the parameters of what they need to create, e.g. words, images, or ideas. They feed back, as groups or individuals. The final stage involves the artist compiling the contributions of participants into a final work. The degree to which the artist creates the work and the participants create it must be established during the course of the workshop by the artist and facilitator, based on the participants' confidence. The final stage is for the participants to reflect on how far the artwork reflects different views, what it shows, and what they gained or learnt from working with others on the artwork. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Use of this method in Mauritania, Ghana, Mali and Senegal led to deepened understanding between stakeholders who had not formerly worked together, and establishent of working relationships. In Kenya, it led to dialogue between policy and civil society groups who had not formerly engaged extensively or meaningfully with ecah other. A guidance note on how to use this method will be published by IDS, and then it will be available to others. |
| Title | Pan African Network artworks |
| Description | Collection of artworks and documentation produced in the Pan African Network project workshops. To be published in ReShare 5 paintings, 2 songs, 1 poem, 5 drawings, 3 videos. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | tbd when the data is published in ReShare |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/home |
| Description | Pan-African Network for the Arts in Environmentally Sustainable Development |
| Organisation | Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) |
| Country | Ghana |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | The IDS team coordinated the network, and guided in-country partners in relation to how the in-country workshops would be held. IDS publicised events internationally and shared information between the partners on what had been done in each country, on WhatsApp and Facebook. IDS created the website and hosted the project meetings and online exhibition, and signposted all members towards these information sharing spaces. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research project partners organised and publicised the engagement events in which the network members convened and created the project artistic outputs. Network members gave fulsome contributions in those workshops. |
| Impact | This is a transdisciplinary partnership. It has resulted in the artworks pictured on the project website at https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/home, and will result in academic and grey literature publications and blogs. The major outcome is the relationship between the different partners and new awareness of the abilty to use the methods developed in this project to facilitate dialogue on environmental and other issues. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Pan-African Network for the Arts in Environmentally Sustainable Development |
| Organisation | Research Group in Applied and Theoretical Economics (GREAT) |
| Country | Mali |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The IDS team coordinated the network, and guided in-country partners in relation to how the in-country workshops would be held. IDS publicised events internationally and shared information between the partners on what had been done in each country, on WhatsApp and Facebook. IDS created the website and hosted the project meetings and online exhibition, and signposted all members towards these information sharing spaces. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research project partners organised and publicised the engagement events in which the network members convened and created the project artistic outputs. Network members gave fulsome contributions in those workshops. |
| Impact | This is a transdisciplinary partnership. It has resulted in the artworks pictured on the project website at https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/home, and will result in academic and grey literature publications and blogs. The major outcome is the relationship between the different partners and new awareness of the abilty to use the methods developed in this project to facilitate dialogue on environmental and other issues. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Pan-African Network for the Arts in Environmentally Sustainable Development |
| Organisation | University of Cape Coast |
| Country | Ghana |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The IDS team coordinated the network, and guided in-country partners in relation to how the in-country workshops would be held. IDS publicised events internationally and shared information between the partners on what had been done in each country, on WhatsApp and Facebook. IDS created the website and hosted the project meetings and online exhibition, and signposted all members towards these information sharing spaces. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research project partners organised and publicised the engagement events in which the network members convened and created the project artistic outputs. Network members gave fulsome contributions in those workshops. |
| Impact | This is a transdisciplinary partnership. It has resulted in the artworks pictured on the project website at https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/home, and will result in academic and grey literature publications and blogs. The major outcome is the relationship between the different partners and new awareness of the abilty to use the methods developed in this project to facilitate dialogue on environmental and other issues. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Pan-African Network Ghana workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Participants from cattle herder groups, the ministries of agriculture and security, local government, and farmer groups convened with researchers and musicians. The task was to create a song that reflected their opinions on the question of cattle rearing and the environment. Participants had general discussion on the issues of cattle ranching, herding and the environment. They broke into 2 groups to condense their discusions into song lyrics. Ecah group made suggestions. The musicians took these suggestions away and composed a draft song. After hearing the draft, other participants were impressed and made plans for how the song would be further produced. The participants made plans for how the final song would be distributed through social media. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/ghana |
| Description | Pan-African Network Kenya workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Agropastoralists, county-level policy actors, researchers and an artist convened in a workshop. The aim was to use an artistic activity to express opinions about the commercialisation of milk and honey value chains. The artist designed an activity where groups were asked to draw pictures describing the type of packaging they though milk products could be sold in. Some groups drew simple packages, some drew other images they associated with milk, and one drew an image of an imagined value chain. The pictures prompted a discussion about aspirations for the value chain, where some expressed wishes to engage in higher value added processing activities and export trade. Community members performed cultural dances in the workshop. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/kenya |
| Description | Pan-African Network Mali workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Particpants from policy, civil society, arts and research spheres convened to conduct an artistic activity on the theme of water resource depletion. The activity was facilitated by a musician who had produced the song created in the preceding research project 'citizen voice', and by two painters who had participated in the 'citizen voice' workshop. Activities were preceded by general discussion. The participants in the current workshop each contributed a line to a poem expressing thoughts about the water system, and performed it to music. The painters prepared a canvas, onto which each participant drew an image. The painters combined the images. The participants closed the workshop by expressing surprise that the activities had been successfully conducted, and that they had been able to express themselves to peers and reach consensus views through these activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/mali |
| Description | Pan-African Network Mauritania workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Particpants from policy, civil society, arts and research sectors convened in a workshop facilitated by a researcher and a singer-songwriter to write a song on the theme of climate change. The workshop began with general discussion, and then conduct an artistic activity on the theme of water resource depletion. In this workshop, the participants' discussion gave inspiration to the singer-songwriter who then performed the song. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/mauritanie |
| Description | Pan-African Network Senegal workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Participants from government departments, research organisations, civil society groups, and the arts convened in a workshop. The aim was to produce art works on the themes of seas level rise and coastal pollution. Participants who rarely engaged with each other formed 2 groups to cary out this task. The artistic task was preceded by a general discussion about the issues, facilitated by the research lead. The art activity was facilitated by a painter, who designed the activity so that participants would use collage. While the groups worked on their artworks, a musician performed acapella music. Participants expressed surprise at the outcomes they created by the end of the activity. Participants who did not know each other before and had not worked together before developed new relationships. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/senegal |
| Description | Pan-African Network Website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The website hosts all the artistic outputs of the project, grouped by country, and links to all academic and opinion pieces published by the project. It is a google site, so it requires no maintenance, and it is optimised for viewing on a mobile phone, considering that the target audience is African. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://sites.google.com/view/pan-african-art-network1/home |
| Description | Pan-African Network intraproject bilingual meetings |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Two intraproject meetings were held, with bilingual translation in French and English, for participants across all countries to meet each other and develop relationships, and then share and compare experiences of participating in the project workshops. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Pan-African Network public online exhibition webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This online event was held on Zoom and showcased all the artworks that had been made in the course of the PanAfrican network project. Each artwork was presented and each country team spoke on their work. There was opportunity for audience questions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.ids.ac.uk/events/art-environnement-et-activisme-en-afrique/ |