CERTIZENS Public Launch

The Centre of African Studies at the University of Copenhagen, the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon, and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Makerere University warmly invite you to an online Public Launch of the CERTIZENS Research Project, on Friday 5 March 2021, from 11.00 – 12.30 Central European Time (CET).  

About CERTIZENS:

CERTIZENS is an innovative, interdisciplinary and multi-sited collaborative research project focused on the logics, policies and practices of regimes of citizen certification across different African contexts, including the production and circulation of identity documents (IDs), and their effects both on different spheres of state making and differentiated citizen making (or unmaking).  The project investigates these phenomena simultaneously in Ghana and Uganda, facilitating valuable comparative analysis. 

In a global context in which the World Bank estimates one billion people are living without proof of identity – 50% of whom are on the African continent – the urgency to expand inclusive and meaningful identification and certification beyond the current limits is well recognised yet not yet widely implemented.  CERTIZENS will generate both original theoretical, methodological and empirical knowledge across the multiple domains of certification, and offer inputs into related policy and practice both within and well beyond Africa.

The event is open to anyone interested in and/or working within related academic, policy and practical fields of citizen identification and certification.

Please sign up for the event by noon Thursday 4 March. 

Launch programme:

11.00–11.20  Welcome and overview of CERTIZENS Amanda Hammar                                                                                 

11.20–11.30  Outline of CERTIZENS Ghana Kojo Opoku Aidoo                                                                                                                  

11.30–11.35  Institutional fit with the University of Ghana Kojo Amanor (tbc)                                                                                        

11.35–11.45  Outline of CERTIZENS Uganda Godfrey Asiimwe                                                                                                                 

11.45–11.50  Institutional fit with Makerere University Josephine Ahikire                                                                                               

11.50–12.10  Reflecting on IDs, Certification and CERTIZENS in Africa Bronwen Manby  

12.10–12.25  Q&A

12.25–12.30  Closing

Presenters:

Amanda Hammar – CERTIZENS Project Leader, Associate Professor at the Centre of African Studies, University of Copenhagen

Kojo Opoku Aidoo – CERTIZENS Ghana Project Coordinator, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon  

Kojo Amanor – Professor of Anthropology at the Institute of African Studies of the University of Ghana, Legon   

Godfrey Asiimwe – CERTIZENS Uganda Project Coordinator, Associate Professor at the Department of Development Studies, Makerere University

Jospehine Ahikire – Principal of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS), Makerere University

Bronwen Manby –Senior Policy Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and independent consultant in human rights, democracy and good governance

For more information about CERTIZENS, please visit: https://teol.ku.dk/english/dept/certizens-certifications-of-citizenship-in-africa/ Or contact Amanda Hammar at aha@teol.ku.dk