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Welcome!

The Sahel Research Group at the University of Florida is a collaborative interdisciplinary effort to understand the political, social, religious, economic, environmental and cultural dynamics of the countries of the West African Sahel. Our focus is primarily on the six Francophone countries of the region—Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad. We are also interested in developments in neighboring countries, to the north and south, whose dynamics frequently intersect with those of the Sahel. In addition to presenting information on our work and activities, we hope that this website will serve as a resource for scholars, students and policy makers interested in the Sahel. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram or subscribe to our Weekly News Brief

 


Mark your calendar! Gwendolyn M. Carter Conference 2024


Join the UF Center for African Studies on March 21-22 for the Carter Conference
Day one: 9:00am-5:00pm, Reitz Union, room 3315. Day two: 8:45am-5:00pm, Farrior Hall, room 2000.
The Sahel Research Group will hold a roundtable on Collaborative Research in Conflict Affected Areas . Carter Conference program


Congratulations

Congratulations to our colleague Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim, who has been promoted to Deputy Director of the Sahel Project of the International Crisis Group


Recent Activities


2nd Annual SRG/International Crisis Group Symposium on the Sahel
The second ICG/SRG annual symposium took place on 17 April,  bringing together a number of scholars and practitioners in the policy community working on diverse aspects of the contemporary Sahel to present new research and exchange perspectives on the trajectory of the past decade and on prospects for the future.

Poster Program

Read more about the event here.



Just published! Urbanization has not led to an increase in urban violence in North and West Africa. Quite the opposite. A new OECD report published today shows that political violence is becoming more rural on both sides of the Sahara. The expansion of Jihadist insurgencies explains this ruralization of conflict that affects a growing number of civilians and border regions.

 



New OECD grantThe Sahel Research Group was  awarded a new OECD grant to study the changing geography of conflict in North and West Africa. The grant expands previous efforts by the OECD Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC) and the University of Florida Sahel Research Group to analyze conflict dynamics in the region Read more…

 



The Sahel Research Group has been awarded a $1.6 million grant to study the impact of climate change in West Africa.
Entitled “Social & institutional determinants of vulnerability & resilience to climate hazards in the Sahel”, this project was one of 17 grants selected from 220 applications by the Minerva Research Initiative. The project is led by Professor Leonardo A. Villalón (PI), Dr. Sarah McKune and Dr. Renata Serra (Co-PIs). Read more here.

 


The Sahelian countries

Move over a country to see its population, capital and area.

TSEP countries

Senegal SENEGAL Population: 14.3 Million Capital: Dakar
Land Area: 196,722 sq km

Mauritania MAURITANIA Population: 3.6 Million Capital: Nouakchott Land Area: 1,030,700 sq km

Mali MALI Population: 17.5 MillionCapital: Bamako
Land Area: 1,240,192 sq km

Burkina Faso BURKINA FASO Population: 19.5 Million Capital: Ouagadougou
Land Area: 273,800 sq km

Niger NIGER Population: 18.6 Million Capital: Niamey Land Area: 1,267,000 sq km

Chad Chad CHAD Population: 11.9 Million Capital: Ndjamena Land Area: 1,284,000 sq km