The Final Research-Policy Forum of the REJOWA project on terrorism in West Africa will be held in Pisa, at the headquarters of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna

Thursday, 19 November 2025, at the main campus of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa (Piazza Martiri della Libertà, 33 – Room 3), the Final Research-Policy Forum of the research project “Resilience to the Expansion of Jihadist Organizations in West Africa (REJOWA)” will take place. The project is funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and implemented by the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna.
The event is open to scholars, policymakers, and students of the School, and will also be streamed online, allowing the participation of experts and institutional representatives from various countries.

Following a workshop held in Accra (Ghana), the Forum represents the concluding event of the REJOWA project, which aimed to identify and analyze the factors that have enabled some Gulf of Guinea countries to withstand the pressure of jihadist organizations expanding from the Sahel. Ghana, due to its geographical position and the presence of specific vulnerability factors, served as the main case study.

Thanks to its interdisciplinary approach and its strong focus on the interconnections between security, climate, and development, the REJOWA project is part of the transdisciplinary program “AfricaConnect” of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. The initiative involved collaboration between the School’s DIRPOLIS Institute (Law, Politics and Development) and ISP Institute (Plant Sciences). Through a comparative and interdisciplinary methodology combining qualitative analysis, literature review, interviews and focus groups, and agronomic modelling, the project also explores the links between climate change, food security, and rural youth employment—key factors for understanding the dynamics of violent extremism.

The Final Research-Policy Forum will begin at 9:30 a.m. with participant registration, followed by opening remarks from Professor Luca Raineri (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, DIRPOLIS), Principal Investigator of the project, and an institutional address by Federico Bernardi, representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Subsequently, Professor Stig Jarle Hansen (Norwegian University of Life Sciences) will deliver the keynote lecture, offering a broad reflection on contemporary transformations of jihadism in Africa and outlining the connections between local dynamics and global geopolitical scenarios.

The morning research panel, moderated by Laura Berlingozzi (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, DIRPOLIS), will feature contributions from Marte Belde (University of Ghent), Sampson Kwarkye (Institute for Security Studies West Africa, joining online), and Marina Mastrorillo (Alliance Bioversity & CAT). The discussion will address key topics such as the mobility of jihadist groups from the Sahel to the coast and the impact of climate change on population movements and regional security.

The afternoon session will be dedicated to the presentation of the project’s research findings, with contributions from members of the research team: Ibrahim Mohammed Gadafi (University of Tamale and SSSA–DIRPOLIS), Martha Populin (SSSA–DIRPOLIS), Stefania Sellitti (SSSA–ISP), Leonardo Caproni (SSSA–ISP), Mariachiara Boldrini (SSSA–DIRPOLIS), and Luca Raineri. The three presentations—focused respectively on the Ghana case study, comparative analysis with West African coastal countries, and the role of climate change and agro-climatic services—will illustrate the main empirical and analytical insights emerging from fieldwork conducted in Ghana and neighboring countries.

Finally, Leonardo Caproni (Institute of Plant Sciences, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna) will present two new research initiatives, ESATRE and AQUABEHER, which build on the legacy of the REJOWA project to further investigate the nexus between climate change, security, and community resilience.