Liberian researcher Dr. Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei has been appointed to the International Research Working Group of the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA- IRWG), the Swiss government agency for peace, security and development. The FBA which is part of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has an overall mandate to support international peace and crisis management operations.
Dr. Nyei was selected along with 74 other scholars and researchers from Afghanistan, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, The Middle East, Iraq, Palestine, Mali, Myanmar, Somalia, Ukraine, Western Balkans and Eastern Europe to the FBA research group for the period 2023-2027.
According to the FBA, Nyei has been appointed to its IRWG to support and contribute to academic and policy research for peacebuilding, security and development, but specifically in the thematic area of ‘right-based governance’ where he is expected to make greater contributions to strengthen governance for peacebuilding and conflict prevention in the world.
Nyei has worked as a researcher and previously held research positions in universities in the United States and the United Kingdom. Between 2021 and 2022 he briefly worked as research consulted at the International Growth Centre of the London School of Economics and Political Science on the project Fragility and Resilience Assessment of Mano River Union Member States (Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone). On this project, he was the principal researcher responsible for the thematic area on ‘Resilient and Inclusive Polity’. From 2019 to 2020 he worked as a researcher at the London Business School (LBS) on the project “The Political Economy of African Development: Ethnicity, Nation, and History”. From 2018 to 2020, he was an Adam Smith Fellow in Political Economy at the Mercatus Center, George Mason University (Virginia, USA). This fellowship focuses on studying three leading schools of thought in political economy: the Austrian, Virginia and Bloomington Schools. In recent years he has advised and consulted for the World Bank, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Folke Bernadotte Academy, and the African Union – African Peer Review Mechanism. He previously worked as a Senior Policy Analyst at the Governance Commission of Liberia, focusing on decentralization and local governance reforms, constitutional reform, security sector and public sector reform.
Dr. Nyei’s selection comes in the aftermath of his enduring advocacy for peace and good governance in Africa and Liberia, in particular.
In addition to academic research, Dr. Nyei, has also been engaged in the practice of stakeholders’ engagement and dialogue for peace in Liberia. He recently organized dialogues among major political stakeholders including the Chairpersons and Secretary Generals of major political parties in Liberia to seek peaceful redress to issues that may arise during the 2023 elections campaign. He told newsmen that his initiative was meant to encourage political parties’ leaders to engage their constituents, provide civic education and emphasize the adherence to electoral laws as enshrined in the Constitution of Liberia for the sake of maintaining peace.
Dr Nyei holds a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies, a prestigious London University. He is currently the Director and Senior Research Fellow at the Ducor Institute for Social and Economic Research – a Liberia-based think tank established by Liberian researchers, policy practitioners, and activists to conduct research and policy analysis to inform public policy, and train professionals in the field of social research and policy analysis.
