SAD has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Center for Ethnic and Conflict Studies (CENTECS) at the University of Port Harcourt , Nigeria. This MOU defines the partnership between the two institutions on behalf of the research project „Recognizing patterns of anomie that set the conditions for the support of and participation in Non-State Armed Groups“ .  

CENTECS is an institute at the University of Port Harcourt that specialises in conflict analysis, peace education and skills development for conflict transformation. The MOU defines the collaboration of the two research partners: it describes the tasks, duties and rights of each partner and sets the project’s milestones. While SAD contributes its experience and knowledge in the field of anomie research, CENTECS adds local knowledge and is responsible for planning and implementing the data collection. This comprises of a qualitative pre-study, a quantitative survey and focus group discussions. CENTECS’ researchers who will be involved in data collection in the field will be trained in September at a collaborative workshop. Finally, the data collected will be analysed and interpreted jointly by SAD and CENTECS.

The project’s objective is to contribute to the early detection of risky social developments and therefore support the development of preventive measures against violent conflicts within a society.