The Horn Center for Democracy (HCD) joined policymakers, civil society representatives, faith leaders, governance experts and other stakeholders for a policy dialogue on “Building Peace through Democracy: Strengthening Governance for a Resilient Africa,” held in Addis Ababa on 22 September 2026. The dialogue was jointly convened by the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Ethiopia/African Union…
Towards Democratic Hybridity in the Horn of Africa This piece is published under the platform of HCD’s Horn Policy Reference Group, established to catalyze policy conversation on pertinent regional issues by renowned experts from the HoA. Horn’s Democratic Landscape The Horn of Africa has remained one of the most turbulent and contested democratic landscapes. State collapse in Somalia, protracted authoritarian…
The Horn Center for Democracy/HCD, through its Transitional Justice Consortia Ethiopia/TJC-E, has received a grant from GIZ’s Building Inclusive Institutions for Resilience, Reconciliation, and Reforms Program to implement the project “Making the Ethiopian Transitional Justice Process Accountable through Active Engagement of Oversight Actors”. This project will be implemented in partnership with CECSOP and PAPDA, and HCD will focus on contributing…
The Role of Civil Political Actors in Shaping the Outcome of the War and Charting the Post War Democratization in Sudan After three years of devastating conflict, Sudan stands at a critical crossroads. The nation faces the grave risk of descending into a stalemate in conflict. Yet it could follow the trajectories of countries such as Mozambique, El Salvador, Liberia,…
Reimaging Democracy: Beyond Winners and Losers This piece is published under the platform of HCD’s Horn Policy Reference Group, established to catalyze policy conversation on pertinent regional issues by renowned experts from the HoA. Legitimate government is arguably an enduring public aspiration. Democracy has come to represent the quintessential, if not the sole, source of legitimate governance. Indeed, even countries…
On July 3, 2026, the Horn Center for Democracy (HCD) Executive Director Frew Demeke and Program and Partnerships Director Yemisrach Kebede met with the African Union Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), H.E. Ambassador Liberata Mulamula, to explore areas of collaboration in advancing the WPS agenda across Africa.During the meeting, H.E. Ambassador Mulamula highlighted the mandate of her…
The Horn of Africa and the US-Israel-Iran War: An Opportunity for a Strategic Reset? This piece is published under the platform of HCD’s Horn Policy Reference Group, established to catalyze policy conversation on pertinent regional issues by renowned experts from the HoA. The war between the Islamic Republic of Iran, the US, and Israel has produced significant impacts on the…
Sudan’s War as a Turning Point: The Decline of Military Power and the Reordering of State–Society Relations The military, specifically the Sudan Armed Forces, has long functioned as a central political institution in Sudan, viewing itself as the guardian of the state and consequently intervening repeatedly in governance, most notably through recurrent coups. Acting independently, and at times in coordination…
On April 29, 2026, with both virtual and in-person participation, HCD launched the Horn Policy Reference Group, a pool of regional experts convened to deliberate on pressing situational and structural issues affecting the Horn of Africa. The group is tasked with researching and deliberating on these issues and producing actionable policy outputs, which will be disseminated through HCD’s blog Horn…
As part of its ongoing project to promote women’s participation in mediation processes in the Horn of Africa, HCD, in partnership with the Agency for Peacebuilding (AP) and the Muslim Women Advancement of Rights and Protection (MWARP), hosted the third webinar in its series titled “Women at the Peace Table: Regional Learning, Solidarity, and Advocacy in the Horn of Africa.”…
