Angela Muvumba-Sellström (Uppsala University/Nordic Africa Institute), Sithembile Mbete (University of Pretoria), and Louise Olsson (PRIO) have received funding for a project to deepen the understanding of African countries' efforts on making the UN Security Council more inclusive and responsive to women's participation and security.

While previous research has tended to treat the Council as a unitary actor, this qualitative project analyses and compares the strategies and actions of a select number of elected states. Thereby, the project strives to capture dynamics related to economic development, contributions to peacekeeping, and roles in regional conflicts and their solution. The project places a particular emphasis on collaborations between younger researchers from the African continent and on public dissemination and dialogue. The project is funded by the Swedish Research Council and is part of a broader PRIO-Uppsala University/NAI effort to expand our knowledge of the UN Security Council at a time of drastic changes in the geopolitical landscape, including an ongoing project on Sweden's strategy and efforts in the Council (2017-2018) funded by the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Folke Bernadotte Academy, Sweden.