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During the past two decades, the United Nations Women, Peace and Security Agenda has expanded considerably to cover a wide range of themes and actors. Despite its global diffusion, it has been criticised for its slow implementation and is claimed by some to be mere rhetoric. In line with results-based management, indicators have become key tools in securing monitoring and evaluation of the agenda. This article provides new insights about the concrete use of indicators and responds to the following research questions: How does the use of indicators correspond to the goal of providing monitoring and evaluation data? How can we explain the occurrence of means-ends decoupling? The article examines the country-level use of indicators in Nigeria. The data is collected as part of an indicator ethnography conducted in Nigeria during the spring of 2020. Indicator culture has spread widely, creating an illusion of rationality and effectiveness. Resources, time and money are allocated to operationalization, without questioning the indicator logic itself. The Nigerian case reflects symbolic implementation, where actors maintain well-developed indicator frameworks and monitoring committees without evidence about its actual utility. Over the past four years, not a single monitoring report has been produced. The absence of reporting can be explained through capacity and resource challenges, but also as local actors counteract externally set norms and forms of numerical rationality. Theoretically, the article is based on sociological new-institutionalism and builds on previous feminist peace research. ; Peer reviewed

Abstract
This study addresses the issue of how religious authority is negotiated and redefined in the age of digital media, focusing on the case of Raja Zia ul Haq, a Pakistani Muslim cleric. Utilizing Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis, the study posits that Zia ul Haq's strategic semiotic choices in attire and symbolism serve as calculated maneuvers to navigate complex dialogues of power, identity, and cultural capital. The findings reveal that his appropriation of biker club symbolism disrupts traditional paradigms of Islamic clerical authority in Pakistan. These choices resonate with a younger, digitally savvy audience and function as a form of religious rebranding. The study argues that Zia ul Haq's semiotic choices challenge monolithic interpretations of Islamic authority, thereby opening new avenues for religious engagement and interpretation. The significance of this work lies in its transnational implications, offering a counter-narrative that challenges prevailing stereotypes about Islamic scholars and suggests new paradigms for understanding religious authority in a globalized world.

This working paper provides a background to the rebuilding of the educational sector in Somaliland, which had been completely destroyed during the civil war, developed again from very modest beginnings in the early 1990s, and includes manifold offers up to tertiary education a decade later. Arguably, the educational boom in the country is part of the second phase of peacebuilding, which began around 1997 and still continues. It involves extensive diasporic investments in the form of economic and social remittances. The case-study section in the second half of the paper presents two universities founded by diaspora and local actors. These universities are located in quite different regions of Somaliland. Jamacadda Geeska (International Horn University) in Hargeysa, the capital of Somaliland, is embedded in an economically striving and peaceful environment. Jamacadda Nugaal (Nugaal University) in Laascaanood is located in a politically contested and economically underdeveloped area.1 The differently located case studies have been chosen to outline a more nuanced picture of the relation between diasporic engagement in the educational – particularly the tertiary – sector and sustainable peace. The different conditions in the two places help to understand in how far 'external factors', such as politics of recognition (on the side of Somaliland) and long-distance-nationalism, influence this relation. The study concludes that, on the one hand, diasporic engagement in education up to the tertiary sector has a peacebuilding effect in so far as it provides opportunities for a peaceful and potentially prosperous future for many youngsters and facilitates the transnational exchange of ideas and visions related to social development and tolerance. On the other hand, however, follow-up prospects for most graduates are currently missing. The structural transformation from a war-torn to a peaceful society in Somaliland, to which the re-building of the educational sector can contribute, is endangered by unemployment, poverty, and a lack of government planning.

Introduction: Since 1991 the people of Somaliland have successfully established a peaceful and relatively stable state and community. They have managed a process of reconciliation, demobilized the local militias, restored law and order, and held three rounds of peaceful elections. Much of the urban infrastructure and basic social services destroyed during the war (1988-1991) have been re-established. Peace and stability allowed normal patterns of trade and other economic activities to resume, and thousands of refugees came back from neighbouring countries. However, despite being the most stable polity within the territory of the former Somali Republic, Somaliland has not been recognized internationally as a state, and thus it has not received the kind of international support given to many other post-conflict countries. In the early 1990s few international organizations were willing to support internal reconciliation, establish security through disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, or promote democratization and development. Instead, peace building has been achieved by Somalis themselves, supported in part by the Somaliland diaspora,1 which has sent remittances, undertaken business and social investment, and helped to re-establish or rehabilitate basic services. [Continues]

Digital transformation in health and social care is a fast-growing sector globally. Multidisciplinary professionals are needed in the development of digital health and social care services. This study aimed to evaluate the self-assessments of students participating in specialisation education on the importance of multidisciplinary digital competences, focusing on competence in the digitalisation of social and health care and how they assess their own competences at the beginning of their education. The purpose was to describe the multidisciplinary competences in this area at EQF level 6 by using a self-assessment tool.
Data were collected from 274 specialised education students in the years 2021 and 2022 from 14 universities of applied sciences. The background information included participants' years of work experience, professional education area and study credits. There were nine competence areas. The survey contains 61 Likert scale questions. Cronbach's alpha was 0.962 (N=126). The paired t-test was used for statistical analyses to determine the relationship between the importance of a competence and students' current levels of competence. For each pair, the arithmetic mean for the how important variable was higher than the current competence variable. The average means of all competences' differences was 1.04 between how important the competence was to the students and their current understanding of their own level of the particular competence. Service design competences have both the highest average level of student competence and variance in competence. The second-largest variance was in online guiding competences, which is one of the clearest competences for students to understand the content. These results may be explained by expert bias, where a person with a lot of knowledge rates their own level of knowledge lower, while a person with less knowledge does the opposite. The gap between current competence level and the assessed importance of the particular competence shows that there is a need for specialisation education in multidisciplinary competences for developing digital health and social care services. The overall result is a self-assessment tool that can be used to assess the level of competences in different competence areas in specialisation education. It is important for health and social care organisations to manage the competences and continuing education of their professionals.

Introduction: This working paper examines the impact of the Ethiopian Muslims in the diaspora on socio-political processes in the homeland, with a special focus on their activities that have a bearing on peace-building. Within the DIASPEACE the research project falls within Working Package 3 (WP3) that focuses on the economic, social and political remittances of the diaspora from the Horn of Africa in Europe to their respective homelands. Ethiopia has one of the largest diaspora populations in the world. The exact number of the Ethiopian diaspora is not yet known, but it is widely believed that over half a million Ethiopians live in North America and Europe (Lyons 2006). The Ethiopian diaspora remittance in 2010 was estimated at 387 million USD (World Bank 2010). The push factor for many of the Ethiopian diaspora was the violent political conflicts of the 1970s, when the military socialist government (Derg) ruthlessly suppressed political organizations that called for political change. Squeezed out of the homeland political space, the Ethiopians in the diaspora had contested the totalitarian state from afar. Apart from the economic remittances - crucial in sustaining families during the economic deprivations under the strenuous planned socialist economy - the diaspora actively funded rebel groups at home. The Tigrean People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the dominant political organization within the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), had a strong diaspora backing during its armed struggle against the Derg in the 1980s. [Continues]

This study presents a comparative work on engagement dynamics occurring between the Somali diaspora1 and authorities in two countries of settlement, namely Italy and Finland. The analysis focuses on cooperation dynamics, on the one hand looking at how 'external actors' (governmental and non governmental)2 attempt to engage diaspora in development and peacebuilding in Somalia, and on the other hand how the diaspora3 attempts to get support from external actors for their efforts in development and peacebuilding in the country of origin4 The cross country comparison between Somali diaspora engagement strategies in Italy and Finland responds to the following three research questions: . 1. Which actors and opportunities can be identified in diasporas' engagement dynamics in Italy and Finland? 2. Have different opportunities in the countries of settlement shaped diasporas' engagement towards the country of origin and if so, how? 3. Have similar dynamics, partnerships and strategies been observed in these two settlement countries? [continues]

The integration of separate service systems, digitalisation, demographic changes, and staff shortages has increased the need for systematic and flexible skills development in social and health care services. In today's working life, learning and development take place in ecosystems. This study aimed to evaluate and identify differences between students' self-assessed competences and their beliefs about the importance of competence areas before and after professional specialisation education (PSE). The research questions were: 1) Was there any difference in students' self-evaluated level of multidisciplinary competences before and after professional specialisation education? 2) Based on students' self-evaluations, was there any difference between the multidisciplinary competences they considered important before and after professional specialisation education?
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) test and paired t-tests were used to examine the differences in the subjects' spontaneous responses about whether they had experienced a change in their competences after undertaking specialisation education. In the initial survey (N = 274), the student respondent group was 180, and the total number of student pairs was 65. The initial and final measurements of the 65 students who responded to the follow-up survey were therefore comparable. Four-point Likert scales were used in the questionnaires. The modified questionnaire was designed so that students answered each of the competences at two levels from their own perspectives.
First, they described how important the acquisition of the skills described in this sentence would be for their own professional competence. Then, they assessed their current level of competence in relation to the sentence in question. There were no statistical differences (p>0.05) between measurements taken before and after education in most of the qualification statements describing importance. There were statistical differences (p<0.05) between the initial (before education) and post-training measurements (after education) for all statements describing self-assessment competences. According to this study, even micro-credentials promoted learning. In learning, ecosystem and perceived importance support the level of digital maturity of organisations.

Tutkimukseni tavoitteena on tarkastella eteläsudanilaisten kansalaisjärjestötoimijoiden näkemyksiä rauhasta itsenäistymisen jälkeisessä Etelä-Sudanissa. Tutkimuksen tehtävänä on selvittää, kuinka "conflict transformation" ajattelu on vaikuttanut paikallisten rauhan narratiivien muodostumiseen ja tämän analyysin kautta pohtia paikallisen ja kansainvälisten toimijoiden suhdetta Etelä-Sudanin rauhanrakentamisessa. Aineistona tutkimuksessa toimii Crisis Management Initiativen (CMI) keräämä haastatteluaineisto eteläsudanilaisten nuorisojärjestötoimijoiden parissa. Kriittisen narratiivisen analyysin kautta tutkimus pyrkii tuomaan esiin paikallisten näkemysten ja kansainvälisten rauhanrakennusdiskurssien välistä suhdetta ja siihen sisältyviä valtarakenteita. Tutkimus osallistuu kriittisen rauhantutkimuksen keskeisiin keskusteluihin ja avaa näkemyksiä myös Etelä-Sudanin tämän hetkisen sisällissodan taustoihin. Analyysissa haastatteluja jäsenneltiin rauhan narratiivien kautta. Haastattelujen esiin nostamat narratiivit tuovat esiin vahvan paikallisen toimijuuden haastateltavien keskuudessa ja narratiivit myötäilevät monin paikoin "conflict transformation" ajattelun keskeisiä painopisteitä, kuten ajatusta positiivisesta rauhasta ja pitkäjänteisestä työstä. Narratiivit poikkesivat kuitenkin paikoin "conflict transformation" ajattelun näkemyksistä ja eteläsudanilaisten toimijoiden näkemykset tuntuvat nostavan esiin laajempia vaikutteita kehitysyhteistyön keskeisistä diskursseista. Nämä vaikutteet linjaavat kansalaisjärjestöjen käsitystä omasta toimijuudestaan kohti maltillisempia järjestötoiminnan muotoja kohtaan. Jättäen "conflict transformation" ajatteluun kuuluvan ajatuksen (väkivallattomasta) konfliktista ja rakentavasta kriittisyydestä muutoksen mahdollistajana marginaaliseen asemaan. Samanaikaisesti narratiivit linjaavat nuorisotoimijoiden intressit pääasiallisesti omien yhteisöjensä toimintaan kansallisen tason sijaan. Tutkielma tuloksista voidaan päätellä, että itsenäisyyden ensi askeleet Etelä-Sudanissa toteutuivat vielä varsin epävarmassa ja räjähdysalttiissa ilmapiirissä. Pitkän väkivallan historian arvet olivat vielä tuoreena narratiiveissa ja kenties juuri tästä syystä kansalaisjärjestöjen rooliksi identifioitiin yhteisöjen hyvinvoinnin tukeminen ja rauhallisten suhteiden luominen. Narratiivit nostivat myös esiin nuoriso toimijoiden oman toimijuuden ja yritykset oman asiantuntijuuden vahvistamisesta. Nämä osoittavat vahvaa paikallista aloitteellisuutta, joka voi tulevaisuudessa tukea "conflict transformation" ajattelun mukaista kehityskulkua kohti toimivaa ja tasa-arvoista yhteiskuntaa, jossa kansalaisjärjestöillä on myös kriittinen rooli kansallisen poliittisen tason haastajana. ; This research seeks to analyse the informal processes of peace in post-independence South Sudan. Through using conflict transformation and the local turn in peacebuilding as theoretical frameworks, this research seeks to engage with the local narratives of peace. Furthermore, it seeks to investigate the relationship between local agency and international involvement in building sustainable peace processes. With interview data collected from South Sudanese youth activists by Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) in cooperation with local partners, this research hopes to contribute both to the emerging literature on critical peace studies and to the understanding of contemporary conflict dynamics in South Sudan. In the analysis, the empirical data was conceptualised through narratives of peace. These narratives of peace bring forth a strong local agency and are in line with many of the central ideas of conflict transformation. These ideas include the idea of positive peace (in opposition to peace as absence of violence) and the understanding of the long time-span of the work. These narratives seem to also parallel some other central discourses of international development, which posit the civil society in a moderate form of associational cooperation. As a result, the narratives depart from conflict transformation precicely in terms of the transformation. South Sudanese youth civil society actors do not acknowledge the central idea of (non-violent) conflict and constructive criticism as enablers of societal development. Simultaneously the narratives line the local agency mainly in terms of local communities creating an image of a civil society vacuum in the national scope. Based on the findings, it can be argued that the first months of independence in South Sudan witnessed an unstable and volatile society. The long history of violence and insecurity was still strongly embedded in the narratives and this led the interviewees to identify their role as bringers of peace and negotiators of more peaceful relationships between different groups in their communities. The narratives also highlighted the strong agency of the local youth as well as their attempts to improve their own expertise. If supported, this agency could support future attempts at conflict transformation towards a sustainable and peaceful society, where civil society functions also as a critical actor challenging national public debate and politics.

Euroopan valtiot ja niiden rajat muuttuivat perusteellisesti noin 90 vuotta sitten ensimmäisen maailmansodan jälkeen. Keski-Euroopassa Habsburg-suvun hallitseman Itävalta-Unkarin kaksoismonarkian hajottua Itävalta ja Unkari oli määriteltävä uudelleen. Mari Vareksen väitöskirja käsittelee Itävallan ja Unkarin välisestä rajasta vuosina 1918-1923 käytyä kiistaa, jota on kutsuttu sekä Länsi-Unkarin että Burgenlandin kysymykseksi. Enemmistö länsiunkarilaisista oli saksankielisiä, mutta historiallisesti alue oli osa Unkaria.Vares selvitti sekä Itävallan ja Unkarin että läntisten suurvaltojen motiiveja ja argumentteja Länsi-Unkarin kysymyksessä. Vares kysyi, miten kansallinen politiikka kohtasi kansainvälisen yhteisön intressit ja miten kansainvälisen politiikan eri suunnat, voima- ja reaalipolitiikka vastaparinaan kansallista itsemääräämisoikeutta ja demokratiaa korostanut idealismi asettuivat vastakkain.Keskeinen havainto tutkimuksessa oli se, että uusi rajalinja oli perusteltavissa sekä idealismilla että reaalipolitiikalla. Vares osoitti myös, että ensimmäisen maailmansodan häviäjät Itävalta ja Unkari pystyivät vaikuttamaan voittajavaltojen päätöksiin. Huolimatta erilaisista lähtökohdista ja motiiveista eri politiikat reagoivat toisiinsa. Itävallan ja Unkarin välinen uusi raja syntyi näin politiikan suuntien ja ideologioiden kohtaamisena. Yhdistävä tavoite oli elinkelpoisten, kansainväliselle yhteisölle turvallisten valtioiden luominen. - Kyse ei ollut vain kompromisseista vaan myös siitä, että eri poliittisissa linjoissa oli itse asiassa piirteitä toisistaan. Olennaisinta oli argumenttien linkittyminen toisiinsa: syiden ja motiivien ketju, joilla rajamuutosta selitettiin. Näin keskeinen kansan käsite, joka viittasi paitsi etniseen ja kielelliseen kansaan myös kansanvaltaan ja historialliseen valtiokansalaisuuteen, linkittyi reaalipoliittisiin, taloudellisiin ja maantieteellisiin argumentteihin, Vares selvittää.Kansallisen ja kansainvälisen vuorovaikutuksen havaitseminen antaa mahdollisuuden irtautua kansallisen uhon tai vääryyksien kokemisen historiasta. Länsi-Unkarin kysymys voidaankin nähdä osana Euroopan valtiollisen ja yhteisöllisen rakentamisen historiaa eikä vain Itävallan ja Unkarin kansallisena voittona tai tappiona. Itävallassa on ollut hallitsevaa länsiunkarilaisista alueista perustetun Burgenlandin maakunnan kirjoittaminen osaksi itävaltalaista historiaa, kun taas unkarilaisesta perspektiivistä kyse on ollut Sopronin kaupungin säilymisestä kansanäänestyksen perusteella osana Unkaria – mikä onkin ollut kiinnostava poikkeus unkarilaiseen Trianonin "häpeärauhan" historiaan.Länsi-Unkarin kysymyksen kautta voi tarkastella myös kansainvälisen politiikan käytäntöjä ja esimerkiksi amerikkalaisen ulkopolitiikan julkisuuskuvaa, joka on kiinnostava verrattuna Yhdysvaltain nykyimagoon voimapolitiikan ykköslinnakkeena ja "demokratian lähettiläänä". Länsi-Unkarin kysymyksessä Yhdysvallat operoi idealistisena ja liberaalina voimana. Se esiintyi kansan etnisyyteen ja tahtoon sekä kansalle edullisen talouden edistämiseen keskittyvänä suurvaltana. ; The thesis discusses the decision-making of the new border between Austria and Hungary, the question of Western Hungary/Burgenland, 1918-1923. The purpose is to study the effect international relations and nation-state politics had on the question. The dispute did not only concern Austria and Hungary, but was part of the First World War peace process led by the Allies.This research explores the national and international decision-making level motives. It begins with the assumption that central political themes were channelled into the border question. The study focuses on the convergence of political ideas. The study shows how realism met idealism: how the ideals of nation, democracy, and ethnicity met the interests of power politics. The discussion foregrounds the way the arguments strengthened each other rather than operated separately.The aim has been to ponder the converging of national and international politics as accountable for the case of Western Hungary: how international politics affected this part of the peace settlement and, on the other hand, what was the role of national Austrian-Hungarian politics? To this border dispute between two losing sides of the war, the Allies could apply different methods than to politically more sensitive questions between the victors and the defeated countries. In contradictory situations it was possible to act in accordance to the policy of concessions. Crises on the local and national level could be addressed by delegating some of the problem-solving authority to the national level. These methods could not, however, be allowed to evolve into a dangerous precedent for the opening up of other border questions. It was essential, then, for the Allies to emphasize the permanence of the peace treaties.