In contexts of protracted political and structural violence, coping can be an extremely precarious affair. Drawing on fieldwork conducted with young people in eastern DRC and in Burundi between 2010 and 2014, this presentation will share the narratives of adolescent girls who are doing their best to cope with insecurity, displacement, poverty, and motherhood. Engaging with socio-ecological models of resilience, it will discuss how girls conceive of their own well-being, highlighting the importance of aspirations and meaning attribution in overcoming the challenges of the everyday.

Biography: Claudia Seymour is an applied researcher with 15 years of experience, working primarily in conflict-affected environments in sub-Saharan Africa. Her research specializations include youth, child protection, resilience to armed violence, humanitarian assistance, and security sector reform. She has served with a range of UN bodies, including the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, UNICEF and the UN Group of Experts on the DRC and has led in-depth assessments, studies and evaluations for a variety of international and non-governmental organizations, in countries including Burundi, Central African Republic, DRC, Kenya and Liberia. She is currently a Research Associate with the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, and the Department of Development Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. She holds a PhD in Development Studies from SOAS, and an MA in International Relations and Economics from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University.