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Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses how the expectations of NGO's, businesses and political actors mandated to muster support for Ukraine in Africa are framed by their lack of understanding of African sociopolitical dynamics and how the latter shapes their approach and narrative, resulting in limited success.

Paper long abstract:

In the wake of the war in Ukraine, NGO's, businesses and political actors were given or gave themselves the mandate to create support for Ukraine in Africa. Despite investing significant resources and active lobbying, their efforts have yet to yield any significant success, much to their surprise. This paper argues that the lack of understanding of African sociopolitical dynamics of those actors and that of Ukrainian representatives impacts how they shape their approach and narrative towards African representatives. Using anonymized business mandates as case studies, this paper first looks at how the "donor/recipient" or "development" narrative still defines the lobbyist approach when discussing the Ukraine war in Africa. It then examines how the "Russia is the enemy" narrative used by lobbyists is ineffective due to the positive relationship many African countries maintain with Russia and due to Ukraine's own lack of leverage. The paper further discusses how the lack of awareness by Ukrainian lobbyists of the real and perceived "double standard" for conflict intervention by western countries is hindering more open exchanges. Finally, this paper makes recommendations on how the Ukrainian narrative can be changed to create strong, long-term relationships with African actors, with short-term benefits.