The Outcast Majority: International Development in Today's Youth-Dominated World
Marc Sommers is an internationally recognized youth and conflict expert. He also has expertise on gender, peace-building, governance, security, CVE, urbanization, inclusion, education, refugee and development issues. He has written nine books and received four book awards, and has provided strategic advice and policy analysis, and conducted research, assessments and evaluations in 22 war-affected countries (16 in Africa).
Sommers has consulted for donor agencies, NGOs, UN agencies, and policy institutes over the past 25 years, taught for many years at The Fletcher School at Tufts University and was a fellow at the US Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Sommers is a member of the UN’s Advisory Group of Experts for the Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security. He draws his expertise from extensive experiences in Central & East Africa, West Africa's Mano River region, South Sudan & Kosovo.
His book, "The Outcast Majority: War, Development, and Youth in Africa," received the 2017 Jackie Kirk Award and Honorable Mention for the 2016 Senior Book Prize (American Ethnological Society). It ends with a framework for reforming development practice.
His earlier book, "Stuck: Rwandan Youth and the Struggle for Adulthood," received Honorable Mention for the 2013 Ogot Book Prize and "Fear in Bongoland: Burundi Refugees in Urban Tanzania" received the 2003 Margaret Mead Award.
View Video: YouTube with Marc Sommers
Food for Thought: Podcast with Marc Sommers