What Works in Youth and Peace and Security?
This page is divided into the following sections:
- Cross-sector Peacebuilding Programs
- Youth Participation and Partnerships
- Disengagement and Reintegration of Youth
- Issues Facing Refugees, IDPs, and Forced Migration
- Preventing Gendered Violence
- Countering and Preventing Youth Recruitment into Violent Groups
Promising Practices in Engaging Youth in Peace and Security and PVE/CVE
This document, created by YouthPower Learning's Community of Practice for Youth in Peace and Security, seeks to identify best practices, bright spots, and possible opportunities for their replication with a primary focus on preventing violent extremism/countering violent extremism (PVE/CVE). It operates under the hypothesis that youth engagement in positive alternatives to violence should be maximized in order for peace writ large to take hold.
On December 9, 2015 the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted an historic resolution that recognizes the important role young people play in the prevention and resolution of conflict. Resolution 2250 creates the framework for nations to engage and empower youth as workers of peace through five pillars:
- Participation,
- Protection,
- Prevention,
- Partnerships, and
- Disengagement and reintegration.
This resolution comes at a time when almost half of the world’s population is under the 24 years old, and an estimated 600 million youth live in conflict-affected areas.
The resources listed below relate to the five pillars from Resolution 2250.
Cross-sector Peacebuilding Programs
Peacebuilding projects are often designed to intersect with other objectives (economic development, education, etc.). In some environments, such as Lebanon, a former Chief of Party advocates an "indirect approach" to peacebuilding, engaging youth of different ethnic groups in vocational training and other civic projects. In other cases, cross-sectoral programming may simply be more cost effective or logical. These resources examine best practices in cross-sectoral programming with peacebuilding outcomes for youth, and sheds critical light on the role of youth in peace and security.
What We Know about “What Works” in Youth Civic Engagement, and Voice, Youth Organizations, Youth Leadership, and Civic Education
This literature review examines academic empirical studies from the year 2000 onwards that focused on evidence of the impact of interventions in youth civic engagement and voice, youth organizations, youth leadership, and civic education for youth. The review paid particular attention to interventions in conflict and violence-affected areas and in the context of countering violent extremism but was unable to identify empirical academic literature on the impact of interventions in conflict and violence-affected areas and for countering violent extremism was identified. Literature that was located is descriptive and does not address impact in a rigorous manner. According to the authors of the literature review, “There is little consensus on the definition of basic terms, theories of change, desired or expected impacts, or ways these impacts should be measured. The theory of change is often not well articulated, but may include promoting greater attachment to the community, persuading youth to adopt counter narratives, or simply occupying the time of youth and crowding out less desirable activities.”
The Global Securitisation of Youth
This article looks critically at the new global youth, peace and security agenda, that has been marked by the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2250 in December 2015. It argues that this agenda needs to be situated within the broader context of the securitisation of development, and that the increasing interest in youth as a security subject and actor is shaped by three overlapping sets of global security concerns: the concept of the youth bulge is a euphemism for the problem of growing surplus populations worldwide; the ideal of youth as peacebuilders is a model for eliciting youth support for the current global social and economic order; and the spectre of globally networked youth being radicalised by extremist groups has legitimated joint state and private sector projects that are taking an increasingly active role intervening in the online lives of young people around the world. The article draws on an analysis of a collection of core documents that form the heart of the global youth and security agenda; and it argues for the need for greater critical reflexivity in considering the growing attention being paid to youth as a social category in global development and policy discourse.
The Unexplored Power and Potential of Youth as Peacebuilders
This paper explores the role of youth as peace-builders and uses four examples to show youth’s unique power for and participation in peacebuilding. The paper is divided into four sections:
Sections 1 and 2: Describes the most generalized perspectives on the role of youth in conflicts, based on a short review of existing literature.
Section 3: Challenges the generalized perspectives and contrasting these perspectives with positive examples of youth engagement that illustrate the power and potential of youth as peace-builders, that is, as positive agents of non-violent change through four recent historical examples.
Section 4: Suggests points for further research and exploration.
Just Keeping Them Busy? Youth Employment Projects as a Peacebuilding Tool
The promotion of youth employment is a popular peacebuilding measure in post-conflict settings. Giving jobs to young people is widely seen as an essential way to harness their energy towards constructive and peaceful purposes and discourage their recruitment for violence. Unlike traditional youth employment projects, these interventions set themselves a twofold objective: creating jobs and promoting peace in post-conflict societies. However, little is known about their impact on either of these fronts, and there is anecdotal evidence that youth employment projects in post-conflict settings have often fallen short of the expectations of donors, governments and beneficiaries alike. This article argues that the practice of using youth employment projects for peacebuilding is rooted in untested, problematic and possibly flawed assumptions, and this fundamentally affects the chance of success for such interventions.
Can Economic Interventions Reduce Violence?
Mercy Corps, in collaboration with the Political Violence FieldLab at Yale University and Princeton University, and with financial support from the United States Institute of Peace, undertook a randomized controlled trial with 1,590 participants to test the impact of particular economic interventions—specifically, a youth employability program and cash transfers—on youth attitudes toward and willingness to support political violence in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Key Findings:
* Vocational training by itself had no impact on youth support for political violence, despite helping to improve economic outcomes six to nine months post intervention. Even after experiencing those improvements, youth still showed no change in support for political violence.
* Cash transfers reduced willingness to support violent groups in the short term; however, these positive effects quickly dissipated.
* The combination of vocational training and cash transfers resulted in a large reduction in willingness to engage in pro-armed opposition group actions six to nine months post intervention.
If Youth are Given the Chance: Effects of Education and Civic Engagement on Somali Youth Support of Political Violence
This research seeks to test the impact of two common violence-reduction approaches— education and civic engagement—on youths’ level of support for armed violence. By expanding our previous study from Somaliland to examine education, civic engagement, and political violence in South Central Somalia and Puntland, this study also allows us to understand whether the effects of the same education and civic engagement interventions persist
across different contexts. From an impact evaluation that surveyed 1,220 young people in these two violence-affected regions of Somalia, we found that both secondary education alone and secondary education combined with civic engagement opportunities pulled Somali youth away from supporting violent groups. We also identified possible explanations for these reductions in support: both versions of the intervention led engaged youth to be more optimistic about their future job prospects and more confident in the use of nonviolent means to achieve change in their communities. These two significant pathways suggest that the Somali Youth Learners Initiative program enabled youth to feel more capable of shaping their own futures and influencing their communities, which in turn may explain the reduced support for armed opposition groups that feed off young people’s frustrations and feelings of disempowerment.
Youth Participation and Partnerships
One challenge of this sector is engaging youth - especially those who feel that "the system" is indifferent to their needs and wishes. Authentic partnerships must involve active participation from those in power. This Devex post provides ideas for engaging youth to work in peacebuilding. From youth taking active and empowered roles as peacebuilders, to youth participation in post-conflict reconciliation processes, these resources provide lessons from a variety of cases.
Young People's Participation in Peacebuilding: A Practice Note
This document is the product of a collaborative effort led by the Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development (IANYD) Working Group on Youth and Peacebuilding, which includes 40 partner organizations primarily from civil society and the United Nations. This Practice Note summarizes the situation of youth in conflict-affected environments, argues for the importance of investing in youth and peacebuilding, addresses existing assumptions and theories of change regarding youth and peacebuilding, provides overviews of key issues, highlights a variety of promising practices in different sectors and thematic areas that have undergone some level of evaluation or review, and offers a set of overarching recommendations for donors, policy-makers and planners.
Evaluation of Child and Youth Participation in Peacebuilding
The report is organized in 3 parts. Part 1 provides a brief introduction to the present state of child and youth peacebuilding (CYP) globally and, specifically, in Colombia, the DRC, and Nepal. It then introduces the evaluation’s methodology, its application in each country, and what was learned about the evaluation process. Part 2 shares key findings from the evaluation. It introduces the types of CYP initiatives evaluated, their impact, factors influencing impact, CYP quality, and overarching findings. Part 3 offers
CYP recommendations to different stakeholders, proposes future research, and draws general conclusions.
Part Two provides an overview of different types of CYP initiatives evaluated. It then presents findings concerning CYP impact in 4 key areas: 1) Aware and active citizens for peace, 2) Increased peaceful cohabitation and reduced discrimination, 3) Reduced violence, and 4) Support to vulnerable groups. It then describes 11 key factors hindering or enabling CYP impact. Many of these factors can positively or negatively influence impact depending on how they are addressed or neglected. Next authors explore the quality of child and youth participation in peacebuilding and results from assessing the following 8 principles: 1) Participation is transparent and informative; 2) Participation is relevant and respectful to children and youth; 3) Participation encourages diversity and inclusion; 4) Participation is sensitive to gender dynamics; 5) Participation is safe and sensitive to risks; 6) Investments are made in intergenerational partnerships in young people’s communities; 7) Participation is accountable; and 8) Young people are involved in all stages of peacebuilding and post-conflict programming. This evaluation’s findings are primarily based on participants’ opinions and, therefore, findings are usually suggestive rather than conclusive.
The evaluation results revealed that child and youth peacebuilders have contributed to impact in four key areas: 1) young peacebuilders often became more aware and active citizens for peace; 2) young peacebuilders increased
peaceful cohabitation and reduced discrimination; 3) young peacebuilders reduced violence; and 4) young peacebuilders increased support to vulnerable groups.
The report presents three overarching recommendations concerning child and youth participation in peacebuilding, more specific recommendations for different stakeholders, and conclusions:
Engage children as peacebuilders from a young age to ensure continuity and increased impact.
Encourage multi-pronged and multi-stakeholder efforts supporting CYP to multiply and amplify peacebuilding impact.
Engage with children and youth as partners in formal and informal governance and peace structures in a wide range of contexts, not only in contexts affected by armed conflict.
Youth in War-to-Peace Transitions: Approaches of International Organizations
A large and growing part of combatants in protracted armed conflicts are youth. Since there is no legal framework for this group and demobilization and reintegration programs (DRPs) have largely neglected such youth in practice. In contrast to armed groups, that regularly offer youth an income, an occupation, status, identity and the 'excitement' of violence, most DRPs fail to appeal to older children and young adults. But the failure to (re)integrate youth into civil structures cannot only put the peace-building process at jeopardy but also deprives these war-affected societies of a potential driving force for peace and development.
This study deals with youth in war-to-peace transitions and the response of international organizations specifically around demobilization and reintegration programs (DRPs). The study explores four guiding questions: What approaches have international organizations developed regarding youth? On which assumptions about youth and their role in violent conflicts are these approaches based? How do the different approaches affect program development? Are these approaches compatible? To explain the various responses of international organizations towards youth in conflict contexts, specifically regarding demobilization and reintegration, this study developed three ideal typical approaches: (1) a rights-based approach, (2) an economic approach, and (3) a socio-political approach. After outlining the basic ideas underpinning these ideal typical approaches on a theoretical level, the study examines two exemplary demobilization and reintegration programs for each approach to determine their practical value for post-conflict peacebuilding.
The Dynamic Role of Youth in Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Lessons from Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kosovo
This undergraduate thesis uses three post-conflict countries to examine the effects of a large youth population during the post-conflict reconstruction period. The role of youth in post-conflict reconstruction has been largely understudied and there are significant gaps in the understanding of how the post-conflict reconstruction process affects young people, and the role youth play in determining the success of the reconstruction program. The youth in conflict research focuses predominantly on young men, suggesting that a large proportion of male youth will increase the likelihood of instability but does not consider the youth population’s role in building peace. Through a thorough investigation of the impact of different actors’ policies and programs, this study attempts to draw comparisons across cases that experienced varying degrees of success with reconstruction in order to generate hypotheses that may guide future research regarding the role of youth in post-conflict reconstruction and the ability of reconstruction actors to facilitate the youth population’s war-to-peace transition.
"If They Don't Start Listening to Us, the Future is Going to look the Same as the Past": Young People and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina
This article, based on empirical research from Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina, explores how young people conceptualize reconciliation and examines the meaning this concept holds for them. Qualitative data are collected through one-to-one interviews with young people aged 16 to 18 living in Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Results indicate that young people’s conceptualizations of reconciliation are largely relationship based. In terms of their role in the reconciliation process, young people see themselves as both potential peacemakers and potential troublemakers. They feel that politicians and the older generations have a significant impact on whether the role of young people in the future would be constructive or destructive. The research finds that a lack of political and economic change was one of the major factors that negatively influenced the potential for reconciliation, as did the lack of intergenerational dialogue. The research also indicates that it is vital to include young people in the debate about reconciliation.
Youth Participation in Parliaments and Peace and Security
A contribution from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to the Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security mandated by Security Council Resolution 2250 (2015). Youth are vastly underrepresented among the world’s parliamentarians, only 1.9 per cent of whom are under the age of 30. This paper shows that youth participation in parliament has so far not been in a position to strongly impact on peace and security, a finding based on close examination of four post-conflict or transition contexts (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, and Tunisia) as well as extensive desk research on other contexts around the globe. This paper identifies three areas where improved youth participation in parliament has resulted in positive outcomes that may advance peace and stability in the long run. These include:
the establishment of new linkages between youth and parliament;
the use of young parliamentarians as mediators; and
the promotion of dialogue in divided societies through young parliamentarians.
Recommendations include:
increasing the number and capacities of young parliamentarians;
strengthening links between young parliamentarians and youth organizations;
building young people’s knowledge and confidence in political processes and institutions; and
creating opportunities for youth by facilitating access to education, employment, health, sports and
culture.
Six Ways to Successfully Engage Youth in Peace Building
This article presents the views of four youth activists and experts on best practices that development leaders — particularly program designers and managers — can apply to leverage youth engagement and give young people opportunities to become agents of peace.
Four Lessons on Youth and Peacebuilding in Lebanon
In this article a former chief of party (team leader) of the Lebanon Civic Support Initiative funded by the USAID Office of Transition Initiatives offers four lessons on how civil society partners engaged students, school dropouts, political leaders, social activists and others to more effectively engage and empower youth as positive change agents.
The Unexplored Power and Potential of Youth as Peace-builders
This paper explores the role of youth as peace-builders and uses four examples to show youth’s unique power for and participation in peacebuilding. The paper is divided into four sections:
Sections 1 and 2: Describes the most generalized perspectives on the role of youth in conflicts, based on a short review of existing literature.
Section 3: Challenges the generalized perspectives and contrasting these perspectives with positive examples of youth engagement that illustrate the power and potential of youth as peace-builders, that is, as positive agents of non-violent change through four recent historical examples.
Section 4: Suggests points for further research and exploration
Disengagement and Reintegration of Youth
Although they are often not explicit in a PYD approach, most programs aimed at the disengagement and reintegration of former combatants are aimed at "youth" (loosely defined as 18-35 years old). These resources describe the factors leading to effective programming.
When do Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration Programmes Succeed?
Assisting fighters to gain a foothold in civil society is thought to prevent them from returning to combat and hence to avoid a resumption of hostilities in the long run. In line with sustained investments in DDR programmes, as well as with a noteworthy increase in the number and scope of such programmes, a growing – albeit relatively small – body of literature is attempting to catch up with these developments. In an effort to gather what we know about the factors that contribute to the success of DDR programmes, this discussion paper provides a synthesis of the current literature. While emphasising the emerging body of quantitative research, it also draws on reports by practitioners and in-depth case studies in response to two critical questions: 1. How effective are DDR programmes? 2. What factors and circumstances contribute to or impede their success? The paper draws several conclusions from the literature, including context-specific, programme level, and individual level factors that enable success in DDR.
Youth in Way-to-Peace Transitions: Approaches of International Organizations
This study deals with youth in war-to-peace transitions and the response of international organizations to them. While youth’s relevance for societal transformation is a long-acknowledged fact, their large numbers and potential roles in conflict have recently caused organizations to consider them a target group for peace and development programs. Reflecting on this process, this study thus assesses the difficulties in conceptualizing the role of youth in peace-building processes on the one hand and the concrete efforts of international organizations to integrate them into their policies and programs on the other. For this purpose, it explores four guiding questions: First, what approaches have international organizations developed regarding youth? Second, on which assumptions about youth and their role in violent conflicts are they based? Third, how do the different approaches affect program development, and, fourth, are they are compatible?
Reintegrating and Employing High Risk Youth in Liberia: Lessons from a randomized evaluation of a Landmine Action agricultural training program for ex-combatants
This report details findings from an impact evaluation of a reintegration and agricultural livelihoods program for high-risk Liberian youth, and draws out lessons for government employment policies. The international NGO Landmine Action (LMA, now known as Action on Armed Violence) runs an intensive, best practices agricultural training program, targeting ex-combatants and other high-risk youth in rural hot spots. LMA recruited ex-combatants and other high-risk youth and offered them several months of skills training and psychosocial counseling, along with a start-up package, to give youth a peaceful, sustainable, and legal alternative to illicit resource extraction, ease their reintegration into society, reduce the risk of their re-recruitment into crime and insurrection in the future, and to improve security in hotspot communities. The NGO recruited 1,330 youth, and the researchers randomly assigned these to either “treatment” (receiving the program) or “control” (not receiving the program). By comparing the “treatment” group to the random “control” group 18 months after the program, we can see the effect of the intervention on agricultural livelihoods, shifts from illicit to legal employment, poverty, social integration, aggression, and potential for future instability.
Issues Facing Refugees, IDPs, and Forced Migration
Although it is difficult to arrive at exact numbers, UNICEF posits that nearly half of all refugees are children. A significant proportion of refugees, IDPs, and forced migrants are young people, many of whom are especially vulnerable to security risks including gendered violence in camps, transitional housing, and unfamiliar environments. A PYD lens on programming for displaced youth would focus on engaging young people as partners, creating an environment for their full participation, and shifting the focus from "victim" and/or "perpetrator" to "partner for peace."
Adolescent Girls in Disaster & Conflict
Millions of adolescent girls are in need of humanitarian assistance. A crisis heightens their vulnerability to gender-based violence, unwanted pregnancy, HIV infection, maternal death and disability, early and forced marriage, rape, trafficking, and sexual exploitation and abuse. In emergencies, adolescent girls need tailored programming to increase their access to reproductive health services, including family planning, and to protect them from gender-based violence. From safe spaces to mobile clinics to youth participation, UNFPA uses different approaches to reach displaced, uprooted and crisis-affected adolescent girls at a critical time in their young lives. This publication features new case studies on reaching adolescent girls in humanitarian situations from programmes in Malawi, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Somalia.
Young People in the Global Compact on Refugees: How the Global Compact on Refugees can protect young refugees and prove their potential
With the development of the Global Compact on Refugees, the international community has an important opportunity to safeguard young refugees and partner more effectively with them to improve their lives. Based on our extensive experience working with young people in crisis around the world, Mercy Corps sets out below a number of key practices to protect young refugees and prove their potential. A comprehensive refugee response should promote young refugees’ well-being, provide them with flexible education opportunities, help them access safe and fair employment, and give them a voice in their communities. Finally, young refugees should be engaged as partners in designing and implementing this response.
Preventing Gendered Violence
Youth in conflict contexts are particularly vulnerable to gendered violence. This includes sexual violence and coercion, as well as gendered norms surrounding participation in violence. This set of resources examines varied cultural norms around masculinity and violence for young males, as well as programs to reduce forms of sexual violence especially in conflict areas.
Masculinities, Conflict, and Peacebuilding
Research tells us that socially constructed gender norms which associate masculinity with power, violence and control can play a role in driving conflict and insecurity. Examining the reasons behind this, ‘Masculinities, conflict and peacebuilding’ aims to advance discussions about integrating a masculinities perspective into peacebuilding policy and practice. It examines existing INGO programmes that promote non-violent and gender equitable masculinities and poses key questions about how these can be further developed to challenge the gender norms which drive conflict and insecurity. Masculinities, conflict and peacebuilding makes recommendations to key actors, including: - examine gender perspectives during conflict analysis, looking at men and boys from a gender viewpoint; - develop theories of change and pilot programming approaches that begin challenging masculine gender norms; - mainstream a masculinities perspective in international security and development interventions, examining how activities are influencing masculinities; - advance the women, peace and security agenda, as efforts to promote and realise women’s rights and efforts to break the links between gender norms and violence should be mutually reinforcing.
Adolescent Girls in Disaster & Conflict
Millions of adolescent girls are in need of humanitarian assistance. A crisis heightens their vulnerability to gender-based violence, unwanted pregnancy, HIV infection, maternal death and disability, early and forced marriage, rape, trafficking, and sexual exploitation and abuse. In emergencies, adolescent girls need tailored programming to increase their access to sexual and reproductive health services, including family planning, and to protect them from gender-based violence.
From safe spaces to mobile clinics to youth participation, UNFPA uses different approaches to reach displaced, uprooted and crisis-affected adolescent girls at a critical time in their young lives. This publication features new case studies on reaching adolescent girls in humanitarian situations from programmes in Malawi, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Somalia.
PYD Approaches to Mitigate Sexual Violence and Coercion Among Adolescents
This technical brief aims to inform researchers and program implementers working with youth in developing countries, who likely interact with youth who have experienced sexual coercion. The brief highlights examples of successful programs for reducing the occurrence of sexual coercion and force and describes strategies for responding to them. It also discusses how the frequency and negative effects of sexual coercion experienced by boys and girls could be reduced by building assets, especially social skills, agency, and youth empowerment, as a part of positive youth development (PYD) programs.
Briefing Paper Addressing School-Related Gender-Based Violence is Critical for Safe Learning Environments in Refugee Contexts
Adolescent girls are 2.5 times more likely to be out of school in conflict and crises contexts compared to their male peers in similar contexts . Refugee children and adolescents, girls in particular, are vulnerable to gender-based sexual violence. Boys are also bullied and are victimized when perceived to not conform to prevailing norms of acceptable male behavior or appearance and may face harsher corporal punishment than girls. Safe learning spaces can reinforce principles of gender equality and promote positive gender and social norms that teach girls and boys to develop and practice non-violent coping mechanisms. However, safety within learning spaces cannot be taken for granted in stressed and crisis affected contexts. Careful attention needs to be placed on preventing gender-based violence when designing learning environments for refugee children and adolescents.
Countering and Preventing Youth Recruitment into Violent Groups
While numbers vary widely, it is generally believed that most individuals who are recruited into violent groups (including gangs, violent extremist organizations, trafficking rings, and other non-state groups) are "youth" (under the age of 35). A PYD lens on violence and recruitment prevention programming treats youth as the most likely victims and opponents of these violent groups - as opposed to framing youth as a "risk" category. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that PYD and complexity-aware approaches to programming can have significant outcomes.
Promising Practices for Engaging Youth in Peace & Security and PVE/CVE
This document, created by YouthPower Learning's Community of Practice for Youth in Peace and Security, seeks to identify best practices, bright spots, and possible opportunities for their replication with a primary focus on preventing violent extremism/countering violent extremism (PVE/CVE). It operates under the hypothesis that youth engagement in positive alternatives to violence should be maximized in order for peace writ large to take hold.
Impact Evaluation of USAID's Community-Based Crime and Violence Prevention Approach in Central America
As part of the U.S. Government’s (USG) Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has designed and implemented a set of programs to improve citizen security in Central America by strengthening community capacity to combat crime and by creating educational and employment opportunities for at-risk youth. This multi-method, multi-country, multi-year evaluation was designed to contribute to an understanding of the effectiveness of USAID’s community-based crime and violence prevention approach in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Panama. This package of interventions – that is, the “treatment” in this impact evaluation – includes activities such as planning by municipal-level committees; crime observatories and data collection; crime prevention through environmental design (such as improved street lighting, graffiti removal, cleaned up public spaces); programs for at-risk youth (such as outreach centers, workforce development, mentorships); and community policing. The main finding, on average, of this multiyear impact evaluation of the community based interventions is that in several key respects the programs have been a success. Specifically, the outcomes in the treatment communities improved more (or declined less) than they would have if USAID’s programs had not been administered.
Youth Action Agenda to Prevent Violent Extremism and Promote Peace
We, young people and youth organizations present at the Global Youth Summit Against Violent Extremism, recognize that the choice to support violent extremism is driven by many factors. The resulting violence has taken too many innocent lives. Many CVE initiatives frame youth as either perpetrators of violent extremism or as possible victims of recruitment into violent groups. However, this narrative fails to capture the fact that most young people are part of the solution. They are not turning to violence. Young people around the world are working to build peace and prevent violent extremism. All actors must partner with young people more effectively to jointly address this challenge. In this agenda, we offer ways that governments, civil society organizations, the private sector, donors, international and intergovernmental agencies, and the media can join us in preventing and countering violent extremism.
Transforming Violent Extremism: A Peacebuilder's Guide
There is an opportunity to reframe the challenge of countering violent extremism (CVE). Drawing from the tools and tactics from peacebuilding, state and non-state actors can be equipped to (1) understand the dynamics which foment violent extremism, (2) identify a set of tools and approaches that prevent those dynamics from giving rise to violent extremism; and (3) ensure that responses do not aggravate and radicalize affected communities even further. Transforming violent extremism recognizes that while violent extremism exists, the reasons and motivators leading to an individual being drawn to violent extremist movements can be transformed into a different type of agency or engagement. In developing this guide, Search for Common Ground has drawn on three decades of experience in transforming violent conflict in communities plagued by many of the same dynamics underlying violent extremism: frustration with weak, corrupt, or illegitimate governance, marginalization, fractured relationships, lack of voice and opportunity, and struggles with diversity. This experience gives us tangible insight into building communities that are resilient to the pull of violent extremist groups. They also aid in early detection, thus helping to prevent violent extremism before it happens. Our goal is to offer questions, insights, and general guidance to peacebuilders and policy-makers who are stepping into this nuanced space while highlighting the value of peacebuilding practices in what has become an overly security-driven and militarized field.
Working Together to Address Violent Extremism: A Strategy for Youth-Government Partnerships
As countries articulate and implement their P/CVE strategies, this document provides guidance on how government and youth can work together in addressing violent extremism at the national and local level, recognizing youth as partners in peace and agents of positive change. In total, 122 individuals (118 youth, including 34 women, and 4 government officials) from Bangladesh, Cameroon, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, the Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Tunisia, and Sri Lanka were interviewed because they work on P/CVE in countries dealing with violent extremism. Young people have a unique and critical expertise in P/CVE, based on their understanding of what drives recruitment at the community level and the programs and policy necessary to address it. In addition to expertise, youth are more connected to each other and the rest of the world than ever before, both in-person and online. Finally, there is global momentum and recognition behind the need and value of working with youth at all levels of decision-making to effectively address violent extremism. This strategy provides recommendations for youth-government collaboration and partnerships in addressing violent extremism. It is divided into a set of underlying principles, or “Core Principles”, and recommended steps for moving forward listed under the “Suggested Steps for Collaboration”.
Reconceptualizing the drivers of violent extremism: an agenda for child and youth resilience
This report examines the phenomenon of violent extremism, and the unique vulnerabilities of, impacts on and consequences for children and youth. It starts by presenting a new way of conceptualizing violent extremism; that individuals join a violent extremist group either in rejection of/rebellion against a given state of affairs, or driven by highly personal returns, and then enabled by contextual conditions. Structural motivators include, inter alia, repression, corruption, unemployment, inequality, discrimination and hostility between identity groups. Individual incentives include a sense of purpose, adventure, belonging, acceptance, status and/or material reward. Enabling factors include the presence of extremist mentors, access to social networks with violent extremist associations, and religious ideology. We offer a different framework for preventing violent extremism by promoting a more integrated and resilient youth society. Building upon this, we set out areas of youth engagement with high potential for bolstering youth life satisfaction, and thus an enabling framework for preventing violent extremism at the individual level: sports and extracurricular activities ; alternative pathways for ‘would-be’ fighters and ideological radicals to constructively, but non-violently, address their concerns ; and creative messaging that bolsters youth critical thinking skills and respects their agency.
Mid-Term Evaluation of Three Countering Violent Extremism Projects
Beneficiaries of USAID’s Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) projects in East Africa have a demonstrated advantage over comparison groups on a host of variables known to be drivers of violent extremism. In a survey of almost 1,500 ethnic Somali youths in Somalia and Kenya administered in November and December 2012, full beneficiaries of three USAID CVE projects were compared to similar numbers of partial beneficiaries (mostly program drop outs or less involved participants) and a comparison group of non-beneficiaries. The five survey thematic areas, referred to in short form as engagement, efficacy, youth associations, identity and violence, are the primary organizing principles behind the data analyzed in this evaluation. First on the list of recommendations is that contrasting results between high levels of engagement and low levels of efficacy indicate that more emphasis needs to be placed on working with authorities to be more responsive to youth priorities and open improved channels of communication and dialogue. In Hargeisa especially, it was clear from focus groups that youth who are engaged, but have a low sense of efficacy, were frustrated and possibly vulnerable to extremist attitudes. This deficit of responsiveness of authorities to take youth voices and opinions into account should be addressed with adjustments to programs to emphasize projects addressing youth voice and influence.
Critical Choices: Assessing the Effects of Education and Civic Engagement on Somali Youth’s Propensity Towards Violence
Mercy Corps undertook a rigorous impact evaluation of a 5-year stability-focused youth program in Somalia known as the Somali Youth Leaders Initiative (SYLI) and analyzed the impact of two program components on youth propensity towards political violence.
The research compared the impact of the following two components of the SYLI program: formal secondary education and civic engagement activities. Using survey data from Somaliland--where the program has been implemented the longest—they compared attitudes and reported violent behaviors among youth in the program and outside of it. In addition, they conducted in-depth interviews with teachers, community leaders, government officials and youth. The study found that although the provision of secondary education through the SYLI program reduced the likelihood of youth participating in violence by 16%, it increased support for political violence by 11%. However, the combination of both secondary formal education and civic engagement through the SYLI program reduced the likelihood of youth both participating in (by 13%) and supporting (by 20%) political violence.
Taken as a whole, the findings signal that education by itself does not address the underlying drivers of potentially destabilizing actions such as support for political violence. Education is important, but just the first step. What matters to youth is not just having an opportunity to learn but also being able to use their skills to influence their lives, their communities and their nation. Hence, the study concludes that to reduce violence, youth development programs must address both the lack of skills and the lack of opportunities that hinder youth from succeeding.
Trauma and Mental Health for Youth
At the forefront of YouthPower's Learning Agenda is the role of trauma healing and psychological approaches in youth programming. While practitioners have long recognized traumatic impacts faced by youth in conflict and violence, cultural norms around mental health as well as accessibility of mental health practitioners vary widely between contexts. These resources provide background and data for trauma healing programming, as well as the importance of incorporating mental health into a holistic understanding of youth assets and agency.
Reducing Crime and Violence: Experimental Evidence from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Liberia
We show that a number of “noncognitive” skills and preferences, including patience and identity, are malleable in adults, and that investments in them reduce crime and violence. We recruited criminally-engaged [young] men aged 18 to 35 and randomized half to eight weeks of cognitive behavioral therapy designed to foster self-regulation, patience, and a noncriminal identity and lifestyle. We also randomized $200 grants. Cash alone and therapy alone initially reduced crime and violence, but effects dissipated over time. When cash followed therapy, crime and violence decreased dramatically for at least a year. We hypothesize that cash reinforced therapy’s impacts by prolonging learning-by-doing, lifestyle changes, and self-investment.
A Public Health Approach to Address the Mental Health Burden of Youth in Situations of Political Violence and Humanitarian Emergencies
This paper describes how socio-ecological theory and a syndemic health systems and public health approach may help address the plight of youth in situations of political violence and humanitarian emergencies. We describe the treatment gap caused by discrepancies in epidemiological prevalence rates, individual and family needs, and available human and material resources. We propose four strategies to develop a participatory public health approach for these youth, based on principles of equity, feasibility, and a balance between prevention and treatment. The first strategy uses ecological and transgenerational resilience as a theoretical framework to facilitate a systems approach to the plight of youth and families. This theoretical base helps to engage health care professionals in a multisectoral analysis and a collaborative public health strategy. The second strategy is to translate pre-program assessment into mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) priorities. Defining priorities helps to develop programs and policies that align with preventive and curative interventions in multiple tiers of the public health system. The third is a realistic budgetary framework as a condition for the development of sustainable institutional capacity including a monitoring system. The fourth strategy is to direct research to address the knowledge gap about effective practices for youth mental health in humanitarian settings.
In War Zones and Refugee Camps, Researchers are Putting Resilience Interventions to the Test
Despite the cacophony of definitions, most studies of resilience interventions in children ask one of two questions: Does a program promote existing mental health by helping children cope with war and displacement? Or does it prevent mental health complications for which children are now at higher risk? Outcomes are mixed for the few resilience programs that scientists have evaluated. The factors that support mental health and resilience in one situation may be useless or even harmful in another. This Science article tracks a Mercy Corps project in Jordan that uses hair samples to test stress levels amongst young Syrians and Jordanians pre- and post-intervention. Although the results are "not perfect," results suggest that scientific testing of humanitarian programs under trying circumstances is possible.