Enhancing West Africa's effectiveness at countering violent extremism and peace promotion

BACKGROUND

In recent years, the violent-extremist landscape in West Africa has grown increasingly fractured and complex. As new groups enter the fray and existing movements evolve, the need for affected West African countries—and other West African countries vulnerable to future exposure to Violent Extremist Organizations (VEOs)—to develop a robust capacity to counter violent extremism (CVE) is now an urgent priority. As such, CVE and mitigating violent conflict are critical to USAID’s mission to end extreme poverty and promote resilient, democratic societies while advancing the objectives of security and prosperity in developing countries.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

PELA is based in Accra, Ghana and responds to the research and learning needs of USAID missions and implementing partners throughout the region. PELA contributes to strengthening USAID/WA’s CVE practice by:

• Creating and managing systems for continuous learning and knowledge sharing.
• Building knowledge through monitoring, evaluation, and learning.
• Analyzing and communicating knowledge through collaboration and learning events.
• Utilizing knowledge through adaptation.

PROJECT ACTIVITIES

• Desk and field research studies and violent extremism assessments which expand knowledge and understanding critical to decision-making. Examples include: Coastal States VE Assessment, Community Level Analysis Framework, Community Generated Indicators of VE, VE Drivers in Liptako-Gourma, and a Mauritania VE and Media Landscape Assessment.
• Program evaluations with a utilization focus to support USAID/WA and IP efforts to adaptively manage, be accountable to stakeholders, and contribute to learning to improve development outcomes.
• A Learning Agenda that institutes systems and processes of continuous learning, strategic collaboration, and adaptive management. The baseline report was completed in October 2018 and is updated every six months.
• Facilitation of learning events for USAID/WA and its regional IPs. Examples include annual CVE practitioners’ workshops, co-creation events, CVE trainings, and Pause and Reflect Workshops for implementing partners.
• Communications products that convey USAID/WA’s program successes and other reporting to a variety of audiences both internal and external to the U.S. Government.

PROGRAM INFORMATION 

GOAL: Strengthen systems of nonviolent conflict management in West Africa through learning

LIFE OF PROGRAM: January 2018 – March 2022

TOTAL USAID FUNDING: U.S. $7 million

GEOGRAPHIC FOCUS: Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, and other West African states as needed

IMPLEMENTING PARTNER: International Business and Technical Consultants Inc. (IBTCI)