Speeches Shim
Youth in the Sahel Region struggle with feelings of marginalization, stemming from limited opportunities, such as school closures, inadequate employment prospects, and poor intergenerational communication. All of these factors contribute to increased vulnerability to recruitment by violent extremist organizations (VEOs). USAID/OTI’s Burkina Faso Regional Program (BFRP) worked with SUUDU ANDAL, a local civil society organization, to organize a three-day workshop on persuasive communication using information technology and social media.
During the past two years, violent extremist organizations (VEOs) have steadily gained ground in the Nord and Sahel regions of Burkina Faso. In October 2018, USAID/Office of Transition Initiatives’ BFRP opened an office in Nord’s Ouahigouya town and focused programming on strengthening communities’ resilience against VEO influence. A local NGO, Association Femme Solidaire, organized a training in two communities near the Mali border in Nord—Thiou and Tangaye—to provide 24 female community representatives with negotiation and persuasion skills to curb recruitment efforts, in addition to learning how to identify individuals vulnerable to VEO recruitment.
October 2018 — The security dynamics and economic situation of Chad’s Lac region remain fragile: The Chad-Nigeria border is closed for commerce and approximately 108,000 people have been displaced by the Boko Haram/Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-West Africa conflict.
Since 2016, the region has been able to increase school enrollment and literacy at the primary level with support from the international community. However, middle and high school students have had limited access to classroom education, reading materials, and cultural and scholarly activities.
Since the spillover of the Boko Haram conflict from Nigeria to Niger’s Diffa region in 2015, nothing is the same. Violence, insecurity and fear have affected all areas of life, displacing hundreds of thousands and putting many lives on hold.
The Boko Haram insurgency in northeastern Nigeria has created a culture of fear and distrust among religious groups in Michika, a local government area in Adamawa state. This distrust is prominently seen among Muslim and Christian groups who blame each other for the insurgency.
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