Resilience for Peace (R4P) is a five-year USAID-funded initiative to strengthen community resilience, learning, and civic and economic empowerment opportunities in order to prevent and counter violent extremism in Côte d’Ivoire’s northern border areas.

In June 2020, Côte d’Ivoire experienced its second deadly terrorist attack in four years. With the steady expansion of violent extremism across the Sahel and into coastal West Africa, it is imperative that the country focus critical resources and expertise on preventing and countering violent extremism across its northern border communities.

EAI and partners National Opinion Research Center (NORC) and Indigo-Côte d’Ivoire have designed R4P to strengthen community resilience and learning and empower youth and women to address the economic and social challenges that weaken security and stability in their lives. Increased service provision, and civic engagement opportunities will reduce marginalization and increase trust between northern border areas. Other activities will increase positive narratives, generate knowledge and learning among local communities on the concepts behind countering violent extremism (CVE), while economic empowerment and positive youth development approaches will improve women and youth’s agency and employability.

R4P will apply a systems approach by creating alternative pathways, an ecosystem of reliable information, and community-driven institutional improvements in natural resource management, service delivery, government responsiveness, and enabling economic conditions. Dialogue networks, collaboration, learning and adapting forums, and civic town halls will connect government and citizens to foster trust, joint planning, and community resilience.

“There is a violent battle for ascendancy between ISIS and AQIM-aligned factions across the Sahel. While the problem is metastasizing and moving southward, these dynamics are not new,” says Kyle Dietrich, R4P Project Director and EAI Director of Peacebuilding & Transforming Extremism. “We must learn from recent failures and innovations that reveal the importance of non-military, community-centric approaches to reorienting radicalization and engaging vulnerable populations in bolstering their own security and resilience.”

See our press release in English and French.