Despite progress made in promoting economic growth, consolidating democratic norms, reducing the rates of HIV/AIDS, and protecting the environment, much of West Africa continues to suffer the devastating effects of conflict and democratic backsliding.
USAID/West Africa’s Democracy, Peace and Governance program supports regional and national capacity and commitment to open, accountable, and democratic governance through: (1) strengthening participatory, representative, and inclusive political processes and government institutions; (2) promoting greater accountability of institutional leaders to citizens and to the law; and (3) supporting partner countries’ pathways toward stability and peace. USAID also addresses the risks of instability from violent conflict, and prioritizes targeted conflict and violence prevention, peacebuilding, and preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) interventions across the region.
USAID/West Africa works with regional institutions like the G5 Sahel to build African capacity to proactively preempt the spread of violent extremism (VE) in the region. It also targets change at national and local levels through research, training, partnerships, disseminating information, and other programmatic efforts. Additionally, USAID prioritizes an interagency approach and collaborates with the State Department and the Department of Defense to bring a whole of government approach to bear on this critical challenge. The mission also coordinates closely with other USAID P/CVE-relevant programming in the region, including USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI), which has ongoing cohesion and transition activities throughout the region.
Reacting to Early Warning and Response Data in West Africa (REWARD II)
REWARD II is a follow-on activity to REWARD, which was implemented from September 2015 – 2020. The principal objective of REWARD II is to bolster the capacity of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to monitor, gather, analyze, and disseminate human security information to its 15 member states to support peace and security in the region. REWARD addresses critical gaps in the conflict early warning and early response systems of ECOWAS through a two-tier approach by: (1) providing capacity building to ECOWAS to enhance conflict early warning and response systems in the 15 ECOWAS member states; and (2) supporting national and local stakeholders in five countries to mitigate electoral conflict triggers before they escalate into violence.
REWARD II directly supports USAID/West Africa’s Regional Development Cooperation Strategy by strengthening systems of non-violent conflict management in the West African region and advancing the U.S. Government goal to support countries on the path to self-reliance.
These efforts allow USAID/West Africa to minimize the backsliding of democratic processes, such as effects related to conflict and stabilization, including but not limited to political violence, civil unrest, and the evolving security threats in the region. Through a combination of approaches the mission with its partners also are helping to address existing security vulnerabilities that have been aggravated by COVID-19 related limitations and restrictions.
The Strengthening Civil Society and Community Resilience Project (PARC-Cameroun)
PARC-Cameroun supports local civil society organizations (CSOs) to respond flexibly to community needs and violent extremism (VE) dynamics in the Far North.
PARC-Cameroun strengthens the collective performance of CSOs to advocate for citizen rights and service provision, address the issues of marginalization of women and youth, and collectively respond to the restricted civic space in, and stigmatization of, northern communities. It works with strategic partner organizations to strengthen their performance through a capacity building approach that emphasizes performance improvement over the production of outputs; continual mentoring and coaching instead of one-size-fits-all training; and peer-to-peer networking and exchange over expert-led direction.
COLLABORATING, LEARNING, AND ADAPTING ACTIVITIES
Peace through Evaluation, Learning and Adapting II (PELA II)
PELA II acquires and utilizes the knowledge needed to inform USAID/West Africa decisions, strategies, and initiatives to more effectively counter violent extremism, build regional resiliencies, and promote peace across West Africa. Based in Accra, Ghana, PELA II is strengthening USAID's effectiveness in implementing its projects, coordinating its activities, learning from experience, and serving as an information, communication, and thought leader regarding peace, promotion and preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) in the West African Region.
PELA II assists USAID/West Africa, surrounding operating units, and implementing partners by: 1) conducting and developing analytical research through desk and field studies that expands knowledge and understanding critical to strategy development and decision-making; 2) building knowledge through monitoring and evaluation; 3) developing and implementing a Learning Agenda to provide a baseline and framework for continuous learning, knowledge sharing, strategic collaboration, and adaptive management; 4) analyzing and sharing knowledge through collaboration and learning events, and 5) developing communications products that reach target audiences.
