Think Creative - Issue 4

CreativeAssociatesInternational.com | 13 Cash for work is a common development tool. Linking these short-term, community service- focused endeavors to reducing violent extremism is unique. In the Nigerian states of Borno, Yobe and Adawama — where terrorists actively recruit at-risk youth and vulnerable populations — the Nigeria Regional Transition Initiative adapted the cash-for- work program to include short-term employment and special daily dialogue sessions about countering violent extremism, entrepreneurship and other positive themes. Participants were selected by their communities based on criteria that included open expressions of violent extremism, perceptions of injustice and substance abuse, with an emphasis on youth. The program showed positive results. Of the more than 2,300 at-risk youth and others who went through the cash-for-work program, a majority earned enough money to start a small business or return to school for a professional career. Follow-up studies found they felt less politically marginalized, showed less support for violent extremists and expressed more trust of the police, military and nongovernmental organizations. The Nigeria Regional Transition Initiative is a project of USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives. n “If you want to go to a community that we’ve never ventured into, you just can’t come and say, ‘People come around. Let us have a CVE conversation or a dialogue session.’ No, that won’t work.” - Maryam Abukaker Nigeria Regional Transition Initiative Maiduguri, Nigeria Nigeria Nigeria Regional Transition Initiative Photo by JimHuylebroek for USAID Program in focus A closer look at Creative’s work in action