Gaps and Opportunities for CVE engagement in Isiolo report cover

Gaps and Opportunities for CVE Engagement in Isiolo County: Mapping conflict and VE

Reports

September 11,, 2019

Research overview

This is a minimalistic research study to understand the confluence of VE issues affecting Isiolo County. The study used a conflict management lense for analysis. Here are a summary of the findings from the study.

Findings

  1. Theory of Change (ToC) Analysis: Understanding the conflict dynamics of the different areas of the community is usually the first step for the development of interventions in communities. However, the stakeholders in Isiolo indicated that the synopsis usually governs most of the ToCs in the call for proposals and not contextualized to the problem in the community.
  2. Linking challenges to Violent Extremism: Conflict analysis is crucial as it helps in providing an understanding of the issues as they affect the community. However, most initiatives and projects in Isiolo struggle to determine the direct/indirect relationships that general conflict has with violent extremism and terrorism.
  3. Radicalisation is associated with various vulnerabilities and challenges that include; peer pressure, drug abuse, police brutality and disappearances, and unemployment.
  4. Recruitment is taking place in schools, community members seem to know who is responsible and gender roles in VE and terrorism are being redefined. Isiolo specifically has a female recruiter who is keen to bring many young people to the fold.
  5. Resilience levels for the community are low due to poor parenting, unresolved issues relating to historical injustices and marginalisation, government in-action and weak community policing structures. 

Recomendations

  1. Comprehensive policies that can help in fighting the said vice should be developed through collaborative effort from government agencies, international partners, and CBOs who are key in determining whether the measures put in place bear fruits or not.
  2. Policies should therefore not be a blanket instead should be tailored in context of the challenges faced in each area. The solutions should most importantly come from the community in the specific area. By so doing, the root causes of ‘the’ problem and not ‘a’ problem would be solved.
  3. CVE being a collective responsibility in the community requires each individual or organization to take their specific roles that is CSO’s, CBO’s, Government, women, youth and religious leaders who should take initiatives in addressing VE and use of the best approach in countering it.
  4. Involvement of Religious leaders while in the field can be helpful as they can guide us in our project and advise on the best avenues to be used while engaging with the community.