Regional Dissemination Workshop Conducted 

OSSREA conducted a regional dissemination workshop on April 16, 2019 in Nairobi, Kenya. The objective of the workshop was to disseminate the research findings of the project entitled “Youth-Inclusive Mechanisms for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism in the IGAD Region” to various stakeholders in the IGAD region. Fifty-four people participated in the workshop. The participants came from IGAD, IDRC, Mayuge district government of Uganda, Gulu district government of Uganda, LPI, Center for Parliamentary Studies and Training, Parliament of Kenya, National Steering Committee on Peace Building and Conflict Management, Ministry of Interior, Youth Associations and NGOs, Universities, FBOs, Media and Private companies. The participants came from various countries such as Malawi, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia and Senegal. The research findings and evidence from the field both in Kenya and Uganda were presented. Panel discussions on violent extremism in the IGAD region and presentations on the research evidence from Kenya and Uganda were conducted. Participants raised a number of questions and the researchers responded accordingly. Representatives from IDRC, IGAD CEWARN, Gulu and Mayuge Local Governments of Uganda and Parliament of Kenya appreciated the work that is being done by OSSREA and commended the achievements so far and pledged to continue their support in the future. The workshop was successful in attaining the outcomes stipulated in the project implementation plan, which is to influence policy and practice towards youth-inclusive mechanisms in preventing and countering violent extremism in the IGAD region. Read the newsletter in the publication menu of the project window.

The Kenyan Baseline Report Published

The Youth-Inclusive Mechanisms in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism in the IGAD region study is a pragmatic research approach that employed mixed qualitative and quantitative methods in order to give voice to young people and the communities in which they live, and provide practical policy recommendations.

The first research activity in this project was to conduct a baseline study both in Kenya and Uganda in selected research areas. From these baseline studies the first book which is based on the research findings of the baseline study in Kenya was published by OSSREA. The book tried to answer the main research question: to what extend were mechanisms for preventing and countering violent extremism in the IGAD region youth inclusive? 

The book is comprised of nine chapters: Background and context, Research methodology, Terror attacks in Kenya, Drivers of Violent Extremism in Kenya, Global, Regional, National progress towards P/CVE, P/CVE interventions by State and Non-State Actors in Kenya, What has worked, not worked, and Why?, Building resilience to youth radicalization and violence and Conclusions and Recommendations. 

The book provides several conclusions and recommendations regarding youth-inclusive mechanism in P/CVE such as the need for multi-level engagement, viewing and engaging the youth as partners, recognizing human-rights approach to P/CVE, ensuring multi-stakeholder, multi-pronged and multi-layered approach in P/CVE for drivers of radicalization and violent extremism, adoption and integration of a soft power approach to P/CVE, the need to invest in social cohesion, the need to nurture and empower the youth and many others.

In compliance with the IDRC policy on open access which stipulates the need for full social and economic benefits of research in support of development should be available to everyone who could use it – and build on it – to improve people’s lives, OSSREA has made the full text of this book accessible on its website. 

Training Manual Developed

One of the major outputs expected from this project to lead to its scalability and sustainability, as indicated in the project proposal was a Training Manual. We have developed a training manual on Youth-led Interventions to P/CVE. The training manual comprises six modules: Introduction to the manual, Understanding Violent Extremism, Social Inclusion, Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism, How youth learn, Global, Regional and National interventions, Youth-Led Interventions in P/CVE, Software Approaches - Engaging the Digital Generation, Soft skills in P/CVE, Policy Makers Engaging the Youth to P/CVE. The manual will be used to train various stakeholders in P/CVE both in Kenya and Uganda. 

This manual has been piloted in various research sites and is undergoing revision. The final version of the manual will be published after incorporating the inputs from these pilot training. 

Training of Trainers Conducted

Trainer of Trainers workshop was conducted by OSSREA at the various research sites in both Kenya and Uganda. After the development of the draft manual, OSSREA decided to conduct a pilot training of trainers at the research sites using the draft manual. The objective of the pilot is to refine the training manual, enrich it with more local context as per the design of our project-the bottom-up, top-down approach. It was also in fulfillment of our objective: to carry out comparative research across countries and intra-country case studies because context matters in preventing and countering violent extremism. We adopted a Trainer of Trainers approach as for the multiplier effect and impact of this project. 

 This project was premised on the Community-based Participatory Appraisal Research Approach that values all stakeholders involved in the project from the beginning to the end. OSSREA, in collaboration with CEWARN-IGAD and PeaceNet for co-production of knowledge, was an innovative research approach. The Kenyan and Ugandan governments were committed to this research right from the project inception. The TOT was a great milestone because we were handing over the project to the governments and, youth-led institutions and local communities. With this in mind we requested the government of Kenya and Uganda to nominate trainees for the training of trainers. The governments were happy to be given this opportunity and nominated twenty participants for the ToT from security actors such as police, ministry of internal affairs, policy makers, youth leaders and CSOs. The ToTs were conducted in Kenya (Nairobi, Mombasa, and Garissa) and Uganda (Mayuge and Gulu). We conducted five ToTs in both countries. Twenty participants were nominated for the training at each country and district. All trainings were conducted for three days each.

We started the ToT on June 11, 2019 in Mayuge, Uganda. We were greatly honoured with the presence of the District Local Chairperson 5, together with the Deputy County Commissioner-Mayuge. They officially opened the training workshop. A representative of the King of Busoga closed the workshop. The second ToT was conducted in Gulu, Uganda and the District Local Chairperson 5 along with other representatives of the Ugandan government officially opened and closed the training workshop. The commitment of the Ugandan government, youth and local community leaders was admirable and should be emulated by others in similar capacity worldwide.  

In Kenya, on July 07, 2019, we started the training in Nairobi. The Nairobi county government nominated the trainees along with the National Security Steering Committee (NSSC). All the sub-counties of Nairobi were represented in the training. The training was officially opened by representatives from the Nairobi county government and the NSSC. The second training was conducted in Garissa. Here also the county government nominated trainees from various institutions. Officials from the county government and internal affairs officially opened the workshop. The third ToT was conducted in Mombasa. Just like the other ToTs the Deputy County Commissioner in collaboration with the Ministry of internal affairs nominated trainees. The Deputy County Commissioner officially opened the training. In all the ToTs in Kenya, the Kenyan report of the research was given to the various officials of the county and sub-county and internal affairs of Kenya. Highlights of the ToTs are available at the Twitter Page of OSSREA which is @OSSREA.  

National Dialogue Workshops

National dialogue workshops in Nairobi, Mombasa and Garissa with various stakeholders constituting of government, CSOs, academia, media were conducted by the research team of OSSREA, IGAD CEWARN and PeaceNet Kenya. The aim of dialogue workshops were to present preliminary findings of the baseline research study conducted in the three research areas in Kenya. The dialogue workshop in the three places were successful in terms of representation by various stakeholders and also the quality of discussions. The researchers have indicated that the report will be published after finalising the same kind of workshops in Uganda. 

CLICK HERE to Read More ... National Validation Workshops

Data Analysis and Report Writing

......

CLICK HERE to Read More ... Data Analysis and Report Writing

Baseline Study

The P/CVE Project research team comprised of Prof. Sunday Angoma, Dr. Truphena Mukuna, Mr. Alemu Tesfaye, Mr. Samuel Oando and Mrs. Lina Zedriga successfully completed the baseline study both in Kenya and Uganda. The research team covered Nairobi, Mombasa and Garisa for the Kenya Baseline study and Kampala, Mayuge, Gulu and Kitgum for the Ugandan baseline study. Currently the data collected from the research areas is being analysed.

CLICK on the LINK to Read More... Baseline Study

Research Methods Training

Research Methods Training was conducted in Mombasa from 10th April 2016 to 15th April 2016. The training capitalized on understanding how the intelligence skills can be deployed in order to ask the right questions and get right answers while collecting data. The second part of the training was to bring an academic who has knowledge about CVE methodology, which transcends beyond the conventional social science research methods. The objective of the training was to refine the CVE methodology and research tools, analysis and enhance the proper understanding of reporting. The research uptake strategy, monitoring and evaluation and the theory of change was revisited to check the connectivity with the entire research and empirical outfit that is to be expected. 

CLICK at the LINK to Read More...Research Methods Training

Inception Meeting

OSSREA in collaboration with IDRC, IGAD and PeaceNet-Kenya held an inception meeting to kick-of a project on countering violent extremism in the IGAD region with specific emphasis on Kenya and Uganda. The meeting took place from March 13 - 15, 2017 at Laico Regency in Nairobi Kenya for the Kenyan research and on May 29, 2017 at Hotel Africana for the Ugandan case. Videos of the inception meeting are available at the OSSREA YouTube channel. 

OSSREA Signed Grant Agreement with IDRC

OSSREA signed a grant agreement with the IDRC for the implementation of a three years research project entitled "Inclusive Mechanisms Targeting Youth for Countering Violent Extremism in the IGAD Region". The project will start on March 02, 2017 and is expected to end on March 02, 2020.