Rising violent extremism threatens peace, stability, and hard-won development gains in Africa and the Arab States region-and evidence shows that stand-alone security responses are insufficient to address it. Solutions based in development are needed to tackle highly localized root causes of violent extremism, according to a new series of reports from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The three complementary reports of the series examine underlying drivers of violent extremism, from the tipping points that lead to recruitment to the spill-over impacts of extremism in border areas to the evolution, modus operandi, and business models of violent extremist groups. They shed new light on the phenomenon of violent extremism and offer new programmatic and policy responses to address it.
- The first study of the series is entitled "Perceptions, Vulnerabilities, and Prevention: Violent Extremism Threat Assessment in Selected Regions of the Southern Libyan Borderlands and North-Western Nigeria". It examines recruitment strategies employed by armed groups in borderland communities, as well as attitudes towards violent extremist groups and their associated values. By shedding light on popular perceptions, the study highlights common trends across the borderlands and provides a granular understanding of challenges. It also provides new data and analysis on the prevalence and severity of the drivers for violent extremism in selected regions of the Southern Libya borderlands. The study offers policy and programmatic recommendations for strategic coordination, early action, and responses to address structural issues and pull factors of violent extremism and to build resilience across communities in cross-border areas in Chad, Libya, Niger, Nigeria, and Sudan.
