About the project

Resilience for Peace strengthens community resilience in northern Côte d’Ivoire.

Resilience for Peace is a five-year USAID-funded initiative to strengthen community resilience, learning, and civic and economic empowerment opportunities to prevent violent extremism in Côte d’Ivoire’s northern border areas.

With the steady expansion of violent extremism across the Sahel and into coastal West Africa, Côte d’Ivoire needs to focus critical resources and expertise on preventing and countering violent extremism, particularly in more isolated areas, bordering Burkina Faso and Mali.

EAI and partners Indigo-Côte d’Ivoire and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) work in 27 villages across five regions to strengthen community resilience and learning and empower youth and women to address the economic and social challenges that weaken their security and stability. Increased service provision, and civic engagement opportunities contribute to reducing marginalization and increase trust between government representatives and the communities they serve. With specific funding through the Global Fragility Act (GFA), EAI places an emphasis on facilitating the inclusion of Fulani communities, particularly women and youth, within local border communities. EAI also invests in 12 local radio stations and works with 60 social media influencers to increase positive narratives, and counter fake news. Local and international researchers address knowledge gaps through in-depth research and rapid action research, which builds strong understanding of context-specific dynamics and violent extremism for local communities, and national and international stakeholders.

Starting in June 2023, and as part of R4P’s resilience approach, EAI will work to prevent Gender-Based Violence (GBV) by engaging community leaders, and addressing harmful gender norms, and will provide legal, medical, and psycho-social services to GBV survivors.