Basic Data
| Organization | Centre for Community Actions for Peace and Development CCAPAD |
| Country | Nigeria |
| State | Adamawa |
| Project Name | Utilizing Alternative to Violence Project (AVP) and Peace-building for CVE |
| Project implementing Areas (PIA) | Mubi North, Mubi South, Michika and Madagali LGAs |
| NERI grant number | ADM 103 |
| Approved Budget |
Progress Report
This project has submitted regular milestone reports to NERI. The milestone reports included:
- Activity report
- Activity plan
1.0 Project Description
1.1 Project Title
“Utilizing Alternative to Violence Project (AVP) and Peace-building for Countering violent extremism”
1.2 Brief Description
While the youths have comprised the bulk of recruits to violent extremist groups, they are also disproportionately affected by violent extremism. Boko Haram in Nigeria has capitalized on grievances of deprivation, disenfranchisement, and lack of opportunity to offer the illusion of solutions, all while sowing discord and further violence. However, the country has a vibrant civil society landscape where actors are working towards economic, political, and social change to prevent violent extremism.
The intensity of the Boko Haram’s capability of terror strikes is aided by the poorly coordinated Early Warning Monitoring and Response mechanisms by communities, leaving room for devastation and likely expansion of extremist ideas and activities as well as mistrust and lack of confidence between the various tribes and religious groups that had coexisted peacefully in the past.
To this effect, CCAPAD in collaboration with NERIis carrying out interventions in 8 communities of Mubi North, Mubi South, Michika and Madagali LGAs of Adamawa State, in the areas of Grassroots capacity development on Peacebuilding and Alternative to Violence Project (AVP) to counter violent extremism (CVE).
The project was funded by NERI, owned and implemented by the Centre for community Actions for Peace and Development (CCAPAD). Eight 8 target communities were selected for the alternative to violence project AVP based on a thorough analysis and discussion which would cover four local government areas of Adamawa State.
The major thematic areas under which the project was implemented were – trainings in Alternative to violence and peace building for 200 multi stakeholders.
1.3 Project Objective(s)
The objectives of the project were to:
- Facilitate a three phase training in alternative to violence project for 200 multi stakeholders from eight 8 target communities in Mubi North, Mubi South, Michika and Madagali LGAs
- Strengthen the capacity of these stakeholders to coordinate on community specific CVE activities.
1.4 Project Milestone(s)
The project has five milestones which were originally envisage and cited in the project documents. The five milestones were critically analyzed by CCAPAD and NERI and it was agreed that project would have the following milestones:
Milestone 1: Selection criteria which would be agreed with NERI state programme team.
Milestone 2: Advocacies to multi stakeholders and Mobilization in the target communities.
Milestone 3: Three Phases of Training on Alternative to Violence in Mubi North, Mubi South, Michika, Madagali.
Milestone 4: Training on Peace Building in Mubi North, Mubi South, Michika, Madagali.
Milestone 5: Peace Rally and Activity Completion.
2.0 Project Schedule and Major Events
The project officially started on May 2018 till July 2018 for a period of three Months. The following activities were planned and successfully carried out:
- Project Start up Meeting to formally Launch the project
- Advocacy to communities and selected key stakeholders for the project communities.
- Built the capacity of key stakeholders on alternative to violence project for countering violent extremism.
- Built the capacity of key stakeholders on peacebuilding.
- Conducted a Peace rally which created awareness on peaceful coexistence.
2.1 Project Start up Meeting:
This activity was held at the NERI office in Yola, Adamawa State on the May, 2018, to agree on the modalities of program implementation. The outcomes of the meeting are to sign the grant agreement, developed a detailed work plan of the project, deliberate on participants’ selection criteria and as well agree on the deliverables and the milestones schedules.
2.2 Advocacy Visits:
To facilitate the implementation of the project, Center for Community Actions for Peace and Development carried out advocacy visits to key stakeholders in Mubi North, Mubi South, Madagali and Michika between May 26th to May 30th, 2018. Highpoint of the activity was to intimate and introduce the Community Leaders and other stakeholders ( chairmen of the various local government, Chief of Staff to the various Local Government Council, Youth group, Chairman Muslim council, Chairman Christian Association of Nigeria, Women group, Commander Vigilante Group of Nigeria, Staff Office, Local Government Council ) to ADM 103; the use of peace building and Alternative to Violence methodology for countering violent extremism as well as seek for their support and buy-in on the project.
The advocacy visits paved the way for community buy-in of the project and of course made subsequent engagements with them effective. All stakeholders visited were met and supports, pledges, buy-in and commitments were secured.
2.3 Stakeholders Feedback during the advocacy Visits:
“ We appreciated how the organization included the two religious umbrella bodies as community stakeholders and a religious institution, we welcome this initiative and will give its support. He advised that critical stakeholders should also form part of the participants as it will go a long way in giving the concept of the project to the local citizenry ‘’ Rev. Bitrus Bewetri representative of CAN Mubi North.
“We expressed his gratitude for considering his LGA on a very important project like that of Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) adding that it could never have come at any better time that now. Complaining of not having enough resources to do much on that, he appreciated CCAPAD for coming to bridge the gap and promised his support for the highlighted activities.” Chairman Mubi South LGA.
“ I appreciate the team’s visit and committed her support on behalf of the women while she advised the organization not to be too far from the communities”. Christiana Emmanuel representing the CAN women wing Mubi South
Rev. Yohanna Anhenya commended the efforts of CCAPAD in thinking it ideal for people that were hit by the Boko Haram to have special trainings on how to counter violent extremism in their local communities using relevant technical skills learnt through trainings. He concluded that, they as an institution will give their support to the project. CAN representative Mubi South.
“Our major challenge here is our culture of silence, which is not helping us as a community. We hope that this training will helps to overcome as such challenges so that can give early warning signs”. Rev. Daniel Gaskiya from Bazza community
“There is a wide gap between the civilians and security personnel. This has to be bridged because it is discouraging us from reporting perpetrators of violence in our communities. Said Hamidu Umar the Secretary of the Muslim council Michika.
“The Executive Chairman of Michika said he appreciates the AVP initiative, and that they will be willing to key in into any project is beneficial to his people”.
“We are overwhelmed with the initiative even though the BH ideology is still lingering in some of our people. We hope to use this training from this from this project to step down the trainings and that they are keying into the project. It will go a long way in removing the residual ideologies in some of our people despite defeating BH’. Pastor Nicholas Chingoma CAN Madagali.
The chairman village head council, Alhaji Lawal Abubakar from shuwa community commended the efforts of the advocacy team and that AVP project is timely as our people at home are still uncertain and there is still distrust amongst the people of this communities. He advised that the two religious institutions should embrace this project so that we can bring back trust and confidence into our communities.
“I am very happy that this intervention is coming at this time but our challenge is that the two religious bodies need to work as a team with the support of the local government council management to see that even after the trainings we can walk into any community as one to boast the lost confidence in our people”.
Ali Abdulrahman from Shuwa community.
3.0 Capacity building training for key stakeholders on alternative to violence project for countering violent extremism.
CCAPAD in collaboration with NERIis carrying out interventions in 8 communities of Mubi North, Mubi South, Michika and Madagali LGAs of Adamawa State, in the areas of Grassroots capacity development on Peacebuilding and Alternative to Violence Project (AVP) to counter violent extremism (CVE). As a key activity, the Centre planned and implemented the Alternative to Violence Project (AVP) workshops to community stakeholders in the target communities.
Centre for Community Actions for Peace and Development, CCAPAD organized and implemented a four-day Alternative to Violence Project (AVP) Training from 20th to 28th /06/2018, for community stakeholders of Mubi North, Mubi South, Michika and Madagali LGAs.
The training brought together one hundred and Ninety-six (196) participants: one hundred and forty-eight (148) of them were males and forty-four (44) of them were females. It is beyond doubt that the training was organized and implanted at the best of times, in view of the inherent security challenges and the apparent gullibility of the beneficiaries. The participants came from the Local Government Councils, Muslim Council, Christian Association of Nigeria, Women group, Youth group, the Traditional Council and the Security.
During the training, the following topics were covered: Affirmation, Communication, Community Trust Building and Conflict Transformation.
3.1 Aim of the training
The aim of the workshop is to:
- Build the capacity community stakeholders in utilizing on Peace building and Alternative to Violence. These trainings had enabled the participants to be aware of how to counter extreme and violent ideologies in their communities, equipped with potentials to train and inform others as well as serve monitors and advocates of peace.
3.2 APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY:
A participatory approach was adopted whereby participants were provided with opportunities to interject and make contributions to issues under discussion and freely share their experiences with others throughout the four days training. Plenary discussions, group work and presentation by participants on key topics were also the methods deployed to make the activity qualitative and effective. Specific findings were drawn through the group works presented by the participants.
3.3 Training Sessions:
As designed, the training sessions were divided into four days breaking the topics into sequence as follows:
Day 1:
The methodology adopted for the training was a participatory approach which gives the participants the opportunity to make contributions, ask questions and answer questions. 196 participants attended the training. Day 1 of the training captured mostly the introductory part of the training where the overview of project/training was given. After the overview of the project, the following topics were discussed; affirmation, understanding conflict, escalation and de- escalation of conflict.
Day 2:
Day 2 of the training was attended by 196 participants and the following topics were covered; introduction to transforming power (TP), and sharing experiences on transforming power. Plenary sessions, group work, questions and answers sessions were also part of the training which encouraged the active participation of the participants. Each of the sessions was accompanied by a group task requiring participants to give their perspectives to the issues under discussion.
Day 3:
Days 3 of the training was attended by 196 participants. The training covered the following topics; conflict transformation, cooperation, role play exercise, group work, questions and answers sessions were also part of the training which encouraged the active participation of the participants.
Day 4:
Days 4 of the training which happens to be the last day of the training was also attended by 119 participants. The training covered the following topics; reflection exercise, open questions, affirmation exercise, role play grop task were also part of the training. And finally the entire training was evaluated.
3.4 Attendance across the entire local Government areas
Mubi North
The training brought in fifty (50) participants: thirty five (35) participants were males and fifteen (15) of them were females.
Mubi South
The training brought in fifty (50) participants: forty (40) participants were males and ten (10) of them were females.
Michika
The training brought in forty-six (46) participants: thirty-eight (34) participants were males and twelve (12) of them were females.
Madagali
The training brought in forty six (46) participants: thirty nine (39) participants were males and seven (7) of them were females.
The training was successfully conducted for 196 multi stakeholders with an average of 148 males and 44 females.
3.5 Findings from the workshop
- Though across the 4 LGAs, the two umbrella bodies of CAN and the Muslim Council in the local communities have a long history of mutual understanding, especially in Mubi North and Mubi South, same cannot be said about Madagali and Michika, where some level of mistrust and lack of confidence has been observed. There is therefore an urgent need to do some trust and confidence building interventions on the two important groups to avert outbreak of any potential conflict.
- There is a visible presence of Informal EWER structures in the community, anchored by the Vigilante and the Hunters Associations. Though active, they are inexperienced on the technical aspect of security provision, especially, on CVE. This training provided however, is seemingly very timely as it will go a long way in addressing those challenges.
- Generally, perceived Injustice in the system has been the contributing factor to the violent ideologies in the communities.
- With the 2019 General elections approaching, politicians are politicizing most interventions in the communities for their selfish political gains.
3.6 Challenges
- The presence of women was not strongly felt in the training because the ones in attendance were mostly shy and timid.
- Higher number of participants turn out for the training but had to be thoroughly screened and reduced.
- The instability of electricity in some of the training areas forced us to resort to the use of generator, whose sound sometimes interfere with the trainings.
- Because of the fluctuation of currents from the generator, it almost affected our projector but our facilitators had to improvise with flip charts and markers.
- The existing curfew in some part of Madagali affected the opening and closing time of the training as the time table had to be adjusted to suit it.
- Some of the participant could not read or write and this hindered them from effective participation during the training.
- Despite several appeals, the participation of women has been discovered to be very poor, because of the problem of power imbalance as reflected on the attendance.
- Owing to the acceptability of the project by the communities, there was a high influx of uninvited participants hoping to be admitted, but had to be strictly regulated.
Photo Gallery on AVP
| A female participant making inputs during the training. |
| Cross section of participants during a group task. |
| Group photograph of participants on the AVP training, Mubi North |
Mubi North
| A representative of youth CAN giving his contribution during the training session |
| Cross section of women during the AVP training |
| Group photograph of participants, Mubi south |
Mubi South
Madagali
| A female participant making group presentation after a group task |
| Group photograph of participants |
| Participants deliberating on issues raised during the training |
Michika
| Group photograph of participants |
| Making contribution on non inclusion of women in decision making at the community level |
| A participant sharing his experiences on resolving conflicts |
4.0 Capacity building training for key stakeholders on Peace building for countering violent extremism.
The Centre for Community Actions for Peace and Development planned and implemented the Peace-building workshops for community stakeholders in the target communities.
The aim of the workshop is to build the capacity community stakeholders in utilizing Peace building and Alternative to Violence. These trainings had enabled the participants to be aware of how to counter extreme and violent ideologies in their communities, equipped them with potentials to train and inform others as well as serve monitors and advocates of peace.
This report captures the proceedings of the four days Peacebuilding training workshops organized by the Centre for Community Actions for Peace and Development, CCAPAD, in four local government areas of Adamawa State.
The training brought together one hundred and Ninety-six (196) participants: one hundred and forty-eight (148) of them were males and forty-four (44) of them were females. It is beyond doubt that the training was organized and implanted at the best of times, in view of the inherent security challenges and the apparent gullibility of the beneficiaries.
The participants came from the Local Government Councils, Muslim Council, Christian Association of Nigeria, Women group, Youth group, the Traditional Council and the Security.
4.1 Approach and Methodology:
A participatory approach was adopted whereby participants were provided with opportunities to interject and make contributions to issues under discussion and freely share their experiences with others throughout the four days training. Plenary discussions, group work and presentation by participants on key topics were also the methods deployed to make the activity qualitative and effective. Specific findings were drawn through the group works presented by the participants.
4.2 Training Sessions:
As designed, the training sessions were divided into four days breaking the topics into sequence as follows:
Day 1:
The methodology adopted for the training was a participatory approach which gives the participants the opportunity to make contributions, ask questions and answer questions. 196 participants attended the training. Day 1 of the training captured mostly the introductory part of the training where the overview of project/training was given. After the overview of the project,
the following topics were discussed; understanding conflict, conflict analysis, skills for peacebuilding, connector and divisor, gender and peacebuilding.
Day 2:
Day 2 of the training was attended by 196 participants and the following topics were covered; skills for peace building; mapping tool and conflict layer. Plenary sessions, group work, questions and answers sessions were also part of the training which encouraged the active participation of the participants. Each of the sessions was accompanied by a group task requiring participants to give their perspectives to the issues under discussion.
Day 3:
Days 3 of the training was attended by 196 participants. The training covered the following topics; cconectors and dividers of peace and conflict in local communities role play exercise, group work, questions and answers sessions were also part of the training which encouraged the active participation of the participants.
Day 4:
Days 4 of the training which happens to be the last day of the training was also attended by 119 participants. The training covered the following topics; peacebuilding, peacebuilding and gender, resolving conflict, role play group task were also part of the training. And finally the entire training was evaluated.
4.3 Attendance across the entire local Government
Mubi North
The training brought in fifty (50) participants: thirty five (35) participants were males and fifteen (15) of them were females.
Mubi South
The training brought in fifty (50) participants: forty (40) participants were males and ten (10) of them were females.
Michika
The training brought in forty-six (46) participants: thirty-eight (34) participants were males and twelve (12) of them were females.
Madagali
The training brought in forty six (46) participants: thirty nine (39) participants were males and se
ven (7) of them were females.
The training was successfully conducted for 196 multi stakeholders with an average of 148 males and 44 females.
4.4 Findings from the workshop
- Series of Early Warning signs which include heavy presence of strange faces and conduct of nocturnal meetings, distribution of forms of interest free loans, letters of warning of impeding attacks among others prior to the advent of the Boko Haram insurgency presented themselves but were ignored by the people and to an extent, even the Authorities concerned.
- Both religious umbrella bodies are planning to have a network which will be meeting to see that those trying separate them do not penetrate them.
- The Boko Haram insurgency had left a deep trauma and abject poverty in its trails, with the people wallowing in hunger and confusion, and taking refuge and consolation in criminalities.
- Drug abuse and HIV and Aids are steadily in the increase and serious interventions will be needed to address them.
Photo Gallery on Peace Building
| A female participant making inputs during the training. |
| Cross section of participants in the first day of the training |
| Participant highlighting security situation in the community |
Mubi North
| A moment of reflection |
| Female participants during a group task |
| Cross section of members of steering committee |
Mubi South
| Group photo |
| CAN chairman sharing his experiences during the training. |
| Participants during the Labeling exercise |
Madagali
| A female participant making inputs during the training. |
| Cross section of participants in the first day of the training |
| Participant highlighting security situation in the community |
Michika
5.0 The Peace Rally
5.1 Background
This report captures the proceedings of the one day peace rally organized by the Centre for Community Actions for Peace and Development, CCAPAD, across four local government areas of Adamawa State.
The overall objectives of this activity are to create awareness on the importance of peacebuilding and Personal Transformation (AVP) as tools of preventing violent extremism and ideologies in vulnerable communities of Adamawa State, Nigeria.
5.2 Aim(s)
The peace rally was aimed at creating awareness on constructing engagement of the community stakeholders in countering violent extremism and ideologies, and promoting peaceful coexistence in the eight (8) target communities of Mubi North, Mubi South, Madgali and Michika. It is also intended to use the publicity of the activity to increase support for peace processes and raise the number of peace-building actors in the Adamawa State.
5.3 Target group
Participants at the rally were members of women groups, youth groups, vigilante group, staff working with the local Government Council, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the Muslim council (MC) who participated in both AVP and peace building training workshops and other impressed members of the
public attracted and impressed by the Rally initiative. The peace rallies consisted of more than 200 participants from the project implementation communities.
5.4 The Rally
Across the communities, the walk began at 8:30am from the various venues of the workshops with participants trekking through strategic public points and terminating at homes and palaces of selected district heads across the four local government areas of the state.
Accompanied by the Security joined by local spectators and admirers, at least more than 200 people took part in the carefully organized walk, distributing and waving Peace campaign posters with the captions, ‘We are for peace’, ‘working for peace together saying no to extremism and terrorism’ ‘working towards a violent free community” and encouraging peaceful coexistence between and among all members.
5.5 Feedback during the Rally
On behalf of the Emir of Mubi, the District Head of Mubi and the Magajin Gari, Mubi North Alh. Abubakar Muhammad Bello, expressed his profound appreciations to CCAPAD for organizing and the Funders for the laudable initiatives saying that the level of expertise and coordination demonstrated at the rally is one of its kind and worth emulating by others. He however, advised CCAPAD to expand the outreach of the project beyond the current local government areas for more people to benefit.
In Mubi South the District Head, Jauro Ishaku Baffa advised all participants present at the rally to respect the rights of other people and lend his voice on the call by ADM 103 that people should not allow themselves to be used as agents of destruction by the Boko Haram sect and other evil minded groups, reminding them of the hardships faced as consequences. He pleaded with all the youth leaders, opinion-molders and all other critical stakeholders involved to stop inciting masses to hate or suspect one another, just to achieve their own selfish objectives. This project he added, could never have come at any better time than now, stressing that despite the horrific experiences from the insurgency, the people still appear to be vulnerable and urged them to put to good use the knowledge acquired from the trainings for the good of their communities.
In Michika, the Village Head, Abubakar Mukaddas in his address to the crowd, lamented that the district is more vulnerable because of its deep rooted ethnic and religious divisions which gave rise to mistrust and suspicion between the inhabitants, among other things. These differences he continued, were some of the factors that aided Boko Haram when they came in, before they slowly poison the minds of the people and arm them with weapons later. As the people are innocent, illiterate and poor their vulnerable conditions became exploited by these groups. He urged the people to be security conscious and not to allow themselves to be used by these groups again, should they resurface in any other form. He thanked the organizers for their initiatives and their efforts in seeing that peace return to the affected communities.
While addressing the rally at his residence in Gulak, Madagali LGA, the Executive Chairman, Hon. Yusuf Muhammad, was full of praises and appreciations for the organizers and in particular, on the criteria for the selection of participants and the training contents they had designed and implemented. He encouraged the enthusiastic participants on “Commitment to making peace possible “campaign in Madagali.
We are saying, no to those who perpetrate this inhuman act in the name of boko haram against the people of Madagali. He motivated them thus: ‘’Let’s report any suspicious person to the security personnel, let all the religious umbrella bodies unite as one to fight the insurgents as they are neither Muslims nor Christians but disguised themselves as Muslims. “My idea of peace is we need to know each other and build bridges,” said honorable Yusuf. “Problems come when we don’t know each other. If we can join hands we can form bigger platforms’’, he concluded.
Conclusively, the Rally was a big success as all the critical stakeholders from the Religious, Traditional, Political, women, Men, Youths and Security Groups were constructively engaged in the peacebuilding processes of Designing, implementing and advocating for Alternative to Violence in the conflict prone communities of Mubi North, Mubi South, Michika and Madagali Local Government Areas of Adamawa
Photo Gallery on Peace Rally
| Group photograph with the district head of Mubi North |
Mubi North
| An elderly woman happily joined the rally team |
| Vibrant youth leading the peace rally team heading to the palace of the district head (Magajin Gari) |
| Group photograph with one of the Juaro in Mubi South |
| Participants walking through the street during the peace walk |
| Participants flying their poster at the peace really |
Mubi South
Madagali
| Group photograph with the chairman of Madagali |
| A member of the CAN women wing sharing pamphlets during the peace walk. |
| Cross section of participants in the street of Madagali |
Michika
| Key Community stakeholders at the forefront of the Michika LGA Peace Rally. |
| Group of women going through the security tips on the pamphlet. |
| A youth reading Peace Rally pamphlet. |
6.0 Challenges:
- Poor service coverage from the telecom providers to allow for effective communication
- Fewer number of women during the advocacy visit in most of the communities which is attributed cultural believes in which women are not allowed participate let alone speak in public in the midst of men.
- Access Road to the communities not too good in case of emergency or security threat i.e. entry and exit routes not well defined.
- The community of Mudang is in Mubi South and not Mubi North, which technically means that about 75 participants out of the hundred will be coming from Mubi South.
- There was a very high turnout of participants for the trainings at the various LGAs, higher than the invited and shortlisted participants as pointer to the acceptance of the programme by the stakeholders.
- The instability of electricity in some of the training areas forced us to resort to the use of generator, whose sound sometimes interfere with the trainings.
- The presence of women was not strongly felt in the training because the ones in attendance were mostly shy and timid but had to be persistently persuaded to participate.
The curfew time in some parts of Madagali affected the time for starting and ending training, as it had to be adjusted to suit the situation.
7.0 Lessons learnt
- Articulate community engagements that involve the grassroots and beneficiaries as critical Stakeholders during planning, becomes very easy to implement during implementation.
- Adoption of Community Participatory Adult learning methodology during the trainings helped in enlightenment and receipt of feedbacks from participants especially in constant engagement of the beneficiaries.
- It is important to start changes within the system, to advocate for women rights within the work place or politics in order to create opportunities for gender equality.
- The participants said that psychological support for people affected by the Boko Haram insurgency is lacking and more emphasis needs to be put on it.
8.0 Recommendations
- Owing to the high importance of the programme and the derivable benefits by the participants, the need to scale up the training to other vulnerable communities has been identified and strongly advocated for.
- A specific training need on Trauma Healing is also identified as many people are still traumatized from their experiences with Boko haram.
- This Peacebuilding model unique as it is, should be extended to schools to maximize impact on the young minds. An extended Interfaith dialogue supported by NERI, should by organized by CCAPAD to wider groups outreach.
- In view of the long devastating experiences of the Boko Haram insurgency on the North-Eastern States of Nigeria, principally Adamawa State and more precisely, Mubi North, Mubi South, Michika and Madagali local Government Areas, the people are still very heavily traumatized of the horrible experiences and are left poorer for it.
Virtually all the Men, Women and Youths categories are seemingly wallowing in unemployment, abject poverty, and very vulnerable to drug abuse, prostitution and criminality.
As an emphasis, we hereby recommend to NERI to extend the ADM 103 project to schools as Peace Clubs to introduce the young minds into peacebuilding and to as a matter of urgency, organize interreligious dialogue sessions and conferences to dowse the tension and rebuild trust and confidence of the grassroots.
Also, as an extension on the ADM 103, Skills acquisition and empowerment programmes should be approved so that the youths, the women and other vulnerable groups can be supported to be resilient to financial inducement to crimes by groups like the Boko Haram or the ISWAP