The program was finalized on 31 March 2022 and a final evaluation concluded that the regional PVE project has built credible and productive partnerships and achieved initial outputs and outcomes. The project remains relevant to the African, sub-regional, and country context where the project has worked with UNDP COs, national governments, CSOs, and communities as well as regional and sub-regional institutions.
Key lessons included that:
- Livelihoods support can provide concrete gains in addressing the root causes of VE;
- Unintended negative effects from PVE activities can be and have been avoided; Addressing divided communities contributes to PVE;
- Media approaches can work on PVE in areas with high illiteracy rates;
- Research supports better results and sustainability;
- Working with and through regional and sub-regional institutions is effective; and Working with and through RECs support sustainability.
Recommendations from the evaluator included:
- Follow an integrated approach that supports PVE at multiple levels;
- Continue to patiently develop constituencies for PVE, including by embedding a PVE-lens into concepts of stabilization, resilience, reintegration, and climate security;
- Continue PVE Research in partnerships with community based actors as one of the key components of PVE programming;
- Explore ways to broaden and scale up PVE support to sub-regional civil-society;
- Continue to build systematically on UNDPs comparative advantages through working with state institutions and governments in PVE;
- Consider ways to build on programming with regional institutions, approaches to gender that consider masculinities, ways to increasingly use digital communications for PVE, incorporate behavioral insights into PVE, and to develop a comprehensive whole of society PVE approach.
Comment: It is hard to assess if the objectives have been met. In part yes they were met, because the strategic work on developing papers, research, policies and workshops have initiated discussions and strategic thinking and planning within national governments and regional entities such as the AU RECs, LCBC and CSOs. There are individuals and communities that have benefited from the programme activities, although it's harder to measure individual behavioral impact and societal change. It is also difficult to assess if the various target groups are able to deal with PVE now in their communities or measure increased trust. At the same time the answer can be no, because it is such a complex and long-term task to work with prevention of violent extremism and mitigation. It is a task impossible to achieve in four years. In addition the security situation in many regions of Africa has worsened and violent extremism is on the rise, with different groups adapting modus operandi and also the inter-linkages with organized crime and smuggling changing the basis for how to deal with this security threat, which is also contextual although having linkages to weak governance, poverty and lack of human rights.
