Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

First Steps Towards Hearts And Minds? Usaid's Countering Violent Extremism Policies In Africa, Daniel P. Aldrich

PPRI Digital Library

The United States government has adopted new approaches to counter violent extremist organizations around the world. “Soft security” and development programs include focused educational training for groups vulnerable to terrorist recruitment, norm messaging through local radio programming, and job creation in rural communities. This article evaluates the effectiveness of one set of these multi-vectored, community-level programs through analysis of data from 200 respondents in two similar, neighboring cities in northern Mali, Africa. The data show that residents in Timbuktu who were exposed to the programming for up to five years displayed measurably altered civic behavior and listening patterns in comparison …