The Gender Differentiated Drivers of Violent Extremism project fills a knowledge gap about how regional factors and drivers related to violent extremism differ among men and women in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The findings and lessons learned will inform more effective policies and programs to prevent and counter violent extremism.
As of 2019, more than 10 violent extremist organizations were operating across Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger and were collectively responsible for more incidents in 2018 alone than those observed between 2009 and 2015. Existing research explores many of the regional factors contributing to the growth of violent extremism, including conflict over natural resources, interethnic polarization, weak or absent governance and abuses by security sector forces. However, it is not well understood how these factors play out differently for men and women, which impedes efforts to ground policies and programs to in the local context. Understanding the localized and gendered drivers of violent extremism is critical for policymakers to design effective prevention and countering strategies.
FHI 360 will fill this knowledge gap by examining drivers and interactions with gender in the Liptako-Gourma region shared by Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The mixed methods research study will consist of:
- A quantitative study examining the effects of individual characteristics and context on male and female attitudes
- A comparative qualitative study generated from focus group discussions and key informant interviews that unpacks the relationship between male and female attitudes
