Mercy Corps in Somalia conducted research for a baseline report for its Somali Youth Leaders Initiative programme and tested some of the programme’s ToCs, uncovering two key findings which were considered to be counter-intuitive: 1) youth who are involved in civic engagement initiatives are less likely to endorse political violence, but are more likely to have engaged in such violence; and 2) youth who felt they had more economic opportunities were at greater risk of engaging in and supporting political violence, though actual employment status did not relate to propensity towards political violence. As a result, Mercy Corps adapted the programme to include a more peacebuilding approach and hands-on practical experiences into the civic education component of the intervention.

Source: Mercy Corps, Examining the links between youth economic opportunity, civic engagement, and conflict: Evidence from Mercy Corps’ Somali Youth Leaders Initiative, 2013.

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