Annual Report #3: Engaging Communities for Peace in Nigeria (ECPN)

The program, implemented by Mercy Corps, began on June 8, 2015, and is set to end on June 6, 2019. The program's geographic coverage includes Adamawa, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Yobe, and other states in the Northeast region. The program's main objective is to build the capacity of communities to resolve disputes peacefully, increase trust between communities across lines of division, develop joint community and government conflict management plans, and strengthen the organizational and technical development of civil society organizations (CSOs). To achieve these objectives, the program focuses on three core theories of change: bringing people together to peacefully resolve shared challenges, building relationships and economic interdependence, and monitoring and preventing conflict. The program's implementation involves several key interventions, including capacity building for farmer and pastoralist communities, quick impact projects, impact evaluation, and research on the underlying causes of farmer-pastoralist conflict. The program also includes a substantial capacity building program targeting influential local CSOs with mandates in peacebuilding and conflict management/mitigation. The program's indicators and targets are outlined in the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) plan, which includes metrics such as the percentage of conflicts reported, the number of disputes resolved, the percentage of participants who report social cohesion, and the number of new groups or initiatives created. The program's progress is tracked through quarterly reports, which provide an update on the program's achievements and challenges. As of the end of the reporting period (September 30, 2018), the program had achieved significant progress in several areas, including a 78.6% achievement of the annual target for reducing violence between farmers and pastoralists, a 77.4% achievement of the target for increasing the capacity of communities to resolve disputes, and a 93.0% achievement of the target for increasing trust between communities across lines of division. The program's capacity building program for CSOs has also shown significant progress, with 45% of target CSOs having effective monitoring and evaluation systems as a result of USG-supported training or capacity building events. The program's impact evaluation and research activities are ongoing, and the results will be used to inform future programming and policy decisions. Overall, the ECPN program is making significant progress in reducing violence between farmers and pastoralists in Nigeria's Middle Belt states, and its impact is expected to be sustained over the longer-term through the development of local capacity and the establishment of a network of local partners with the capacity to apply for grants from international donors and implement high-quality peacebuilding programs.