CoVE-MENA Quarterly Performance Report (July 1, 2015 – September 30, 2015)

The program is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is managed by FHI 360, Civil Society and Peacebuilding Department. Research studies are a key component of the CoVE-MENA program. In the fourth quarter of 2015, the program completed its first research study on the topic of Women and Violent Extremism in the MENA region. The study provided new insights into the various roles that women play in violent extremism and offered recommendations for policymakers on how to address gender in Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programming. Training is another critical aspect of the CoVE-MENA program. In the fourth quarter of 2015, the program produced and submitted a report on the CVE training that took place in Nicosia, Cyprus in June 2015. The report included detailed information on workshop sessions and key workshop outputs and evaluation findings. Pilot activities are also an essential part of the CoVE-MENA program. In the fourth quarter of 2015, the program held its First Regional Workshop, entitled Participatory and Collaborative Approaches to Countering Violent Extremism, from September 7-10, 2015, in Casablanca, Morocco. The workshop was a success, with all activities being well-received and productive. The workshop has informed future pilot activities aimed at further collaboration, exchange, and capacity building of workshop participants. The CVE context in MENA is complex and challenging. The region has seen a continued moderate to high risk of violent extremism in various parts of MENA. The humanitarian crisis in Syria and Iraq has worsened, with an estimated 250,000 Syrians killed and more than 11 million displaced due to the past 4.5 years of civil war. Refugees have been forced to undertake arduous, dangerous journeys to leave Syria and surrounding areas, with most aiming to arrive in European countries. The situation in Syria has been further complicated by the conflict turning into a proxy war of sorts, with Iran, Russia, and Lebanon's Hezbollah supporting the Assad government, and Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Western states supporting Sunni-dominated rebel groups. Politicians, security forces, and development practitioners alike continue to be stymied by the civil war and how to respond to development needs. Several incidents over the past few months point to a continuing violent extremism risk in the Maghreb region in various ways. This includes an attack by a gunman in late June 2015 at a beach resort in Sousse, Tunisia that killed 38 (mainly foreign) individuals. Tunisia declared a state of emergency on July 4, 2015, which was not lifted until the first week of October. Tunisia is also by far the highest contributor of foreign recruits to Daesh. In neighboring Algeria, al Qaeda-affiliated gunmen attacked soldiers in Ain Defla in July 2015. Moreover, illegal traffickers in the region, particularly in Libya, continue to facilitate extremely dangerous sea journeys for sub-Saharan migrants hoping to leave from Africa to Europe. Many traffickers charge large sums of money for their services and swindle desperate migrants without following through on commitments. In Yemen, the Houthis, a group of Zaidi Shia rebels, gained control of several parts of the country, including the capital Sana'a, forcing internationally-recognized president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi to flee. Pro-Hadi forces retook several provinces in mid-July, with the support of Saudi-led coalition airstrikes. As a result of escalating violence in the past five months, approximately 4,500 civilians have been killed, 13 million people face food shortages, and 1.5 million individuals are internally displaced. The civil war has worsened an already unstable climate in a country wrought with corruption, unemployment, poor public service delivery, and sectarian conflict. In other similar contexts, civil war and such conditions have created an enabling environment conducive to violent extremism.