Northern Cameroon Initiative (NCI) / Programme d’Appui à l’Initiative Communautaire (PAIC)

in the Far North region of Cameroon. Funded by the United States Agency for International Development's Office of Transition Initiatives (USAID/OTI), the program aims to stabilize communities affected by the Boko Haram/ISIS-WA crisis and support Cameroonian-led initiatives for the reintegration of ex-Boko Haram/ISIS-WA affiliates. The program's objectives are achieved through four sub-objectives: helping returnees resume life in their communities of origin, increasing youth engagement, preparing communities for reintegration, and promoting exchanges of experiences and planning for community reintegration among local and regional leaders and authorities. The program has focused considerable resources on intensifying programming around Lake Chad due to the increasing intensity of the ISIS-WA crisis in the Lake Chad Basin. A satellite office was opened in Logone et Chari in 2019 to support this effort. Community theater performances were staged in Amchide, Ganse, Kolofata, and Kerewa, leading to discussions among the local population on the subject of the reintegration of former Boko Haram/ISIS-WA affiliates. The success of this activity has led to future planned participatory theater activities in 12 more villages in the Far North. Solar lighting was installed in Fotokol, a village in the Far North, to improve security at night. Better lighting resulted in several positive outcomes, including the promotion of commercial activity, improved educational opportunities for youths, and greater social cohesion in the village. These social network effects were not anticipated beforehand, and the program is now better able to design similar solar light activities elsewhere in the Far North with a greater degree of intentionality to gain trust among certain communities. Community engagement has continued after program activity completion in several communities where PAIC has worked. Beneficiaries have used leftover equipment to perform road extensions and formed community lending schemes for those in need. These activities demonstrate the ability of PAIC's activities to generate sustained community engagement in its partner communities. The program continues to implement activities in coordination with USAID/OTI's Lake Chad Basin programs and has developed a lexicon of DDR terms and concepts for the Lake Chad Basin area to standardize terms and unify plans and actions concerning DDR. The program cleared 39 activities between October 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019, with an estimated value of $2,065,633.97. Staffing changes during this period included the departure of seven staff members, promotion of three staff members, and hiring of ten new staff members.