Quarterly Progress and Annual Performance Reporting Template (Eighth Quarterly Report, April – June 2012)

The program, which is a two-year initiative, aims to strengthen the ability of local, district, and provincial structures to address the causes of post-election violence and promote sustainable peace and reconciliation. LEAP II, the current program, began in July 2010 and covers eight districts of Rift Valley, namely Molo, Kericho East, Kericho West, Eldoret East, Wareng, Eldoret West, Keiyo, and Nandi North. The program has three related objectives: 1) strengthen sustainable mechanisms for conflict mitigation and reconciliation; 2) support community dialogues and implement joint development projects that build bridges among divided communities and demonstrate tangible benefits to coexistence; and 3) support youth integration and address a key cause of violence through youth leadership training, small-scale Cash-for-Work community reconstruction projects, and income-generation activities. During the eighth quarter of the program, which spanned from April to June 2012, significant progress was made in implementing youth income-generating activities, district peace committee strengthening, early warning and early response system training, community dialogues, and community reconstruction projects. The implementation of income-generating activities engaged 200 youth, exceeding the program's target by 366%. Additionally, 18 youth income-generating associations were linked with private sector mentors, reaching 135% of the program target. Community reconstruction projects, which aimed to promote coexistence and demonstrate tangible benefits to divided communities, reached 6,400 people in Nakuru, Kericho, and Eldoret. Following capacity building of district peace committees, educational events were conducted to teach the public on peacebuilding and conflict resolution. The district peace committees conducted 5 forums, totaling 35 during the life of the program. Mercy Corps' successful implementation of the program is attributed to sound planning and support from stakeholders, including local leaders, project committees, youth leaders, government line ministries, and officials. The program's capacity building approach has been adopted by the Ministry of Youth Affairs, which trains youth to mobilize resources on their own and imparts skills to help youth manage groups and projects. This approach has inculcated among youth the aspect of participation in decision-making and resource management, which was previously left to executive committees. The mentorship of youth groups by youth development coordinators has been fruitful, particularly in social transformation and empowerment of female youth. Those women who were mentored were capable of mentoring others, giving rise to the formation of women-led youth groups in Nandi North district. The mentor group is now a leading youth group in the area. The program's success is also attributed to the incorporation of projects into the monitoring work-plans developed by respective district development officers in the Ministry of Planning, complementing Mercy Corps' project monitoring process. The program's challenges included high expectations from communities and youth, availability of materials, inflation effects on budgets, and group dynamics. However, timely action by the district peace committees and synergized efforts of peace actors helped leverage the gains made since post-election violence.