Finding innovative ways to amplify moderate voices.
One aim of the Peace through Development II (PDev II) program in Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso is to decrease the risk of violent extremism (VE) by empowering youth as messengers of moderate, self-produced media. Through radio, print, mobile cinema and community theater, youth trained by PDev II are able to effectively deliver their messages to audiences throughout the region. In an attempt to explore other media outlets, Equal聽Access, a program partner, conducted a survey on current media activity. Some of their key findings are laid out in the infographic below.
This information is being used to drive PDev II鈥檚 current social media initiative with an聽aim of聽creating a sustainable community of youth leaders equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to produce high-quality, sustainable social media platforms and content.聽Through training sessions, youth learn聽how to effectively create, operate and manage social media accounts.聽The program focuses聽most of its efforts on Facebook, the most popular聽social media platform in the implementation region, and aims to build regional networks of like-minded youth through locally and internationally managed pages. With support from聽youth messengers and program staff, this initiative extends聽the digital presence of PDev II and collects critical metrics leading to an improved understanding of the opportunities and limitations of social media in the program region.