PAVE Network
In 2014 the Office of the National Security Adviser reached out to a number of civil society organizations based throughout Nigeria. With the close support of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Taskforce (UN-CTITF), the International Centre for Counter Terrorism (ICCT) and the Human Security Collective, the Office of the National Security Adviser hosted a meeting with over forty credible civil society organizations in October 2014. This led to the establishment of the Start-up Steering Committee, tasked with creating a formal CVE network. On the 1st of December 2014, at the second Start-up Steering Committee meeting, the name Partnership Against Violent Extremism (PAVE) was coined.
PAVE is a Nigerian Civil Society Network founded to foster coordination in Civil Society PCVE interventions, and enhance collaboration between government, civil society organizations (CSOs), community actors, and other non – state actors to prevent and counter violent extremism in Nigeria. It began as an initiative of the SAVE Project of the Office of the National Security Adviser in line with the emergent soft approach to preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE) aimed at identifying the underlying causes of radicalization: Social, Cultural, Religious, and Economic; andto develop strategies to address the problem.
PAVE works towards a sustainable and peaceful society where the remote and proximate causes of violent extremism are holistically addressed to prevent a relapse into violence. It seeks to achieve this by creating an inclusive network that reaches out to communities at the grassroots level and connects them to national and international actors in finding sustainable solutions to the underlying causes of violent extremism. This fits into the lager PCVE approach that seeks to raise awareness about the threat of violent extremism, as well as shape policy and programming.
Violent extremism emerges from a multitude of diverse fault lines such as religion, identity, geography and socio-economic factors. Violent extremism is a multi-dimensional problem that requires also a multi-faceted response. PAVE acknowledges the relevance of other disciplines such as security, development, accessible basic public services in health and education, etc, and believes it is essential that we combine our efforts with those from different sectors. However, PAVE will focus on PCVE-specific strategies in order to avoid duplication with other existing approaches.
We shall consistently seek out new, better and innovative ways of doing things, leveraging on and in-depth understanding of local and context specific knowledge to consistently come up with new and scalable approaches to PCVE in Nigeria.
We will develop partnerships and avenues for collaborations to enable us tap into complementary strengths even as we seek to develop and build synergies beneficial to our work. This we hope to achieve through consistent advocacy and stakeholders engagement. We will develop partnerships that are pro PCVE activities with government agencies, the private sector, specialist NGOs with complementary strengths, and selected research institutions even as we seek to develop and build synergies beneficial to our work.
We will consistently strive to acquire knowledge that will enable us become better and better at what we do.
As we work towards growth and consolidation of our presence in the PCVE space as laid out in this strategic plan, we will pursue more vigorously, funding opportunities. This is not just to enable us attain the much desired growth but for us to achieve more impact with our activities.
Our projects and programmes will be implemented using best practices. We will during the period covered by this plan deliberately pursue excellence in the way we deliver on our activities, projects and programmes, striving to be the best in what we do.
The purpose of this M&E approach is to track progress on programs and activities implemented, their efficiency and effectiveness at all levels towards entrenching the participation of women and youth in PCVE activities. This shall include the gathering of specific information on the lived experiences of women and youth in communities of intervention and what the differences between these experiences are.
MEAL strategies shall include: Regular Monitoring and reporting; Internal MEAL exercises before during and after program implementation; external evaluation at midterm and final stage of programs as well as joint evaluation with other similar structures and organizations. Joint assessment is also a good strategy to network and set common benchmarks for seamless global M&E and publication, which contributes to global advocacy.
Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) shall be an important component of all activities to be implemented under this thematic area to ensure that they are implemented within their scope and achieve the set targets. A needs assessment shall be conducted before designing any activity under this thematic area to ensure that we have a background upon which impact shall be measured. Members will regularly collect data from the field that will enable PAVE track the progress of work and also evaluate what is been implemented to ensure that it is in line with the indicators set out under each intervention. We will assess the impact of the project activities under this pillar using monitoring and evaluation tools such as guide questions for focus group discussions (FGDs), key informant interviews (KIIs) and surveys that we shall develop for each project. These tools will enable us gather data from stakeholders, partners and beneficiaries. Findings and data shall be documented and learning applied to improve subsequent programmes and activities.
For more information about PAVE Network Nigeria, Kindly Visit www.pavenetwork.org