Nonviolence and Civic Education among IDPs in Somalia

• In Event: Reintegration and Reconciliation in the Wake of Islamist Armed Conflicts

Abstract

We present results of a randomized control trial (n=1,100) of a program to foster nonviolence and democratic values in young men aged 18-30 in internal-displacement camps in Kismayo and Baidoa Somalia. The program sought to achieve this goal in two ways. First it attempted to break cycles of violence and revenge by offering Worthington’s REACH forgiveness curriculum, which is designed to help recipients emotionally heal from past hurts. Second, we offered a curriculum called Universal Curriculum against Radicalization in Europe (UCARE) which teaches skills for nonviolent democratic civic participation. We employed a crossover design to test the independent effects of each curriculum. We used a mine risk education program, which contains no obvious forgiveness or civic participation elements as a placebo and we also conducted a no-program control/unconditional cash transfer sample.

Authors

• Michael J. Gilligan, New York University

• Prabin Khadka, University of Essex

• Peter B. Vining, Naval Postgraduate School