First Steps Towards Hearts and Minds? USAID’s Countering Violent Extremism Policies in Africa

Countering violent extremism Terrorism Education

The United States government has adopted new approaches to counter violent extremist organizations around the world. ‘‘Soft security’’ and development programs include focused educational training for groups vulnerable to terrorist recruitment, norm messaging through local radio programming, and job creation in rural communities. This article evaluates the effectiveness of one set of these multi- vectored, community-level programs through data from 200 respondents in two similar, neighboring towns in northern Mali, Africa.