Department of State Grant: Empowering Women Leaders for Countering Violent Extremism in Mali

Mali is a fragile state that lacks the capacity to effectively provide basic services and combat violent extremism throughout its territory. The lack of government services combined with trans-national organized crime in many areas of Mali has eroded trust in government. Women have been conspicuously under-represented in Mali’s governing bodies despite both UN and Malian constitutional requirements for women’s participation in all levels of governance. In the fight against terrorism in Mali, women’s role in both preventing violent extremism and as members of violent extremist groups has gone largely ignored. In order to support women as effective peace and security leaders, it is critical to understand the role women play in their communities in the context of violent extremist recruitment.  

The program aims to provide women community leaders with research-based understanding, training, and tools to identify, prevent, and disrupt violent extremism in their communities through community-scale, evidence-based, women-generated solutions. 

Objective 1: Thirty women community leaders from the fifteen regions of Mali will have the capacity to recognize the drivers of violent extremism, and lead trainings for other women in their communities to recognize the drivers for recruitment as well.

Objective 2: Work together with U.S. Embassy Bamako to mentor women leaders to build capacity around program management and project design, so that by September 2022 the community leaders will support a total of six CVE projects in high-risk communities funded through this award.

[Note: This award will make use of data collected in a separate project that will survey Mali’s major towns (with a strong focus on geographical areas of implementation) to identify the role that women play in violent extremism both as actors of prevention and as members of VEOs. The survey data will be used for this award, to inform and train women community leaders to recognize the drivers of violent extremism, and lead trainings for other women in their communities to recognize the drivers for recruitment as well. End note.]

Mali is a fragile state that lacks the capacity to effectively provide basic services and combat violent extremism throughout its territory. The lack of government services combined with trans-national organized crime in many areas of Mali has eroded trust in government. Women have been conspicuously under-represented in Mali’s governing bodies despite both UN and Malian constitutional requirements for women’s participation in all levels of governance. In the fight against terrorism in Mali, women’s role in both preventing violent extremism and as members of violent extremist groups has gone largely ignored. In order to support women as effective peace and security leaders, it is critical to understand the role women play in their communities in the context of violent extremist recruitment.  

The program aims to provide women community leaders with research-based understanding, training, and tools to identify, prevent, and disrupt violent extremism in their communities through community-scale, evidence-based, women-generated solutions. 

Objective 1: Thirty women community leaders from the fifteen regions of Mali will have the capacity to recognize the drivers of violent extremism, and lead trainings for other women in their communities to recognize the drivers for recruitment as well.

Objective 2: Work together with U.S. Embassy Bamako to mentor women leaders to build capacity around program management and project design, so that by September 2022 the community leaders will support a total of six CVE projects in high-risk communities funded through this award.

[Note: This award will make use of data collected in a separate project that will survey Mali’s major towns (with a strong focus on geographical areas of implementation) to identify the role that women play in violent extremism both as actors of prevention and as members of VEOs. The survey data will be used for this award, to inform and train women community leaders to recognize the drivers of violent extremism, and lead trainings for other women in their communities to recognize the drivers for recruitment as well. End note.]