Understanding Youth Violence : Cases from Liberia and Sierra Leone
Addressing youth issues is essential to promoting stability and preventing violence in fragile and conflict-affected states. However, there is little evidence that youth programming and policies have helped reduce violence in these settings. This c...
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| Language: | English en_US |
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Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/06/19330631/understanding-youth-violence-cases-liberia-sierra-leone http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18244 |
| Summary: | Addressing youth issues is essential to
promoting stability and preventing violence in fragile and
conflict-affected states. However, there is little evidence
that youth programming and policies have helped reduce
violence in these settings. This can reflect the lack of
understanding about youth issues and how problems affecting
them encourage their participation in violence. This study
set out to understand youth violence in Liberia and Sierra
Leone, two countries in which there has historically been a
great deal of youth participation in group violence, where
the risk of youth mobilization into violence persists, and
where interpersonal and gender-based violence are still a
concern. In addition to having young populations, both
countries have governments that have emphasized improving
youths' lives by both reducing poverty and preventing
violence. In turn, programming and policies in these (and
many other conflict-affected) countries tend to be focused
on employment generation due to the assumption that youth
become prone to violent behavior as the result of economic
exclusion (their inability to achieve a stable source of
livelihood). The findings from this study will be useful to
help governments (particularly of fragile and
conflict-affected states) and donors better understand youth
issues, design more effective interventions to address youth
violence, and promote longer-term stability. The report
begins with a review of literature on existing theories of
youth exclusion and drivers of youth violence, with a
greater focus on history of violence in West Africa. It
proceeds with an outline of the study methodology for data
collection, sample selection, and analysis. The analysis
follows, highlighting key findings. The report concludes
with recommendations for policies and youth programming. |
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