Winners or losers? Assessing the contribution of youth employment and empowerment programmes to reducing conflict risk in Nigeria

This report looks at whether Nigeria’s youth – and by extension the country as a whole – stand to be winners or losers from the overall government response to unemployment at different tiers.

This report was commissioned by the Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme (NSRP), a five-year programme funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) that has the overall goal of reducing violent conflict in Nigeria.

Specifically, it is concerned to establish whether the portfolio of programmes referred to as youth employment and empowerment initiatives are actually likely to contribute to a reduction in violent conflict. The report provides evidence and recommendations for future programming that incorporate lessons from both the successes and challenges of existing interventions.

It will serve as a platform on which NSRP can build its own interventions over the next four years, and is also intended as a contribution to the urgent task of renewing Nigeria’s effort to tackle its youth unemployment challenge, so as to foster peace and stability.