Youth populations are booming, especially in Africa. As they do, it is ever more critical to identify what might lead them to violence and design programs that enable them to become productive, rather than destructive members of their communities.
It is a critical juncture and one that will require a new way of thinking than programs of the past, new forms of measurement, more research, more funding and a unified effort.
Last month, the U.S. government signaled that it was going to look with greater sophistication at the root causes of violence in a summit held at the White House about countering violent extremism. That was a good sign, but it remains to be seen if the discussion will in fact lead to more research and a greater focus on evidence-based approaches tackling the root causes of the issues.
About the author
Adva Saldinger@AdvaSal
Adva Saldinger is a Senior Reporter at Devex where she covers development finance, as well as U.S. foreign aid policy. Adva explores the role the private sector and private capital play in development and authors the weekly Devex Invested newsletter bringing the latest news on the role of business and finance in addressing global challenges. A journalist with more than 10 years of experience, she has worked at several newspapers in the U.S. and lived in both Ghana and South Africa.
