STRADA Development Initiative

Engaging Borders Africa

Employing literature + arts in a soft approach to change perceptions of violent extremism, radicalization, and hate amongst Africa’s digital youth.

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The Story Behind Engaging Borders.

The Engaging Borders Africa project, designed by Nigerian writer, Richard Ali, works with writers and journalists to mainstream a soft approach to addressing violent extremism, disinformation and hate speech on the continent. 

Our aim is to resist the narratives to extremists by hosting thirty (30) counternarrative short stories crafted by young people from Nigeria, Mali, Niger Republic, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Kenya, and to produce three (3) short films. 

At the core of our pan-African project is a two-day MOOC-style virtual workshop on PCVE + Creative Writing delivered in English and French, backed by an extensive network of partners commited to an Africa of inclusion, cooperation, progress and development.

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Our Stories

Thirty short stories were written in the course of the Engaging Borders Africa project by writers, journalists and creatives drawn from Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Niger Republic, and Kenya. 

These young people underwent detailed training, in the form of a massive online open course (MOOC), on preventing and countering violent extremism and on the short story as a genre of expression. Three of these stories have been made into films under our filmmaking project. 

Read, leave a comment, share. And #StayEngaged

All our Stories HERE

From Our Community

"Violent extremism has no universally accepted definition. It's expoused by people with strong views on issues using or supporting ideologically motivated violence to achieve certain objectives."
Fanidh Sanogo
Burkina Faso
“Poverty, unemployment, ignorance, segregation, non-inclusion in economic advancement, poor governance, social exclusion, distortion of beliefs, disunity in society, social networks, victimization, are all pathways to the radicalization of young people in Africa.”
Uyadie Moses
Nigeria
"N'a pas de définition universellement acceptée, Quelqu'un avec des opinions bien arrêtées sur les problèmes, Utiliser ou soutenir la violence à motivation idéologique pour atteindre certains objectifs, Déployer la violence en permanence."
Souleymane Maiga
Mali
“Mes expériences dans le domaine de la PCVE ont été celles de la communication et de la sensibilisation à travers des pièces de théâtre dans différents lieux. L'atelier Engaging Borders m'a été très utile.”
Issa Maiga
Mali
“Story telling serves as a tool for change in the society. it is important as it acts as a mirror and a voice for a people.”
Wangari Lucy
Kenya
“Being empathic, balancing narratives and saying both sides of the conflict as it is while staying objective are very important in telling stories that are aimed at changing perceptions, especially of young vulnerable people who are the prime targets of extremist radicalization.”
Yasser Salim
Kenya

Engaging Borders Films

Watch Our Films Here

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