The main objective of the study is to engage with a wide range of stakeholders in northern Cameroon, including government agencies, security forces, media organizations and (I)NGOs, among others, to better understand terrorism and efforts to counter violent extremism, as outlined in the sub-objectives below:

1. To obtain an overview of the terrain of violent extremism in Cameroon in the north of the country, including situations along the northern border with Nigeria, Chad, and Niger, as well as government responses to P/VEC concerns.
2. Identify the VEOs of greatest concern in the different geographical areas, as well as their operational procedures, recruitment tactics and plans.
3. To better understand how the various actors in northern Cameroon perceive the international community’s support for preventing and combating extremist violence.
4. To study security sector operations in northern Cameroon, as well as community interactions and public opinion.
5. To gain a better understanding of the media consumption patterns of different actors.

To achieve these objectives, the study used a mixed-method approach involving desk research and individual interviews. The desk research examined published and unpublished reports, legislation, other legal instruments, and initiatives in the regions of Northern Cameroon on the prevention and fight against violent extremism, social cohesion, and reconciliation processes. This provided the team with a solid basis for developing research tools as well as opportunities to describe and analyze the data collected through primary sources. Although not included in the discussion guides, the WPS, the YPS, the policy framework and the National Action Plan for the Prevention and Countering of Violent Extremism were given additional weight in the desk study to ensure that the researchers understood the context in which the respondents were operating.

The KIIs were conducted with:

• National and local government representatives,
• Personal security,
• journalists and civil society.

All interviewees were involved in initiatives working on P/VEC and promoting the participation of women and youth in peace processes. The results of the interviews were then triangulated with the results of the desk research to get a holistic view of the situation on the ground.

Target audience of KIIs

The stakeholders and organizations targeted for this study were:

• Government representatives such as the Deputy Sub-Prefect of the city of Maroua, the Deputy Mayor, Head of Finance of the City Council of the city of Maroua and the Prefectural Deputy of the city of Mokolo.
• Security officials were drawn from the Cameroon National Army, based in the cities of Kolofata, Kousseri, Maroua and the Cameroon National Police.
• Media representatives included freelance reporters and editors from various television and radio stations, independent writers.
• Representatives of international organizations included members of organizations such as Care International, the NGO Creative, UNFPA, FHI and IOM.

Data analysis

To simplify the analysis, the discussion guide was divided into three sections:

• (1) understanding the local environment and the VE landscape;
• (2) international community response and views on interventions; and
• (3) media consumption patterns.

The results were then analyzed using a simple process called ‘information mining’. The analysis was broken down by audience segment, into the three categories mentioned above, and this is how the results are presented in this report. Literature researches were considered throughout the analysis to add any necessary contextual information or weighting.

Implementation area:

• Cameroon,
• Niger,
• Nigeria