Building Resilience in Civil Society (BRICS) for Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) in East Africa is managed by DAI Europe and funded by the UK Government’s Conflict, Stabilization and Security Fund (CSSF). Between January and August 2016, Usalama Reforms Forum in collaboration with CRI-EA (as technical partner to lead monitoring, evaluation and learning) rolled out a pilot project under “Strengthening Institutional Engagements and Countering Violent Extremism in Kenya’’. Usalama Reforms Forum is a campaign and voluntary coordination space for organizations and institutions interested in community safety, security and accountable policing in Kenya.

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The project which was piloted in Eastleigh (Nairobi), Garissa town and Kondele (Kisumu), aimed at reducing radicalization, managing impact of violent extremism, building community resilience and strengthening institutional engagements. Its specific objectives were to; - reduce radicalization of the youth in target project locations; build community resilience in coping with effects of terror; promote institutional capacities of security agencies to engage in crime and violence prevention and; improve interaction between local communities and security agencies. Most aspects of this pilot were successful and are being considered for extension by DAI-BRICS.

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Some of the outstanding outputs/achievements of the pilot project include: -

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1. Successful MEL mentor ship and coaching by CRI for Usalama Staff in the three project locations; leading to clear baseline & monitoring indicators for tracking of achievement of the project during implementation; with MEL tools for capturing and communicating project results.

2. Robust early warning system through Utumishi Sauti Mashinani Platform which has led to dramatic increase in interaction and sharing of information between police officers and local communities in the three project locations.

3. There has been improved relationship and confidence between the people and the police in the three project areas owing to the regular joint engagements such as the community safety forums and police station visits by the community.