Empowering citizens Engaging governments Rebuilding communities

most Iraqi citizens had an overwhelmingly
positive association between CSP and
reduced violence in their communities
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Successes and setbacks
people for two or three years, but in many cases, we
made a successful transition to keep activities going.
CSP created jobs. CSP engaged youth. But at the local
level, it really achieved something special.”
IRD staff and USAID evaluators know the youth engagement
program was well received; the sheer number
of people who turned out for these events, as well as
citizens’ consistent statements of support and gratitude,
made that clear. What was unclear was exactly
how far this work went in mitigating conflict. The IBTCI
monitoring report suggested that future COIN-related
programs should find a way to closely track changes
in attitude and behavior, even though it acknowledged
the difficulty in doing so, particularly in a conflict zone.
Still, the report found that most Iraqi citizens had an
overwhelmingly positive association between CSP
and reduced violence in their communities. While the
role of military and Iraqi security forces cannot be
discounted or overlooked, all groups surveyed agreed
that the program helped teach young people the value
of tolerance as an alternative to violence.
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