Final Evaluation: Preventing electoral violence through early warning and rapid response in Guinea (September 2018)

The project Preventing Election and Community Violence through Early Warning and Early Response in Guinea was funded by the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations.
Ever since the multiparty democracy was instituted in the Republic of Guinea, the country has been experiencing a high level of election-related violence. Further sources of violence in the country include conflicts related to land tenure, as well as a high prevalence of youth unemployment. The goal of the project was to prevent electoral and community violence by setting up an early warning and early response system. The project identified actors with a capacity to mobilize a rapid response to upcoming violence—such as media representatives, CSOs, representatives of political parties and religious, ethnic, and community leaders—and organized them into platforms. The project provided trainings for both platform members and external observers on topics such as detecting early signs of violence, the peaceful management of conflicts and techniques for promoting a culture of non-violence. Furthermore, the project team developed an early warning reporting system, which collects and visualizes early warning reports.
The project has strengthened the rapid response capacity of local, national and regional electoral actors. It has increased the key elections stakeholders’ ability to identify and analyze the emerging risks of communal and electoral violence. These stakeholders have actively not only sensitized their communities’ members on the risks of violence during elections, but they also have responded to risks of violence beyond election periods.