Justice for Peace Inuka! Supporting vulnerable youth to participate in community peace and security efforts in Coastal Kenya

This report covers the findings from the final evaluation of the Justice for Peace (J4P) project and the mid-term evaluation of the Inuka! Supporting vulnerable youth to participate in community peace and security efforts in Coastal Kenya project (Inuka for short). The overall goal of J4P was to increase constructive engagement between criminal justice sector actors and communities at risk of violent extremism (VE) in Coastal Kenya. The project featured awareness-raising and dialogue activities in three counties (Kilifi, Kwale and Mombasa) and it was implemented in partnership with Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI) over two years (2017-2019). Inuka’s overall objective is to increase the effectiveness and inclusiveness of community peace and security efforts involving vulnerable and marginalized youth in Coastal Kenya. A three-year project started in 2018, it includes capacity-building and dialogue activities in four counties (the same as J4P, plus Lamu), and is being implemented together with MUHURI as well as Kiunga Youth Bunge Initiative (KYBI), Human Rights Agenda (HURIA) and Humanity Action Knowledge Integrity in Africa (HAKI Africa).
The objectives of the combined evaluation were: (1) to assess the extent to which the projects have changed social norms and institutions in a way that is enduring; and (2) to extract critical lessons learned around Search’s specific approach. In line with these, the evaluation sought to assess the two projects’ overall performance, including outcomes achieved, the quality of their theories of change, and the effectiveness of specific strategies employed. Findings were then used to identify lessons learned and articulate recommendations for improving the impact of Search’s peacebuilding work in the future.
The evaluation used quantitative and qualitative methods, and gave particular attention to analyzing data through a gender lens. Activities included a document review, key informant interviews (KIIs), focus group discussions (FGDs) and a survey (179 respondents).