Across fragile and conflict-affected contexts, donors and practitioners increasingly invest in integrated youth programs that combine economic support, civic engagement, and peacebuilding goals. These approaches reflect an important reality: violence is rarely driven by a single factor. However, despite growing investment in youth programming, there is still limited causal evidence on which specific program components reduce support for violence, how they interact, and under what conditions they produce meaningful peace outcomes.

This research builds on Prosper Global’s growing evidence base on Interest-Based Mediation and Negotiation (IBMN) as a scalable peacebuilding approach. Earlier studies in Nigeria tested whether IBMN training for local leaders reduces violence and examined the added value of combining mediation training with community dialogues —including how these approaches perform on violence, insecurity, and social cohesion outcomes.…