Lake Chad Basin: Youth-led stabilisation amid a pandemic

This policy brief examines the role of youth-led organisations, specifically the Youth Network for the Lake Chad Region (YoNeLCR), in peacebuilding and stabilisation efforts within the Lake Chad Basin. It analyzes how the COVID-19 pandemic hindered these initiatives through movement restrictions and funding cuts, while also identifying opportunities for youth to engage with regional bodies like the African Union and the Lake Chad Basin Commission to enhance community resilience against the Boko Haram insurgency.

• The COVID-19 pandemic significantly hindered youth-led peacebuilding and stabilisation efforts in the Lake Chad Basin by restricting the human interaction necessary for community engagement. Consequently, programme implementation dropped to less than 20% of its usual level, and virtual engagements are deemed unsustainable due to a lack of buy-in and insufficient technology and internet infrastructure in rural areas.
• Youth-led organisations have faced severe financial instability during the pandemic, as many donor organisations reduced their partnerships. This has forced some groups to pivot their activities toward health issues to secure funding, though it also presents an opportunity to increase reliance on volunteer-based human resource capacity.
• The Youth Network of the Lake Chad Region (YoNeLCR), comprising at least 50 organisations across Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, employs diverse strategies to foster peace. These include acting as messengers of peace, facilitating inter-faith dialogues, using ICT for early-warning tools, and organizing sporting events to enhance social cohesion and resist Boko Haram recruitment.
• There is a growing willingness and a strategic need for youth-led organisations to collaborate with the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and the African Union (AU). The AU's Regional Stabilisation Strategy (RSS) identifies youth and women as primary demographics at the center of the crisis and recommends gender- and youth-sensitive approaches to harness their capacities.

APA

Kujeke, M., & Odinukwe, A. G. (2021). Lake Chad Basin: Youth-led stabilisation amid a pandemic. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/TfP pb June 2021.pdf

Chicago

Kujeke, Muneinazvo, and Alvin G Odinukwe. Lake Chad Basin: Youth-led stabilisation amid a pandemic. Institute for Security Studies, 2021. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/TfP pb June 2021.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kujeke |first1=Muneinazvo |last2=Odinukwe |first2=Alvin G |title=Lake Chad Basin: Youth-led stabilisation amid a pandemic |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=June 2021 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/TfP pb June 2021.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kujeke2021lake, author = {Kujeke, Muneinazvo and Odinukwe, Alvin G}, title = {{Lake Chad Basin: Youth-led stabilisation amid a pandemic}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2021}, month = jun, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/TfP pb June 2021.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }