The Gulf of Guinea is a sub-region that was once considered relatively peaceful and stable but has recently faced peace and security challenges that threaten its stability. The threat of Violent Extremism (VE), which spread from the Sahel to the coastal countries (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Togo), coupled with challenges posed by climate change, transnational criminality, and other threats related to maritime piracy and drug trafficking, further complicates the situation within the subregion. Amid these challenges, communities are adopting approaches such as strengthening or establishing Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) mechanisms that can support communities in identifying early signs of recruitment into VE groups, while fostering peace, stability, and security.

EWER systems implemented at local levels in the Gulf of Guinea serve as a cornerstone of infrastructures for peace. They address VE by systematically monitoring locally identified indicators, which can then inform a variety of early responses. Cognizant that VE thrives on vulnerabilities such as socioeconomic disparities, governance gaps, marginalization, and grievances - including human rights abuses - integrating local insights into national and regional EWER strategies grounded in a human rights-based approach empowers communities. It creates cohesive frameworks for sustainable solutions to mitigate the spread of violent extremism and also prevent its escalation.

Access to information enhances trust and inclusion. 

The benefits of whole-of-society participatory peacebuilding and inclusive approaches cannot be overstated. With approximately 60% of the Gulf of Guinea’s population under 30, youth inclusion at the intersection of human rights and sustainable peacebuilding is imperative for addressing the Gulf of Guinea’s complex challenges and enhancing community resilience in mitigating violent extremism risks. As such, EWER systems that engage grassroots actors, including youth, link community knowledge with broader strategies to address vulnerabilities and socioeconomic disparities that extremist groups exploit for recruitment, as highlighted in the UNDP Journey to Extremism 2023 report .

In the Gulf of Guinea, information sharing is also a critical factor in fostering collaboration and trust among diverse stakeholders, including community peace committees, local leaders, security personnel, and civil society actors. Their contribution to early warning and response ensures that responses to peace and security threats are community-driven and grounded in people-centred approaches. 

On the other hand, addressing localized grievances while ensuring that feedback is communicated back to community members regarding actions taken enhances transparency and builds community trust and awareness. In Burkina Faso, the engagement between security forces and community members exemplifies collaboration and trust-building between state security agencies and citizens. In Togo, women were trained in integrating gendered perspectives into peacebuilding, who are now leading community dialogues and mentoring others to ensure continuity. In Ghana, youth leaders mobilizing their peers against extremist recruitment demonstrate how alternative narratives are critical for strengthening communities’ resilience against violent extremist groups’ narratives as well as for promoting peace and tolerance.

Innovation for Peace: Leveraging Technology for Peace and Security.

As the world interacts with and benefits from emerging technologies and digitalization, tech-driven information gathering, analysis, and intelligence-sharing are essential to the effectiveness and agility of EWER systems. In a sub-region like the Gulf of Guinea, advanced data analytics and AI-driven platforms enable early detection of  recruitment or radicalization towards VE patterns, leading to timely and targeted interventions. In Togo, the Interministerial Committee for Preventing and Combating Violent Extremism (CIPLEV) has successfully integrated digital tools to enhance transparency and ensure that community reports are acted upon, thereby creating trust and accountability. This feedback loop strengthens the bond between communities and state actors, ensuring that EWER systems remain inclusive, effective, and responsive.

However, significant barriers and risks exist as peacebuilding and preventing VE interventions embrace digital tools to empower marginalized communities’ contributions to enrich threat analysis with contextually relevant information for localized and human rights-based responses. The digital divide, insufficient digital literacy, data privacy concerns, security issues, misinformation and disinformation, resistance, and mistrust of new technology hinder communities from fully participating in tech-enabled peacebuilding efforts and deter information sharing. Addressing these challenges requires upskilling communities to facilitate a cultural shift, establishing ethical guidelines that support data protection and confidentiality, and developing strategies for bias mitigation and conflict sensitivity to ensure that the implementation of tech-enabled EWER mechanisms is trustworthy, effective, and legitimate.

Human Rights at the Heart of Peace

Fundamentally, for EWER mechanisms to be transformative in enhancing peace and security, they must be grounded in people-centred and community-led approaches aligned with human rights principles in conflict prevention and peacebuilding frameworks. Putting communities at the heart of these systems is crucial to restore the social contract while transforming vulnerabilities into strengths. Ultimately, it will take sustainable development initiatives, collective action, and strategic partnerships to address risks and structural vulnerabilities while improving the resilience of communities and institutions in the Gulf of Guinea. Reinvigorating EWER mechanisms within infrastructures for peace will not only empower communities’ agency but will also provide an impetus for a new narrative of the promise of the global sustainable development goals and the African Union Agenda 2063.

The Atlantic Corridor project, “Preventing and Responding to Violent Extremism in the Atlantic Corridor” (2023-2025), covering countries of the Gulf of Guinea (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo) and Burkina Faso, is implemented by UNDP with support from Australia, Denmark, Germany, and Norway.