Northeast Nigeria Defections Promotion Messaging Program

The mission of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO) is to help U.S. diplomats anticipate, prevent, and respond to conflicts that undermine U.S. interests or national security. CSO accomplishes this with sophisticated analysis and data visualization, strategic and operational planning capability, civilian operational surge capability, targeted programming, and diplomatic efforts to identify, understand, and address critical conflicts. CSO announces an open competition for organizations interested in submitting applications for a program addressing Security Sector Stabilization in Nigeria. The goal of this program is to increase voluntary defections from Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa (BH/ISIS-WA) through targeted strategic messaging efforts, based on analysis of combatants' and affiliates' motivations for joining and leaving these armed groups, an understanding of their means of receiving and sharing information, and legal and policy environment in Nigeria and the surrounding Lake Chad countries. Program activities may include: designing and developing message content for an information campaign using local and regional media outlets and analyzing key issues related to voluntary disengagement from violent extremist groups and peaceful reinsertion of ex-combatants and affiliates to inform iterative defection targeting efforts and assess the reach and efficacy of messaging efforts.