On August 2016, Action Aid  Nigeria commenced an ambitious project to address the intrinsic issues of extreme violence spilling across communities in Kogi State.
It was against this backdrop that the System and Structure Strengthening Approach against Radicalization to Violent Extremism(SARVE) was launched.

At the same time, Kogi state was on the radar; it topped the States with reports of the most vicious and violent attacks. It was an unsafe corridor for about 11 States of Nigeria. So, the choice for the project location was strategic because of the spill-over effect the impact will make on other adjoining States.

The crime record could almost match a war zone; people were kidnapped on almost a daily basis; highway robbery was regular and deadly; herdsmen/farmers clash was at its peak. Added was the biting issues of poverty: lack of minimal infrastructure; poor or complete absence of health and educational facilities. The people just lived and died. There was little to inspire a good life.
The baseline conducted at the inception of the project also revealed disturbing findings: Only 3 to 8 percent of the community members are illiterate. The selected communities for the project are:(Okpakpata, Osaragada/Aku, Osara, Otuloko) and the Fulani Community. The choice of the project communities was made because of the high incidences of violence and radicalization in the region.

The project's strategy was designed as a methodical participatory approach to ending violence and radical extremism.

The following were identified as key drivers to violence and radicalization of people in communities: Poverty, Illiteracy, Lack of Social Cohesion, Lack of Equal opportunities and Access.

It also has three simplified initiatives to reach its objective.
a)    The Youth and Peace Development Initiative
b)    The Women inspirators
c)    The Community Livelihood Support Component,

The project therefore developed an approach to building social cohesion in communities, assisting government in enhancing and improving structures and systems for  better efficiency. The project also focused on providing platforms for learning and sharing of opportunities especially in rural communities  where people were economically and socially excluded. It focused on building the capacity of women and youth by raising their self-awareness, providing exposure to relevant life skills and giving the communities a general sense of purpose.

The projects sufficiently addressed: Farmers and herdsmen crisis, preventing Violent Extremism and Creative Alternatives to Youth Restiveness and violent Extremism: "These formed the policy drivers for the project and the outcome has been almost a miracle. For instance, according to Leadership Newspapers: Kogi State recorded over 160 cases of kidnapping between January to June 2015, but no case of kidnapping was recorded between January toJune2018.

Record from the State Police and the local vigilante also attest to the drastic reduction of the rate of kidnapping. Umar Namatazu a  46year old  head of the vigilante group at the Fulani community. Namatazu does less sleepless night these days: "We only have one case of kidnap since this year and we were able to track the kidnappers and rescued the victim" he enthused.

The project identified types of drivers of conflicts and especially the position of extremists particularly in the Northeast part of the country, realizing that if nothing is done to curtail the dangerous trend other parts of the country could be engulfed in similar scenario. Some of the contributory drivers of conflict as noted are poverty; unemploymen1; and hate speeches. Radicalization to violent extremism cannot be sufficiently addressed without solving the problem of extreme poverty. unemployment and social exclusion. So, the project served essentially as a preventive intervention to a crisis which may occur if nothing is done.

Youths, Women, and the Community are at heart of the project strategies. If there is economic stability and cohesion in communities, there is greater likelihood that radicalization and violent extremism will be reduced significantly.

Action Aid developed a system of addressing radicalization by teaching people how to engage without violence, through a Community Action and Response Team (CART), program which acts as advocacy and response team. CART have been instituted in all the project communities this has helped to achieve cohesion between people and community, there is  effective communication  among communities. people,  and communities are now engaging the government to press their demands such as: electricity; water, and other essential things they lacked.

There is  also a cultural dialogue present in the communities as a result of the project, town­ hall meetings are held in all the project communities. There is an emergence of community critical mass that can inspire change.

The project has directly reached 12,985 youths, 4 230 women, and 8.705 men. It has also sensitized about one-third of the 1.8 million youths in the state through its regular radio jingle, peace walks, and capacity development programs.

One landmark success was the sustained advocacy which resulted in the passage of the Kogi State Youth Development Commission Bill. ActionAid supported the process from conception through different stages making technical and financial inputs to the young people leading the call for the bill.

It supported a youth summit attended by more than 6000 youths across the State. It adds to the project a huge success and a mass population of people who can sustain and scale up the project to avoid reversal of the achievements.