This article was originally posted on the Education Development Center website.

Giving youth alternatives such as education and community is just part of the answer.

What would cause a young person to voluntarily join a violent extremist group, such as Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, or Abu Sayyaf?

It’s usually not a political choice. Extremist groups recruit young people by promising money, opportunity, and community—arguments that are most persuasive in places where youth are disaffected, and where they have few economic opportunities to advance their lives. EDC has long worked to develop programs that counter the lure of violent extremism in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia. Here, EDC’s Nancy Wallace, Adwoa Atta-Krah, and Kit Yasin discuss what the international development community can do to help young people reject violent extremism in their communities.

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