The results below provide an overview of technology use by peacebuilders in their interventions. While not exhaustive, the set of quantitative results presented begin to frame the context of the intersection between peacebuilding and technology.

Peacebuilders are using digital technologies in their programs.

Majority (77%) of the survey participants are using digital tools to deliver their peacebuilding and youth engagement programs. While there has been a global shift by peacebuilders from offline spaces to digital platforms due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 202010, it is important to note that there were some programs in West Africa that were using digital technologies already prior to 2020. This is captured in the qualitative findings.

Social Media is the most common tool / platform used in peacebuilding programming.

The majority of the survey participants (28) identified social media platforms as the tool of choice when adopting technology for peacebuilding and youth engagement. The use case for social media tools ranged from using the platforms to conduct trainings, running of online campaigns for sensitization and awareness raising on various social issues, to storytelling and countering harmful narratives online. Most organizations used a combination of two digital tools. For instance, an audio/video tool to capture stories and narratives from the community, and Facebook to share these stories in the form of videos to a large group or audience online and to trigger discussions related to the video topic. While use cases of social media platforms focused on them as tools for peacebuilding in and of itself, there were cases where these platforms were being used as extensions of past or current work predominantly for organizational communications. Despite the proliferation of digital tools and social media platforms, radio is still being used in some instances. This reflects the poor internet connectivity in some remote areas and the need for engagement with community actors such as the elderly population, that is less likely to be reachable on digital platforms.

Poor internet connectivity is the most common challenge for peacebuilders when using technology for peacebuilding.

This is in direct relation to the most commonly used tools. Social media platforms use the internet to transmit information. This finding might point to a situation where peace actors use social media in some contexts where communities lack reliable access to grid electricity11. This challenge also might have wider implications such as high data costs which was a challenge identified as a result of poor internet connectivity. Lack of skills to maximize the use of digital technologies in peacebuilding contexts was also identified as a major challenge. These skills ranged from linking offline and online work, communicating effectively online, picture and video editing, setting up and deploying mapping programs amongst others. As peacebuilders increasingly adapt technology tools, they will be required to acquire these and other skills necessary to harness the power and functions of digital tools to support their work.

Peacebuilders considered various types of information as useful in helping them accomplish some of their peacebuilding. Top amongst these was information about new and emerging technologies that can be used in peacebuilding. While this finding was most likely influenced by the theme and topic of the survey, other types of information that peacebuilders considered as useful for their work included community demographic information. This was considered useful to inform their programming and target different groups with different activities.

For instance, one respondent notes “Knowing the number of people who are schooled and out of school based on localities in the country would be an important asset in the impact of our project on the one hand and on the other; it would be an asset to know the entrepreneurial trends of young people”. Information on peacebuilding best practices was also considered important by peacebuilders. To learn what other peacebuilders are doing and how they are doing it, what has worked and what has been challenging in addressing conflict. In addition to the quantitative findings, four themes emerged from the consultations as areas where technology is currently used to amplify peacebuilding efforts in the ECOWAS region – and where it also has the most future potential. Technology can be used to re-imagine youth engagement for peace, to strengthen early warning systems, to counter harmful online narratives, and for digitizing mediation. The following sections delve into each of those areas, providing examples of global practice and practice in the ECOWAS region, and explore the regional challenges and opportunities going forward.