CSI

Community-based Crime Prevention Nigeria

emma January 31, 2023

The project aimed to develop an integrated, multi-sectoral Crime Prevention Strategy to combat piracy and maritime crime in Bayelsa State through integration of policies and knowledge about piracy and maritime crime, joint planning and systemic intervention by all State and Civil Society entities and networks. The project encompassed a week-long drafting workshop with twenty fixe state officials from different ministries, local government and key civil society leaders, the validation of the strategy by the Governor of the State of Bayelsa, local workshops in the Niger Delta with community leaders and local officials, one for action planning and one to design a monitoring and evaluation framework. The Crime Prevention strategy is supported by a Communications strategy.

Client

United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime

Year

2021/2022

Partners

UNODC, Bayelsa State Government

Objectives:

The strategy has three key streams, each focused on the circumstances and impacts of piracy and maritime crime on communities:

1. Strengthening law enforcement and security services to respond and combat piracy and maritime crime.

2. Strengthening criminal justice and trust in the CJS, by expediting cases to increase convictions of pirates, other maritime and related criminals and to better interact with and protect communities. Streams 1 and 2 provide a platform for sustainable change and all that must be done in Stream 3.

3. Building Community resilience to piracy and other maritime crimes, both as victims and as the source for recruitment.

Building of trust and low expectations between entities and between the security forces and communities was an essential first step, undertaken during the preparation for and drafting of this strategy. Implementation of the strategy will require sustained political and personal commitment from all those involved, with a long-term commitment to ridding communities of piracy and maritime crime.