CEPPS in Mauritania

CEPPS launched programming in Mauritania in 2019 in order to mobilize youth and women voter participation ahead of the country’s June 2019 presidential election. In the aftermath of the country’s first democratic transition of power, IRI has supported youth-led community dialogue processes to transform historic conflicts and build national social cohesion.

CEPPS Overarching Goals:

CEPPS builds the capacity of Mauritanian civil society and individual citizens through an inclusive lens of women, youth, and racial and ethnic minorities to support an equitable approach to democratic engagement that promotes sustainable peace and social cohesion.

CEPPS Approach:

By strengthening women and youth-led civil organizations’ strategic media communications and improving the conflict transformation and dialogue facilitation skills of youth mediators, CEPPS/IRI equips citizens to be more participatory in the electoral cycle and to work towards durable peace at the local and national level.

CEPPS Key Achievements in Mauritania:

CEPPS supported women and youth participation in the electoral process.

CEPPS supported a youth-led and woman-led multimedia civic engagement campaign ahead of the 2019 Presidential Election that reached 258,250 Mauritanians through radio shows and WhatsApp voice notes in Wolof, Soninke, and Pular.

CEPPS supported a peaceful and democratic transition of power.

CEPPS helped local civil society actors resolve intercommunal conflicts in six regions in Mauritania by training and mentoring youth-led conflict transformation teams who developed and led inclusive dialogue forums on herder-farmer conflicts, racial discrimination, and interethnic disputes.