Working for International Peace

Mitigating Lawless African Acts Problem Definition and Intervention Description Boko Haram is a militant Islamist organization that it terrorizing large portions of Nigeria, since at least 2011 (Uhrmacher and Sheridan, 2106). Their methods are fairly typical of terrorists. These include suicide bombings, kidnappings, and attacks on everyday civilians. The crux of their methodology is that they are targeting civilians since they do not have the means to battle the largely Christian government via conventional warfare.

Therefore, they have resorted to terrorist attacks to cause residents to flee and to attempt to gain territory in such a manner. The principle means of intervening in this activity is to aid the Christian government of Nigeria with forces that are opposed to terrorism. This aid will include those marshaled and containing troops from the United States, Western Europe, and the United Nations in general. It is critical to supply the Nigerian government with the supplies and manpower to counteract the terrorist efforts of Boko Haram.

These resources will include increasing surveillance of public places, and systematically attempting to regain territory which Boko Haram has captured. Logic Model or Logframe The logic model for this particular case study will be predicated on determining which counter-terrorist methods are the most effective for regaining territory taken by Boko Haram. The study will utilize a bevy of counterterrorist methods for achieving this objective, and systematically study them and their outcomes to learn which is the most worthy of long-term support.

These measures will include surveillance methods pertaining to typical communication channels, including those based on social media, conventional media, telephone records and text messaging. It is integral to gain the support of the Nigerian government in this endeavor in order to facilitate these measures. Development of Indicators The indicators for this case study are critical to its success, and probably that of the measures to counteract terrorism throughout Africa as a whole. Developing indicators will require the government to engage in highly specific monitoring of the foregoing methods of communication.

It is necessary for the government to determine the correlation between the monitoring of phone records (for both texts and conventional calls) and terrorist activities. It is prudent for it to initiate this process by focusing on metadata -- call records, frequently used numbers, duration of calls, etc. These indicators also need to extend to analysis of social media including the sites most commonly leveraged in Nigeria.

Also the government should analyze any sort of correlation between conventional media channels such as the radio or television programming and any sort of terrorist activity. Data Collection Strategy The strategy for collecting data will be multifold. The most readily available data will be that accessed online in the way of social media postings and other communication pertaining to any sort of terrorist activity. It is necessary to quantify the number of sites or users linked with terrorist activity -- which will yield quantitative analysis pertaining to pervasive (Burke, 2016).

Additionally, it is important to also collect qualitative data regarding the nature and severity of online postings related to terrorist attacks in any way. Perhaps the most important data collection activity will be that which requires governmental involvement -- specifically call records and those pertaining to text methods. By obtaining government permission, the researchers should be able to monitor this information for both qualitative and quantitative data to determine any links between phone users and terrorist activities.

This data can be counterposed with that from online activity to determine the relationship between this communication and terrorism involving Boko Haram in Nigeria. Evaluation Design, Needs Assessment, or Formative or Summative Impact Evaluation The evaluation design for this type of case study is an integral aspect of determining its overall efficacy. It will include analysis of the results of the data gleaned from this study. Moreover, such an analysis will also involve a correlation between acts of terror and the sort of intelligence gained by the study.

Ideally, this intelligence will provide a means of mitigating the effects of Boko Haram and its terrorist activities throughout Nigera, and aiding the government in its desire to regain territory from the this group (Chothia, 2015). In this regard, the impact evaluation will be somewhat summative in nature. Whatever data is gained that correlates to a decrease in acts of terror will be deemed useful.

Ultimately, however, the most objective means of determining the summative impact of this evaluation is to quantify and qualify what sort of territory, and how much of it, the Nigerian government is able to gain back due to the methods described in this study. Data Analysis Strategy The authors of this case study of Boko Haram as part of the Counterterrorism in Africa movement anticipate the most useful data to pertain to the qualitative data gleaned.

Thus, the data analysis strategy will largely relate to identifying themes in the qualitative data. Once those themes are determined -- which may include the nature of communication found, the imminence of such communication to acts of terror, and other themes that emerge in the data -- then the quantitative analysis will apply to these codification. Specifically, the qualitative data will provide the categories for the quantitative data. The researchers will have to evaluate those themes within the general context of terrorist communication found in the aforementioned channels.

Stakeholder Requirements The stakeholder requirements for this sort of case study are considerable, and include entities in both the public and the private sectors. Perhaps the most eminent stakeholder is the Christian Nigerian government that is attempting to win back its territory from Boko-Haram (Chothia, 2015).

It is pivotal to get the assistance of the Nigerian government in terms of the monitoring of call records and text messages that can be of great use to both this study, as well as to the overall efforts to counteract the terrorist activities of Boko Haram. Accessing that information can largely depend on their compliance. However, there are other stakeholders as well. These include the citizens of Nigeria who are the victims of terrorism.

They also include, to a lesser extent, the social media channels that may be implicitly complicit in any sort of terrorism that occurs because they are broadcasting communication for Boko Haram.