Transition Initiatives

Description

USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) advances U.S. foreign policy objectives by helping local partners promote peace and democracy. Programs provide fast, flexible, short-term assistance for specific political transition and stabilization.

Use of Funds

OTI funds support long-term development. Programs are designed to promote reconciliation, jumpstart local economies, support emerging independent media, and foster freedom and democracy.

Justification

• Violence and violent conflict are one of the leading causes of global displacement.
• Annually, OTI initiates about 1,750 activities worldwide, often in fragile states that have not reached the stability needed to initiate longer-term development programs.
• OTI has assisted communities during times of volatility. In Burkina Faso, OTI works to mitigate the destabilizing effects of continued violence through locally-led solutions that address pressing sources of instability.
• More than 1,190 local leaders, including 688 women, benefited from capacity building and networking initiatives through partners and experts.
• One hundred thousand national identification documents were given to Burkinabe in insecure areas in response to increased security checkpoints and curfews. Not carrying national identification documents could result in detention, disrupted livelihoods, and increased tensions between communities and state security.
• In Nigeria, OTI programming helps communities affected by violence work toward a more inclusive and secure future.
  • OTI is training 200 individuals from six communities in Southern Kaduna (now becoming the epicenter of violence in Nigeria) to provide peer-to-peer counseling to fellow community members affected by trauma, violence, and abuse.
  • OTI works with local government officials in Kaduna to provide rapid relief (food, lavatories, wash stations, etc.) to over 1,000 displaced people who fled violence in the state.