This report is based on data collected between May 2021 and August 2022, as part of a base- and midline survey with a sample of 712 former and current affiliates of different armed Community Security Actors (CSAs) from key locations in and around the Maiduguri metropolitan area in Borno State, Nigeria.
It presents findings about the ways in which people in the North East became involved with these types of armed groups, as well their roles within the group and their expectations for demobilizing from these groups. This data may be useful to the UN and NGOs working in the region to bolster programming that facilitates exits from these groups.
These insights are unique as this data is being collected during an ongoing conflict, and many of the respondents are still active affiliates of these groups. The report ends with an examination of the key policy and programmatic implications of these findings.