A local priest regularly, but reluctantly, passed through the neighboring suburbs of Bunia town in the Ituri District of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was reluctant because of the constant harassment from street youths, ex-combatants, and the local police, and their demands for his money or goods.

One week, while passing through the community, the priest noticed that the harassment had stopped. He was pleasantly surprised and curious as to why that change had occurred. A few weeks later, after he had moved his family to one of the district's suburbs, church members in his new parish told him about USAID's Synergie d'Education Communautaire et d'Appui (SE*CA) program. After joining the program, he discovered why the harassment had "mysteriously" ended.

SE*CA trains participants in community action, creates debates, and facilitates decisions about community values. The training participants, many of them ex-combatants, decided that harassment did not demonstrate the values by which they wanted to live. The SE*CA participants went out into the community and talked with combatants, ex-combatants, police, and youths who were the sources of the harassment. Their collective intervention stopped the harassment, increased stability in the community, facilitated integration of ex-combatants, and intensified the return of displaced persons.

This is just one case of how USAID's SE*CA program has contributed to communities. Ex-combatants, who normally are a destabilizing factor in these communities, are becoming community mobilizers and leaders against conflict after they complete the SE*CA program. SE*CA trainers, who have worked in more than 80 areas in the Ituri District, have witnessed behavioral changes among training participants, including ex-combatants and local political leaders. These participants are now contributing positively to their communities and, in some cases, go the extra mile in searching out active combatants to encourage them to put down their arms and reintegrate into their communities.

SE*CA, or Synergie d'Education Communautaire et Appui a la Transition (pronounced "C'est ça!"), is implemented by USAID/OTI through its partner Chemonics. The SE*CA program promotes improved stability in war-affected areas by facilitating the reintegration of war-affected youths into their communities and increasing local, regional and national understanding of issues that are key to the country's political transition. To support these objectives, SE*CA uses three tools: a youth education and skills program to train war-affected youths in agriculture, civic education, health, conflict management, reconciliation, personal values, numeracy, and literacy; a media program that supports access to information concerning issues key to the transition; and an in-kind small-grants program that supports information dissemination projects and community-identified activities that are a priority for the economic, political, and/or social revitalization of the community.