Purpose: This study examines civil-military cooperation as a strategic architecture for strengthening counterterrorism and social cohesion in Africa, moving the concept away from its conventional treatment as an occasional military outreach function.

Research Methodology: The study adopts a qualitative documentary research design and thematic analysis of African Union, United Nations, United Nations Development Programme, Institute for Economics and Peace, regional security, and peer-reviewed scholarly sources published mainly between 2021 and 2026, interpreted through Human Security Theory and the Whole-of-Society Security Approach.

Results: Civil-military cooperation strengthens counterterrorism through community-based early warning, intelligence generation, civilian protection, humanitarian access, strategic communication, prevention of violent extremism, women and youth participation, border-community partnership, and post-operation stabilisation, while its effectiveness is constrained by mistrust, institutional fragmentation, human-rights concerns, weak coordination, politicisation, limited civilian capacity, and inadequate financing.

Conclusions: Civil-military cooperation should be institutionalised as a core counterterrorism capability rather than an occasional outreach activity, supported by integrated civil-military structures, stronger community-security partnerships, civilian-protection mechanisms, joint training, and regional coordination.

Limitations: The reliance on secondary documentary sources restricts causal claims and field-level verification.

Contributions: The study proposes an integrated four-stage civil-military cooperation model spanning prevention, response, stabilisation, and recovery, and positions specialised institutions such as the Centre for Civil-Military Cooperation as bridges between security establishments and society.