Empowering Communities for Countering Violent Extremism
Date
9 February 2015
Location
UAE
From 9-12 February 2015, Hedayah in partnership with the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) organized a workshop on “Empowering Communities for Countering Violent Extremism”.
The workshop taught members of civil society to build individual and group resilience to the threat of violent extremism, as well as how to monitor and promote disengagement from violent extremist groups within their communities.
The course brought together four themes. Guidance was provided on how to respond broadly when a community’s values have become distorted or manipulated by violent extremists. There was a related focus on skills that are clinically proven to promote individual resilience and regulate stress. Practical steps were then outlined to identify the sources and drivers of violent extremism; develop clear objectives and goals in response; and design specific activities and programs that can be adjusted and evaluated over the course of time. Emphasis was also placed on how to present initiatives to counter violent extremism in culturally authentic ways that resonate with community traditions.
The participants acquired knowledge and abilities on:
- Designing an action plan for countering violent extremism in their specific communities,
- Understanding how the situation in their locale impacts and relates to the larger, global process of countering violent extremism,
- Building on creative practices of community empowerment from other areas that were able to address the threat of violent extremism,
- Understanding some basic science of stress and trauma and how to use this knowledge to help build individual and group resilience in the face of violent extremism,
- Applying techniques of ritual transformation or using religious and cultural means of expression to counter violent extremism.
