Main area: Peace and security
Theme: Preventing violent extremism
Assessment: ODA-eligible
Provider country: United Kingdom
Recipient country: Africa, regional
Implementing agency: Wilton Park
Budget (USD x 1000): 112
Year(s): 2016
Purpose code: 15110 Public sector policy and administrative management
Case number: Peace and Security / 41
Capacity building workshop for African policy makers and civil society groups to address the threat of extremist groups and tackle radicalisation in the region
The project involved arrangement of an Addis Ababa 2016 roundtable meeting with policymakers, academics, analysts, religious leaders and practitioners from relevant countries, to address the role of religion in preventing radicalisation and recruitment to extremist groups in Africa and internationally, which was held in Addis in order to guarantee local and regional engagement.
The event brought together civil society stakeholders from African countries affected by the threat of extremist groups with policy, security and legal experts from Africa, Europe and the US, to promote better understanding of the role of religion in preventing radicalisation through:
facilitation of exchange of best practice approaches towards more effective, long-term strategies for tackling radicalisation and recruitment;
consideration of how community actors, with support from organisations, governments and multilateral institutions, can contribute to radicalisation prevention and de-radicalisation efforts – including roles for religious actors in ‘non-religious’ sectors e.g. governance and economics;
identification of actions to prevent radicalisation and reduce its ‘appeal’, including countering extremist narratives on social media, outreach to families/carers to monitor recidivism and evaluation of strategies to rehabilitate de-radicalised citizens through grassroots programmes;
exploring ways to enhance further co-operation and promote further dialogue between state and non-state actors to counter the promotion and financing of extremism in Africa.
Creation of new networks of preventing violent extremism (PVE) practitioners and religious leaders (the project beneficiaries) from the region, strengthening existing relationships, built new cross-faith partnerships and increased networking between African, North American and European development policy makers, civil society stakeholders and religious leaders to further strengthen shared work on PVE in Africa.
Promotion of social cohesion among key civil society and religious actors from ten African countries, which included representatives from the African Union and the Ethiopian government.
The conference report captures the broad scope of the debate and the key issues for policy makers and practitioners in Africa, including proposals for continued policy development and programme activity. It will also summarise ‘the current state of play’ of PVE in a range of African contexts informing both African and donor countries’ PVE development policy and projects in the region.
This activity is deemed ODA-eligible as it aims to support civilian activities related to preventing recruitment to extremist groups in Africa. The event aimed to contribute to this by working to leverage religion and faith to prevent radicalisation in the region. The sessions were largely led by African specialists. There was no discussion of perceived threats to donor countries. Specifically, the project meets the Reporting Directives on preventing violent extremism through working with civil society groups (who will lead on implementation in the region) to prevent radicalisation, support reintegration and deradicalisation and promote community engagement (see DCD/DAC(2024)40/FINAL, paragraph 142).
This document was approved by the Development Assistance Committee under a written procedure on 20 October 2017 and prepared for publication by the OECD Secretariat.
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