Recent News

Elevating the Role of African Cities in Preventing Extremism and Hate: Mapping City Needs and Priorities

From 10 to 12 May 2022, the Strong Cities Network (SCN) convened over 65 mayors and other local leaders, civil society representatives and senior officials from national governments and multilateral bodies in East and Southern Africa for an exchange of views on how best to support city and other local authority-led efforts for preventing extremist- and hate-motivated violence and polarisation. The multi-stakeholder gathering included officials and experts from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as the African Union, IGAD, UNOCT, UNDP, UN Habitat, UNOPS, other city networks including the East Africa Local Government Association and the Global Parliament of Mayors, and the British, Danish, Dutch and US embassies in Nairobi.  The EU-funded workshop is part of a larger EU-supported initiative to map city-level prevention-related needs and priorities across Africa.

Strong Cities Network Vacancy: Strategy Consultant

Deadline: May 27, 2022 Preferred Start Date: June 6, 2022 Location: Remote based Contract Type: Contract Contract Amount: up to £10,000 depending on experience and requirements • Organisation: Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) • Reporting to: Head of International Programmes, SCN • Location: Remote-based • Preferred Start Date: late May/ early June 2022 • Maximum...
Read more »

Together for Safety 2022 Online Talks: Key Findings

Together for Safety is a series of online talks co-produced by Nordic Safe Cities and the Strong Cities Network. First launched in 2021, Together for Safety aims to inspire national and local leaders, professionals, and youth with new ideas to take action in their communities against pressing safety and security threats, while safeguarding human rights. At a time when democratic values, pluralism and human rights are under significant pressure, it is most important to share knowledge and experiences across cities to constantly be at the forefront of tackling rising hate, polarisation, and extremism globally. The 2022 Together for Safety Talks, held in March and April, examined two related issues: Safeguarding Local Democracies, with a focus on protecting cities and communities from harmful online and offline hate-speech and electoral interference; and Safe City Governance and Regional Alliances, with a focus on steps cities can take to promote and strengthen partnerships at the local, national, regional, and global levels.

Young Cities Belgium Youth Innovation Lab: Workshop Summary

This year, Young Cities is expanding its programming into Belgium with the support of the U.S. Embassy in the country. There, the programme is supporting young activists and municipal stakeholders in Antwerp and Liege to launch locally led initiatives that promote social cohesion and peace. The first leg of the programme began in Antwerp with a four-day interactive workshop, known as a Youth Innovation Lab, held between 8-11 April in Zuienkerke, Belgium. With the support of local partner, Roots vzw, the Young Cities team adapted their workshop model to meet the needs of its youth participants who were interested in empowering their peers to address discrimination and anti-social behaviour in their communities. The workshop leveraged a learning-by-doing approach, with a curriculum that centred on bolstering young peacebuilders’ skills in planning and delivering effective and sustainable social change projects. These projects will be developed and implemented over the coming six months.

Strengthening Trans-Atlantic City-Level Cooperation in Preventing Extremism, Hate and Polarisation: The Role Of Mayors and Cities: US-Nordic Experiences

The Strong Cities Network’s (SCN) trans-Atlantic exchange on local, city-led cooperation against extremist- and hate-motivated violence brought together mayors, public and mental health practitioners, law enforcement, NGOs, academics and central government officials from Nordic and US cities for an inspiring and productive exchange in the Finnish capital. The 27-28 April workshop, which was co-hosted with Nordic Safe Cities with support from the U.S. Embassy Helsinki and the Ministry of Interior in Finland, was part of a week-long SCN-led visit of US local leaders and prevention practitioners to meet with their counterparts in Finland.

Multistakeholder Models for Local Prevention, Technical Evaluation and Learnings from Kumanovo, North Macedonia

The Strong Cities Network evaluated its support of Kumanovo’s Local Prevention Network in North Macedonia. This evaluation report documents the achievements and lessons learned in establishing and operationalising local multi-agency structure, as well as its impact in building community resilience to extremism and hate. The report captures challenges with setting up and maintaining a local prevention network and strengthening community resilience, and provides recommendations to relevant government and non-government stakeholders for possible future strategies. Beyond assessing the impact of project delivery and suggesting ways forward, the evaluation contributes to broader discussions of effective multi-agency frameworks for local prevention globally.

Twitter