Above: A worker for Human Development Agency (HUDA), Kwale County, hands out personal protection equipment to motorbike taxi drivers. The threat of COVID-19 has affected us all in different ways, but particularly civil society. Kenya has had more than 10,000 confirmed cases, but in addition to the cost of lives as a result of the…
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Above: A veiled woman walks with her child at al-Hol camp in al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria on February 17, 2019. (Photo by BULENT KILIC / AFP via Getty Images) Since the Strong Cities Network (SCN) launched its member survey and previous article on rehabilitation and reintegration in March 2020, there has been little progress…
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Above: The Groundswell Project was founded in 2018 as a way to bring communities together. Hadiya Masieh, Founder of Groundswell Project Hadiya Masieh is an expert consultant in the area of community cohesion, interfaith relations, counter extremism, and women’s involvement in extremism and radicalisation. Her experience spans over 22 years. She has been a counter…
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Photo by Dewang Gupta on Unsplash About the Authors: Amarnath Amarasingam is an Assistant Professor in the School of Religion at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an Associate Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, and an Associate Fellow at the Global…
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In our previous article we explored how violent extremist organisations can use a breakdown of trust between local communities and the state to harness support for their activities and recruit individuals at risk. In this issue, we look at the other side of the coin and outline how an accountable, transparent and human rights-grounded law…
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Photo by Victoria Heath on Unsplash In late January 2020, Jim Bronskill of The Canadian Press reported on Canadian Government documents that had recently been made available to the public. The unclassified but redacted documents concern the state of right-wing extremism in Canada and revealed that members of the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Royal…
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Above: the town of Majdal Anjar, Lebanon Nidal Khaled, Coordinator, Local Prevention Network. President of the Youth Initiatives Association. Ghida Elassaad, Project Coordinator, Strong Cities Network This article was written before the Lebanese government ordered the coronavirus lockdown. Fear of the coronavirus pandemic is sweeping across Lebanon, and the border town of Majdal Anjar is…
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As we respond to the unprecedented challenge of COVID-19, governments are mobilising resources to ensure citizens are kept safe and healthy, while protecting their economies and institutions. However, COVID-19 was the not the only thing to spread exponentially across the world – the spiralling ‘infodemic’ of disinformation surrounding the pandemic also threatens our cities and…
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As we respond to the unprecedented challenge of COVID-19, governments are mobilising resources to ensure citizens are kept safe and healthy, while protecting their economies and institutions. However, COVID-19 was the not the only thing to spread exponentially across the world – the spiralling ‘infodemic’ of disinformation surrounding the pandemic also threatens our cities and…
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The scale of the global COVID-19 crisis is unprecedented, but so is the response from cities. The next few months will challenge us all as national governments, cities and local aid workers will be forced to find innovative solutions to unfamiliar problems. To help, we have put together some of the best advice and resources we’ve seen from city leadership, academia, think-tanks, global organisations and local civil society on how cities can face this threat.
Facilitate systematic sharing of knowledge, expertise and lessons learned on building social cohesion and community resilience to prevent violent extremism across cities on an international basis, through both regional workshops and international conferences.
Raise awareness of existing policy, programming, and practice through a dynamic and searchable ‘Online Information Hub’, providing an extensive library of existing local approaches and responses to prevent violent extremism.
Directly support cities to develop strategic frameworks and capabilities to build resilience that safeguard the rights of their local communities, including through capacity building seminars and interactive training modules on themes of mutual interest.
Directly seed the development of new and innovative projects through ‘Local Innovation Grants’, providing support for cities on innovative project development and support for the transfer of promising projects that could be adapted across different locations.
Directly support cities to develop strategic frameworks and capabilities to build resilience that safeguard the rights of their local communities, including through capacity building seminars and interactive training modules on themes of mutual interest.
Provide a global platform to enable cities to jointly voice their needs and those of their communities, to inform national and international decision-making on preventing the spread and growth of violent extremism.
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