General news about the Strong Cities Network, including updates to our members, website news, events and more.
While all eyes across the Atlantic were focused on a historic election on Tuesday, Europe was waking up to another day of mourning. The shooting in Vienna on Monday evening threatens to spread across Europe the tensions that have been rising in France over the past few weeks. Communicating in the aftermath of a (suspected) terrorist attack is an incredibly difficult task, but one that political and community leaders in particular have a duty to get right.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread around the world with profound social and economic consequences, disinformation has increasingly been weaponised in an effort to divide communities and mobilise hate. To understand how disinformation exploits a distrust of media and a restricted news intake to exacerbate existing community tensions, promote conspiracy theories and increase polarisation, the SCN has successfully piloted an initial localised assessment in the Municipality of Kumanovo, North Macedonia.
This virtual event takes place 30 September 2020, 09:30 – 11:00 EST / 13:30 – 15:00 UTC. This September, the Strong Cities Network (SCN) will be celebrating five years of achievements since it launched at the U.N. General Assembly in 2015. To mark the occasion, we are organising a celebratory event showcasing the leadership of…
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Brand new community-based intervention programme launched in Kenya seeks to integrate communities into local action plans.
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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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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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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