Above: Head of SCN, Rebecca Skellett, spoke at length on the importance of local leadership.

As part of our partnership with the UN Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate (UN-CTED), the Head of the Strong Cities Network, Rebecca Skellett had the opportunity to present at the open briefing on the protection of ‘soft’ targets through local engagement and public-private partnerships event held at the UN Headquarters in June 2019.

Speaking at the event, Head of SCN Rebecca Skellett addressed the vital role that local authorities play in stabilising, reassuring and rebuilding communities faced by tragedy, both in the immediate wake of terror attacks but critically, in the months and years after.

Whilst the domain of soft target protection is long established, there are considerable gaps in the systems and resources available to local governments to draw from. With this in mind, the SCN will spend the next several months developing a ‘Post-Incident Response Toolkit’ to provide key guidance and insights, both to city leaders and practitioners, on best practice responses following a terrorist attack.  The toolkit will focus on but not limited to drawing out vital lessons in crisis communications, community engagement and multi-agency cooperation to help bridge the gap between security and social responses.  We will also work closely with our partners at the World Economic Forum and UNCTED to identify ways to strengthen the role of the private sector in the soft target domain and more broadly in prevention efforts.

See the full video below.