The Strong Cities Network (SCN) held its third bilateral city exchange on 30 October – 1 November 2018 between the cities of Peshawar, Pakistan, and Birmingham, United Kingdom. Two District Council members from Peshawar, Safdar Khan Baghi and Mubashir Manzoor, travelled to Birmingham and Luton to attend this exchange hosted by Waqar Ahmed, Prevent Lead…
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Earlier this month, Strong Cities Network partnered with Birmingham City Council to organise a two-day conference facilitating national and international knowledge-sharing on building strong cities with a specific focus on community cohesion, preventing and countering violent crime, and radicalisation. The challenges faced by local policymakers in preventing and countering violent extremism, whilst also seeking to…
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COMPACT featured at the SCN Showcase at the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) in September, Too often, the drive of countering violent extremism (CVE) has been perceived as hard-power counter-terrorism (CT). In doing so, it often risks alienating and isolating the very communities it seeks to protect, thereby threatening to undermine its goal. When viewed through…
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Over thirty young people from Majdal Anjar took part in a three-day Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) camp and a one-day Strong Cities training on conflict transformation organised by the Community Prevention Network of Majdal Anjar, in collaboration with the local civil society organization “Youth Initiatives”. Among the priorities set by the municipal-led Community Prevention…
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Authors: Rebecca Skellett and Eric Rosand In 2014, scores of countries saw their citizens traveling to conflict zones in Iraq and Syria to join the Islamic State and other radical groups. In the years since, preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) has featured prominently on the global policy agenda. The recent opening of the UN…
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Authors: Jonathan Birdwell and Rebecca Skellett This week, the Global Parliament of Mayors (GPM) met in Bristol for its third Annual Summit. It was abundantly clear that the global yet local challenges which cities around the world face, from the Ebola crisis to urban displacement and terrorism, makes Mayoral leadership more important today than ever. But…
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Following the renowned Viborg Animation Festival last week, we would like to highlight the work of our partner and SCN member Viborg and The Animation Workshop, part of VIA University College, Denmark, held in high esteem for its contribution to the international film industry. Students from The Animation Workshop, Mads Ellegaard Skovbakke and Ingvild Marie…
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Last week, the SCN team led consultation activities with member cities and local stakeholders in Kosovo and Macedonia. Following an engagement and training phase that led more than 40 municipalities across the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) to join the SCN, we are now seeking to deepen our engagement and…
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Lebanon: Saida’s Strong Cities Community Prevention Network concludes their PVE Teacher Training in the presence of Mayor Seoudi and Head of Parliamentarian Committee for Education, MP Hariri. As part of its 2018 series of activities, the Strong Cities Community Prevention Network of Saida delivered a Teachers’ Prevention of Violent Extremism training to 28 participants from the…
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Authors: Jonathan Birdwell, Joe Downy, Strong Cities Network With the global rise of xenophobia and extremism, it is vital that liveability indexes consider city-level community polarisation – our “ability to live together.” Last month, The Economist published its latest Global Liveability Index (GLI). After a reign at the top of the list for seven years, Melbourne was displaced by Vienna…
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