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MENA Regional Hub: Roundtable on Sustaining Prevention and Strengthening Resilience in MENA

Publication Date:

23/09/2025

Content Type:

Event Reports

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digital resilienceGreater Amman Municipalityhate preventionMENA Regional HubNational-Local CooperationSocial CohesionSTRIVE CitiesYouth Engagement

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This report provides a summary of discussions during the event and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Strong Cities Network Management Unit, Strong Cities members, event sponsors or participants.

Event Details

Description: A regional workshop on Cities in Action: Sustaining Prevention and Strengthening Resilience in MENA, bringing together local and national authorities, civil society organisations and relevant stakeholders from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya and Morocco to exchange city-led approaches to prevention, resilience and social cohesion in the face of evolving risks.

Where & When: 23 — 24 September 2025, Amman (Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan)

Cities Represented

• Egypt: Damietta
• Iraq: Basrah, Diyala, Najaf
• Jordan: Ajloun, Amman, Bani Ubaid, Al Muwaqar, West Irbid, Zarqa
• Lebanon: Saida, Tripoli
• Libya: Sebratha, Zuwara
• Morocco: Agadir, Fès, Rabat, Tétouan

Partners Represented

Partners

• City of Amman
• Delegation of the European Union to Jordan

International and Non-Governmental Organisations

• WANA Institute
• Siren Associates

Diplomatic Missions

• Delegation of the European Union to Jordan

Key Takeaways

Recommendations for Mayors and Cities

• Ground Prevention Efforts in the Realities of Evolving Threats
  Design prevention strategies that are firmly rooted in the realities of evolving and interconnected local threats. Municipalities face overlapping challenges such as digital disinformation, hate speech, climate stress, economic exclusion, and social fragmentation. Prevention efforts should therefore be risk-informed and context-specific, targeting local drivers of polarisation, hate and vulnerability to strengthen community resilience.
• Demonstrate Political Courage to Advance Prevention and Cohesion
  Municipal leaders should adopt a persistent and proactive approach to advancing resilience and social cohesion. This entails practising transparency, addressing sensitive issues openly and ensuring inclusive participation. While such actions may carry political risks, they are essential for embedding prevention within local governance structures and earning and maintaining public trust.
• Embed Prevention within Core Municipal Functions for Long-Term Impact
  Ensure the sustainability of prevention efforts by institutionalising them within core municipal functions such as planning, budgeting, education and service delivery. Dedicated budget lines, integration into council processes, and partnerships with civil society and the private sector can make prevention a permanent feature of local governance. Moving beyond ad hoc or donor-driven initiatives, this structural embedding guarantees continuity, credibility and local ownership across political and funding cycles.
• Integrate Digital Resilience into Local Governance
  Municipalities should develop locally tailored digital resilience and hate-prevention strategies that make online safety a core responsibility of local governance. These strategies should be institutionalised across municipal functions and supported by:
  • Integrated prevention models combining education, communication and technology to address disinformation, online hate and polarising narratives.
  • Proactive municipal communication strategies that provide transparent, factual information to counter rumours, strengthen public trust and reinforce institutional credibility.
  • Capacity-building measures such as staff training, citizen engagement and partnerships with civil society, the private sector and technology regulators to promote responsible, transparent communication.
  • Practical tools and platforms to monitor and respond to harmful online content, consistent with free speech protections, to mitigate the effects of misinformation and disinformation.
  • Community-based awareness initiatives and partnerships with youth, educational and religious institutions to foster digital literacy, promote tolerance and strengthen community resilience.
• Foster Inclusion through Youth Partnerships and Engagement
  Municipalities should collaborate with youth-led and youth-focused organisations, as well as youth councils or mechanisms, to create open and inclusive community spaces where residents from all parts of the city can connect, engage and exchange ideas. Such spaces foster dialogue, strengthen social cohesion and help build resilience against division, hate and marginalisation.
• Build Public Trust and Civic Engagement as Cornerstones of Prevention
  Prioritise building public trust and civic participation as a cornerstone of hate prevention. Municipalities that invest in transparent communication, inclusive policymaking and partnerships with youth and civil society enhance their legitimacy and resilience. Mutual trust between citizens and institutions is both a prerequisite for and an outcome of effective and sustainable prevention efforts.

Recommendations for National Governments

• Engage Municipalities in the Development and Implementation of National Frameworks
  Ensure municipalities play an active and recognised role in the design and implementation of national extremism and hate-prevention strategies. National frameworks should include structured mechanisms for two-way consultation between ministries and municipalities, enabling cities to feed local insights and data directly into policy development. This inclusive approach helps align local and national efforts, prevent fragmentation or duplication and strengthen community-based responses to hate, polarisation and extremism.
• Institutionalise Cooperation for Sustainable Prevention
  Formalising cooperation through legal frameworks, joint planning and coordination mechanisms ensures that prevention is shared and sustained across all levels of government – beyond donor funding cycles.
• Operationalise National-Local Cooperation for Hate PreventionStrengthen the national–local architecture for hate prevention by adopting legal frameworks that mandate structured consultation, establishing dedicated municipal coordination units for prevention and digitising information sharing between national and local bodies. Institutionalising consultative committees will further ensure two-way communication, continuous coordination and collective problem-solving across all levels of governance.
• Strengthen Local Government Capacity for Prevention and Resilience
  Strengthen the capacity of local governments to act as the frontline of prevention by equipping them with the tools, resources and authority to provide continuity and stability during periods of instability. This includes developing locally rooted early-warning systems, implementing digital literacy programmes and establishing coordinated communication strategies to identify and counter harmful narratives before they escalate – thereby reinforcing public trust and community resilience.

Recommendations for Partners and Donors

• Prioritise Investment in Municipal Resilience
  Direct funding to cities’ prevention, reintegration and crisis response efforts – particularly those addressing youth engagement, underserved communities and digital harms – strengthens the local capacity that sustains prevention over time.
• Encourage Prevention Efforts that are Co-Designed with Communities
  Invest in and promote peer learning and city-to-city exchanges to accelerate the transfer of practical, locally owned solutions. Encourage prevention efforts that are co-designed with communities and led by municipalities to ensure that strategies are context-specific, inclusive and sustainable.
• Ensure Long-Term, Flexible Support
  Provide municipalities with adaptable and sustained technical and financial resources, enabling them to develop institutional capacity and implement multi-year prevention strategies aligned with national and regional goals.

Next Steps

• Engagement and Coordination
  The MENA Regional Hub will continue supporting cities beyond the EU STRIVE initiative, particularly by facilitating the participation of several regional municipalities in the Sixth Global Summit in Toronto in December.
• Peer Learning and Innovation Exchanges
  Strong Cities will continue hosting peer learning forums and webinars to share lessons learned from city-level prevention efforts across the MENA region and beyond.
• Fundraising and New Opportunities
  Strong Cities will pursue new partnerships and funding opportunities to build on the successes achieved through EU STRIVE and expand support for municipal resilience against to hate and violent extremism across the region.

Additional Resources

• Countering Hate Speech in Times of Crisis: Considerations for Mayors and Local Governments, Strong Cities Network, December 2024
• Managing Migration: City-Led Approaches for Being an Inclusive, Welcoming and Socially-Cohesive City, Strong Cities Network, December 2024
• City-Led Prevention of Hate, Extremism and Polarisation: Leveraging Local Youth Councils, Strong Cities Network, December 2024
• City-Led Youth Engagement in Addressing Hate, Extremism and Polarisation: Ten Recommendations for Cities, Strong Cities Network, December 2024
• Creating Safe, Cohesive and Resilient Cities through Urban Planning and Design: Ten Considerations for Mayors and Local Governments, Strong Cities Network, December 2024
• National-Local Cooperation: A Pillar of City-Led Prevention of Hate, Extremism and Polarisation – A Practice Update, Strong Cities Network, December 2024
• Global Crises, Local Impacts Initiative, Strong Cities Network, 2024
• A Guide for Cities: Preventing Hate, Extremism & Polarisation, Strong Cities Network, updated 2024
• A Guide for Mayors: Preventing and Responding to Hate, Extremism & Polarisation, Strong Cities Network, updated 2024
• A Guide for City-Led Response, Strong Cities Network, May 2024
• Constructing UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Cities, Operational Guidelines, May 2024
• City Spotlights Library, Strong Cities Network
• National-Local Cooperation Toolkit, Global Counterterrorism Forum, Strong Cities, September 2023

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