Preventing Violent Extremism through Inclusive Development and the Promotion of Tolerance and Respect for Diversity - Global Meeting Report

"UNDP stands ready to support the implementation of the 2030 agenda. Building peaceful, just and inclusive societies is an important component of that global commitment. Achieving that objective will require us to work closely with partners at the global, regional, national and local levels to address the drivers of violent extremism."

The Global Meeting on Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) by Promoting Inclusive Development, Tolerance and Respect for Diversity, held in Oslo, Norway, in March 2016, was an opportunity for global development actors to engage in in-depth discussions of their role in preventing violent extremism. Organised by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)'s Oslo Governance Centre and the Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster in the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS), the meeting brought together 135 people from 47 countries who work in government, development agencies, civil society (including youth organisations and women's networks), academia, media, and the law enforcement and security communities to discuss experiences, lessons learned, and approaches related to the prevention of violent extremism. This report presents key points from the many conceptual and thematic discussions. Principal messages summarised in the report:

• Current trends and characteristics of violent extremism and efforts to prevent it;
• The role, comparative advantages, and constraints of development actors in preventing violent extremism;
• The importance of development actors developing and sustaining partnerships with key stakeholders; and
• Critical next steps for develoment actors to enhance PVE programming.

The report traces the history of preventing violent extremism, a problem described here as a globalised threat thriving in fragile and conflict-affected states. One point to emerge: "The use of social media and a globalized media landscape have made it easier to construct and subscribe to narratives of global injustice and thus to create or join a 'cause' regardless of location." Politics and power are described in the report as drivers of violent extremism.

When it comes to understanding paths to violent extremism, development actors are encouraged to:

• Acknowledge the risk of efforts to counter/prevent violent extremism that curtail the human rights and civil liberties of individuals and communities - for example, in the form of punitive or insensitive national counter-terrorism legislation.
• Recognise that increased engagement of development actors on PVE will therefore require explicit policy guidance with regards to the normative framework and human rights compliance as well as on related risk assessment and risk management.
• Ensure that advocacy in support of PVE reaffirms basic UN principles and values, including international humanitarian law.

Owing to the multifaceted sources and causes of violent extremism, UNDP explains that development actors need to work alongside of - or form and sustain strong and comprehensive partnerships with - a range of people. It is noted that, in order to identify, manage, and leverage the local partnerships needed to prevent violent extremism, development actors must invest in analysis to understand the local context, trust-building processes with partners, and capacity development of endogenous structures. This activity includes developing the resources and capacity of trusted individuals within communities, such as women leaders, religious scholars, youth group leaders, and traditional leaders. The critical factor is the nature of local formal and informal authorities, i.e. their ability to provide peer-to-peer support (and pressure), positive role models, and mentorship through existing familiarity, authority, and trust. In the following sections of the report, selected stakeholders with a critical role in PVE are described in more detail. Some highlights:

• Young people are not the problem; they are part of the solution. Violent extremist groups often target the young because society has failed to make them feel safe, acknowledged, empowered, and included.
• "Radicalisation" is not necessarily a problem. It can be a force for good when the urge for social change has positive, peaceful, and constructive outlets.
• It is essential to recognise and support the vast majority of young women and men who reject violent extremism and work for peace.
• Women play a critical, yet often disregarded role in understanding, preventing, and responding to violent extremism.
• Participation and leadership of women and women's organisations in strategy development and programming to address violent extremism is critical, but funding remains inadequate.
• Moderate religious leaders and interfaith networks should be supported and strengthened to confront narratives exploiting their own traditions to promote violence, hatred and division, and should address inflammatory rhetoric within their institutions.
• Women of faith have compelling and alternative religious, historical, and cultural narratives and visions to offer.
• The governance community, including donors, needs to strengthen independent, free and protected media as a component of good governance strategies and in support of non-violent, free, and inclusive dialogue. Refrain from trying to control the media or use it for politically anchored counter-narratives, which has proven too often to be counter-productive. Furthermore, there is a need to generate further evidence on what works and what does not in media development for PVE in fragile contexts. Development actors should also support initiatives to protect journalists and their independence. Free and fair media can exist and be effective only if journalists are free from fear of repression and harm.

Programming considerations that came out of the meeting focus on:

• A key message from the meeting was that the global discussion on PVE now needs to be contextualised at the regional, national, and community levels.
• There was broad agreement that there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Development practitioners can learn a lot both from taking a holistic look at the work they are already doing and from drawing on experiences from other disciplines, including psychology, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, media, political economy, religious studies, crime prevention, etc.
• A fundamental guiding principle for this work is the focus on strengthening horizontal and vertical cohesion - cohesion between individuals and groups but also between communities and individuals and the state, the specifics of which will again depend on regional, national, and local contexts.
• In terms of defining the focus of PVE programme implementation, meeting participants discussed how development partners might engage constructively, which are outlined in the report.
• Participants discussed other key principles for development actors' PVE programming, such as: It is necessary to engage communities in the design and implementation of programmes reflecting the context-specificity of violent extremism dynamics and to draw on and reinforce local, endogenous resilience mechanisms towards violent extremism.
• Owing to the multi-dimensional nature of violent extremism, there is a need for multi-disciplinary analysis, monitoring, and evaluation and research efforts. Therefore, strong partnerships must be formed and sustained between the donor community, development actors, security actors, and academia, and research efforts should be anchored locally to support a better understanding of local conditions.

The final section of the report, "UNDP in the PVE field", explains that at the heart of UNDP’s approach is a belief that better governance in diversity will lead to societies better prepared to deal with violent extremism. This approach is laid out in detail in the background document for the meeting, available at Related Summaries, below. The road ahead for UNDP's (continued) work on PVE will have two main components. One focuses on research and lessons learned, policy dialogues, and advocacy. The meeting confirmed (and was in itself an example of) UNDP's role as knowledge broker - facilitating the sharing of lessons learned and experiences. The other component constitutes an action-oriented agenda for programme support, including a PVE grants mechanism for a group of 25-30 countries in Africa, the Arab states, Europe, and Asia.