17.09.2021

This report is part of the concluding phase of the project on Enhancing Community Resilience to Radicalisation into Violent Extremism, which  was carried out by the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), with the support of the European Commission Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR). It represents  an effort to organise and share a great amount of primary data received primarily from grass-root organisations through reporting, field surveys and visits on the topic of countering radicalization and violent extremism in the regions of Sahel and Maghreb, where violent extremism remains a persistent threat to peace and stability in these regions and continues to cause death, injury, and the destruction of property, disrupting the lives of ordinary citizens in the process.                                                                  

This report is about the project’s findings. It argues that the complexity of the phenomenon of violent extremism calls for nuanced local knowledge and engaging local stakeholders in policy formulation and ensuring thus their commitment to implementation. The report’s content is valuable and rich in success stories, good practices and lessons learned.  It concludes with three most relevant recommendations; (1) the state needs to lead efforts that address root causes of grievances leading to radicalisation into violent extremism in collaboration and dialogue with community-based actors (2) any solution must be informed by a sound knowledge of local and wider political, economic, social and cultural dynamics, and (3) the solutions have to be designed as long-term processes geared towards building more inclusive and tolerant societies.