![International Alert has been organising workshops that focus on combating violent extremism in Lebanon and other Arab countries. The workshops include Syrian children and activists, to introduce them to a toolkit that focuses on preventing violent extremism. [Photo courtesy of International Alert]](/cnmi_am/images/2018/04/10/12169-international-alert-workshop-700_496.webp)
As violent extremist movements continue to fuel wars in the Middle East and other parts of the world, the focus has been in recent years on designing programmes that prevent violent extremism.
Preventing violent extremism (PVE) programming -- including media initiatives, religious outreach, youth engagement and gender programming -- however, fall short of achieving the desired objectives, experts say.
To this end, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Lebanon, in partnership with the peace-building organisation International Alert, has launched a toolkit to support PVE programmes and enhance their design, implementation and evaluation.
Launched on March 9th, the toolkit provides a comprehensive set of tools on all stages of PVE programming, and responds to an urgent need to improve efficiency, targeting and design of such programmes to ultimately have the highest impact, according to a statement by International Alert.
"Violent extremism has become a threat to international peace and security, and this has led to the development of a plethora of programmes and projects to tackle it," Permanent Peace Movement (PPM) chairman Fadi Abi Allam told Al-Mashareq.
"However, many of these projects fall short of achieving the desired objectives," he told Al-Mashareq.
This led to the joint toolkit project, he said, noting that the new toolkit "enhances the quality of PVE programmes in light of the existence of many diverse initiatives in this area".
Four-stage cycle
The toolkit comprises four sections that cover the whole programme cycle from design to evaluation.
It starts by laying the foundations of good practice for projects related to PVE, such as conflict and gender sensitivity.
Next, it offers analysis tools for identifying factors of vulnerability and resilience to violent extremism in the project context, building theories of change, and developing indicators and monitoring.
It then provides guidance on developing a monitoring strategy, collecting data and evaluation.
Accompanying the toolkit is an online indicator bank with 180 PVE-relevant indicators which can be tailored for programmes and adapted for specific country contexts.
"A community of practice is developing to better inform PVE programming," said Ruth Simpson, co-author of the toolkit and Senior Lead–Development, Impact and Learning, Middle East and North Africa at International Alert.
"But the systems and tools for understanding the suitability of PVE programming are not yet available," she said.
"So, to close the gap, we and the UNDP designed a toolkit that provides guidance on the design of the surveillance and information collection strategy," she told Al-Mashareq.
"This toolkit is a major step forward and will help our development partners refine the programmes we and the UNDP offer in this area, as well as help us continue to learn and innovate," Simpson said.
Customised approach
"As the intensity and number of conflicts grew over the past decade, extremist attacks increased in number and proliferated," said Yara el-Moussaoui, senior Communications and Advocacy officer at International Alert.
The new toolkit contributes to stemming the growth of violent extremism, she said, noting that it provides guidance on PVE programme design in a manner that takes into account the sensitive dynamics of each conflict.
The workshops that were held to develop the new toolkit focused on reviews and critiques of previous PVE programmes, "which did not adequately test theories with systematic, scientific and empirical research", she said.
The new PVE tool prescribed the consideration of five elements in the design of PVE programmes, el-Moussaoui said.
These include "focusing on the subject, understanding the subject and his relationship with his surrounding environment, focusing on flexibility, understanding the root cause of the problem of violent extremism, and understanding the complexities [surrounding it]", she said.
The adoption of these five elements will contribute to the development and design of PVE programmes in a very effective way, she added.
"These tools have been tested by the UNDP in the design of programmes in Tunisia and Jordan, and they are bearing fruit today," she said.
