19 September 2023
People are becoming ever more divided. A growing concern is the increase of polarization taking place in our societies and its connection to violent extremism. This division is creating space for hatred, radical thought, and extremism, polarizing societies further. The multifaceted nature of the phenomenon requires a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to address local capacity building at all levels.
On the margins of the 22nd Coordinating Committee Meeting and the 13th Ministerial Meeting in New York, the GCTF CVE Working Group held an in-person side event in collaboration with Strong Cities Network and GCERF to present two key documents. The two documents - the GCTF NLC Toolkit and the GCTF Recommendations for Funding and Enabling Community-Level P/CVE were outcomes of initiatives launched by the GCTF CVE Working Group, Co-Chaired by Australia and Indonesia. The documents support capacity building and stronger cooperation at the national and local levels. They were presented and endorsed by the GCTF Members during the Twenty-second GCTF Coordinating Committee Meeting (18 September) and the Thirteenth Ministerial Plenary Meeting (20 September).
In September 2020, the GCTF adopted a Memorandum on Good Practices on Strengthening National-Local Cooperation in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism Conducive to Terrorism, that recognized the value of the cooperation between national and local actors, including local civil society organizations (CSOs) and local authorities, as an essential ingredient for translating global P/CVE frameworks and recommendations into local action. The document encourages a Whole-of-Society approach and shares 13 Good Practices for P/CVE stakeholders to consider for enhancing coordination and cooperation among national and local government, CSOs, and the private sector.
To support capacity building at the national and local levels, the GCTF CVE WG Co-Chairs, Australia and Indonesia, launched two inter-connected Initiatives.
- The ‘Initiative on the Practical Use of the GCTF Memorandum on Good Practices on National-Local Cooperation (NLC) in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism’, implemented by Strong Cities Network. The initiative enabled a roadmap for operationalizing a “Whole-of-Society” approach to preventing and countering violent extremism conducive to terrorism to be established by means of a toolkit. The GCTF NLC Toolkit is aimed at empowering national and local actors in their tailor-made approaches and details six pillars that underpin effective approaches, presents good practice and recommendations rooted in real-world examples, drawn from 60 case studies from different regions.
- The 'Initiative on Funding and Enabling Community-Level P/CVE', implemented by the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF), to help identify solutions to overcome funding barriers to support community-level P/CVE interventions. The result, the GCTF Framework Document on Recommendations for Funding and Enabling Community-level P/CVE, which provides recommendations for fast-tracking localization within respective national contexts.
Through useful tools and guidance, national and local actors are empowered to address the phenomenon, and develop local approaches to tackle root causes, as essential efforts in preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) conducive to terrorism locally.