Countering violent extremism with local cooperation and novel tools

The impact of violent extremism is most felt at the local level, affecting communities directly. Whether perpetrated by single individuals or organised groups, extremism can have devastating consequences on cities and local communities.

To respond to the quickly evolving landscape of violent extremism, the EU funded project icommit is enhancing the preparedness of social workers, case workers, and NGO practitioners working on preventing and countering violent extremism. To achieve this, the project has developed a comprehensive toolkit for non-security stakeholders, focusing on:

• Evidence-based approaches to de-radicalisation, distancing, and reintegration;
• Integrating gender perspectives into case analysis;
• Improving multi-stakeholder collaboration through joint assessment and decision-making.

The icommit social diagnostics toolkit will support frontline practitioners in planning, implementing, and evaluating casework for disengagement, de-radicalisation, and rehabilitation, ultimately strengthening their ability to address violent extremism.

Interconnecting frontline workers across Europe

In addition to its novel toolkit, the project also offers training to improve and strengthen the cooperation of local teams working in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) across Europe.

Eight city teams, from Spain, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, and Greece, participated in the icommit training and mentorship programme. All these cities were at different stages of establishing local P/CVE collaboration.

In Mechelen, Belgium, the results are already telling. Since the project was launched, P/CVE case workers had the opportunity to upscale cooperation, making them feel less isolated in their prevention efforts. Now, they share their experiences with teams from other European cities. This, in turn, has encouraged them to develop a novel protocol for working with prisons. While they are still waiting for its sign-off, efforts are already being made to establish an informal exchange with prisons on Islamist extremism.

Supporting the EU’s efforts against extremism

EU-funded projects such as icommit are instrumental in supporting the EU’s broader efforts to prevent (violent) extremism on the ground.

One of the EU’s key initiatives on the subject, the EU Knowledge Hub on Prevention of Radicalisation, is bolstering efforts against radicalisation, which can often times lead to violent extremism and terrorism. Bringing together practitioners, policymakers and researchers working on prevention across Europe and in some third countries, the hub supports the development and implementation of effective policies and strategies to prevent radicalisation.

The European Commission has recently also stepped up its efforts to prevent and respond to all threats to the EU’s internal security, with the ProtectEU - Internal Security Strategy.

Duration: 2022 - 2023 

Countries: Germany

Budget: EUR 673.403, 75 (606.063,37 EU contribution)

Fund: ISF Borders and Visa

Policy: Internal security, Countering of violent extremism

Project website: icommit