Transforming Violent Extremism: A Peacebuilder's Guide

This guide offers insights and guiding principles for peacebuilders and on-the-ground practitioners who are seeking to prevent or address violent extremism. Produced by Search for Common Ground, the guide draws on three decades of the organisation’s experience in transforming violent conflict in communities plagued by many of the same dynamics underlying violent extremism: frustration with weak, corrupt, or illegitimate governance; marginalisation; fractured relationships; lack of voice and opportunity; and struggles with diversity. 

Search for Common Ground defines violent extremism “as the choice individuals make to use or support violence to advance a cause based on exclusionary group identities. The particular identity of the perpetrator of violence does not determine what constitutes violent extremism, nor does the nature of the ideology, even if that ideology may be considered radical by many. Rather, violent extremism relates to an individual or group’s violent advancement of an exclusionary ideology, which seeks to eliminate the ‘other’ group, culture, or identity.”

The guide focuses on “transforming violent extremism” which is distinct from “countering violent extremism”.  Countering violent extremism is reactive to extremist violence rather than aimed at altering the dynamics that motivate it. Transforming violent extremism recognises that while violent extremism exists, the reasons and motivators leading to an individual being drawn to violent extremist movements can be transformed into a different type of agency or engagement.

Drawing from the tools and tactics from peacebuilding, the guide seeks to equip state and non-state actors to: (1) understand the dynamics which foment violent extremism, (2) identify a set of tools and approaches that prevent those dynamics from giving rise to violent extremism; and (3) ensure that responses do not aggravate and radicalise affected communities even further.

The guide is divided into the following sections, with each section offering a list of resources for further information:

Five core values form the bedrock of how we seek to transform violent extremism - These include: impartiality, respect for all people, shared humanity, inclusivity, and a firm belief that transformation is always possible.

Drivers - As stated in the guide, it is not intended to be an exhaustive list of factors that influence violent extremism; instead, it seeks to offer a set of questions and frameworks that may be useful in understanding extremism. By unpacking the drivers of violent extremism, there is the opportunity to enable those who are moving into violent extremism to be pulled back into safety, dignity, and respect within their communities. The guide discusses the following frameworks that can help to understand drivers: Push and pull factors; resilience-vulnerability spectrum; context theories vs. stage theories; risk factors; Berger’s models for radicalisation and recruitment; and exposure - engagement - empowerment. Additional considerations discussed are gender, religion, emotional dynamics, state-driven violent extremism and the radicalisation of state actors.

Prevention - An important starting point in designing prevention work is to analyse the dividers and connectors in a society. This section looks at how practitioners can draw on peacebuilding approaches to develop robust prevention programmes.  It offers the following seven guiding principles:

• Determine what enables this environment, using both root cause and conflict scan analysis
• Seek to understand not only why people join violent extremist movements, but also why they choose not to
• Understand the channels of communication and influence in the community
• Coordinate and share information with other actors working in prevention
• Seek to understand deeper human needs related to agency, identity, and connection
• See religion as a part of the solution, rather then the problem
• Be attentive to radicalisation and mobilisation risk present in refugee communities

Enabling State Responses - This section looks at how peacebuilders can build effective collaboration between state and non-state actors. It discusses the following six guiding principles:

• Identify, respect and speak to the need of each state security agency partner
• Identify, respect and speak to the needs of the various non-state actors who are involved in responding to violent extremism
• Build trust gradually among stakeholders, using both informal and formal initiatives
• Engage a wide spectrum of government and civil society actors, including religious groups
• Remain impartial and inclusive throughout the process
• Contrary to other peace building activities, visibility and publicity must be tailored to avoid risk to the stakeholders.

Narratives - Narratives are a set of ideas, facts, perspectives, and experiences that inform the way an individual or group perceives their place in the world around them. They often blend elements of historical truth with constructed storylines and can resonate deeply with people’s sense of self and how they make sense of events in their own lives. As peacebuilders, we understand narratives can be positive or negative and function as a natural part of the human experience. This section looks at how peacebuilders can work within the narrative space to prevent or transform violent extremism.  It offers the following four guiding principles for engaging with narratives:

• Amplify narratives that reinforce the power of emotion and human connection
• Focus on how narratives are constructed and shared rather than their content
• Choose credible, resonant messengers
• Engage and work with professional media outlets to equip them with the skills in common ground journalism.

Working with Young People - In transforming violent extremism, youth engagement is paramount. But rather than considering young people as either perpetrators or victims, young people must be engaged in programming as key partners in preventing violence and promoting peace. This means that their engagement is active through all stages of programming: analysis, design, implementation, learning and monitoring, and developing recommendations for the future based on lessons learned. According to the guide, this is now recognised best practice in peacebuilding work, and is applicable to the challenges of violent extremism as well. The guide offers the following five guiding principles on how to engage young people in transforming violent extremism:

• Don’t see them only as victims or perpetrators, but rather as parters for constructive change
• Facilitate collaborate relationships across dividing lines
• Recognise young people’s need for respect, dignity, and agency
• Be wary of quick fixes
• Be comfortable with diversity of viewpoints

Risks - While CVE work holds great transformative potential, it also carries significant risks. These risks may put people in physical danger, damage reputations, and strike at the heart of core values that organisations hold; they will depend heavily on the local context as well as the way in which the global framing of violent extremism issues plays out in the coming years. The following are cited as risks involved in conducting peace building programmes within the CVE arena.

• Losing impartiality and credibility
• Relationships and information sharing endangers stakeholders
• Incomplete or uneven resources with over promised outcomes damage credibility
• Root causes of injustice and structural violence are ignored or smoothed over.

Monitoring and Evaluation - The insights of peacebuilders in designing, monitoring, and evaluating programming are highly relevant for monitoring CVE initiatives. The five following guiding principles can be applied:

• Craft a theory of change once you have identified which type of initiative you will undertake
• Understand your assumptions about causality, but be aware of external influencing factors
• Identify what you can measure, with a focus on knowledge, attitudes, skills and relationships
• Use appropriate qualitative methodologies, including appreciative inquiry and most signifiant change, to be sensitive to unintended outcomes
• When appropriate, seek to develop indicators of change with various stakeholders as a method for gaining joint ownership of the analysis and potential outcomes.