5 April 2022
Support provided by local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) is critical for effective P/CVE. These organizations possess a broad understanding of localized drivers of violent extremism conducive to terrorism due to their trust-based relationships with local communities. Their work contributes substantially to the success of national P/CVE strategies.
Nevertheless, mobilizing community-level resources through national P/CVE strategies can be tough. Donors face challenges in reaching organizations at the community level to work with them to co-design programs, manage the flow of resources, ensure compliance, and monitor and evaluate the impact of community-level projects.
Multiple perspectives on barriers and challenges to funding P/CVE initiatives at the community level
With the support of the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF), Australia and Indonesia hosted the second workshop under the Initiative on Funding and Enabling Community-Level P/CVE: Challenges, Recommendations and Emerging Good Practices. They brought together policymakers, practitioners, and other experts—including civil society representatives—to explore how to tackle the barriers and challenges that come with funding community level P/CVE. The workshop focused on the perspectives of local governments, international organizations, international non-governmental organizations, the private sector, and grassroots organizations.
This GCTF Initiative is exploring diverse experiences in funding and enabling community-level P/CVE by bringing together relevant stakeholders in a series of workshops to identify and collect relevant know-how that will contribute to the development of a GCTF Framework Document on this topic. It will build on lessons learned by GCERF and other organizations around funding tailored, localized interventions to develop recommendations for fast-tracking localization within respective national contexts, and to identify good emerging practices to enable local-level capacity.
Key Takeaways
During the virtual discussions, participants drew attention to the most relevant barriers and challenges to funding community-level P/CVE and made suggestions on how to overcome them. Pertinent points identified include:
- Promoting long-term, two-way dialogue and engagement between civil society and government to support P/CVE policies based on the human rights framework and democratic values.
- Strengthening community resilience by carrying out local initiatives that address the drivers of violent extremism conducive to terrorism—working with women, youth, and former terrorist group sympathizers, as they represent the groups that need to be included in the process of social reintegration.
- Encouraging P/CVE program donors to consult local actors and carry out context-based needs assessments to inform their requirements beforehand.
Related GCTF resources: