PAVE Training Module 2

Section outline

• Decreasing online vulnerability for recruitment and radicalization will only be effective if there is increased multi-stakeholder collaboration at the local, national and regional level.  This is especially necessary as in most instances, governments are not effective messengers for counter or alternative narrative efforts; they lack credibility among the target audiences and may be slow to respond due to bureaucratic constraints. Therefore, civil society, including faith actors and institutions, are a key mechanism to prevent online radicalization and recruitment. 

  Continuity in the fight against radicalization and recruitment  is required from politicians in financing education and prevention projects, especially by supporting civil society initiatives. For example, the federal program Living Democracy!, run by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in Germany, encourages communities to take action against hate on the internet, in addition to other efforts to promote democracy. Furthermore, information and education campaigns, on social media and in schools, universities and businesses are needed to reduce the consequences of online and offline discrimination. Increased literacy skills amongst civil society and policy makers will help to build awareness of violent extremism and the role of media. 

  This includes providing sensitivity training to media personnel to safely report on sensitive subjects and to ‘do not harm,’ within their reporting.  Subsequently, this will support awareness raising on  how reporting practices can support P/CVE efforts and prevent stigmatization of groups that hinder responses to violent extremism. This includes increasing their capacity on how to report on gender, faith communities, young people and other minority groups with more sensitivity to ensure no adverse consequences fall on these communities and mitigate the “us vs. them” persona.  There are many tools around the world which support citizen activism in identifying and reporting hate speech. 

  Civil society and faith actors can advocate for the increased engagement of policy actors in this space and support legislation and accountability mechanisms to mitigate hate speech, extremist propaganda and violence. The PAVE project research did conclude that not all policy makers see the value in such legislation or even recognize there is a problem in the online space. There is a need to better understand this phenomenon and develop strategies to address them.

  Policy makers and members of civil society must acknowledge and increase the meaningful engagement of women and youth in P/CVE efforts, especially in an online space. For example, the No Hate Speech Campaign is a youth campaign led by the Council of Europe Youth Department in Germany that seeks to mobilize young people to combat hate speech and promote human rights online. The official No Hate Speech Movement video explains the rationale of the campaign by providing examples of hate speech online and personal testimonies of young people. The video concludes with a short explanation of the main features of the campaign platform. https://www.coe.int/en/web/no-hate-campaign/videos1.

  
  

  

  Photo Source: No Hate Speech Youth Campaign Movement. (2022). Council of Europe. https://www.coe.int/en/web/no-hate-campaign. 

  There are also many other ways for these multi-stakeholder groups to collaborate beyond counter or alternative narratives. The DARE project has provided recommendations to advance dialogue between stakeholders outside of disseminating counter or alternative narratives or removing online content: 

  • Consider the use of educational toolkits. Awareness, courage, accountability and empathy, i.e. the skills required to promote moderation, need to be acquired by social media users through training. The use of educational toolkits can contribute to this. 

  • Experiment with diversity and promote online contact between diverging views. Many initiatives show how bringing together different viewpoints can have a constructive effect in the real world, but online initiatives attempting to do the same are currently lagging. The Erasmus+ online platform that brings together youth from all sides of the Mediterranean can be considered a good practice in this context.

  Many stakeholders are doing incredible work around the world on P/CVE efforts. However, there still remains coordination gaps in which are inhibiting stakeholders to collaboratively work together and strengthen/build upon their P/CVE efforts. Collaboration between state institutions, civil society and faith communities is strongly encouraged to increase resilience factors to radicalization and recruitment in online spaces.

What if Someone I know is Talking to an Unsafe Person?

Jump to... Main learning site Session 1: Objectives and Expected Results How Does the Internet Support and Create Opportunities for Extremist Narratives and Radicalization? Digital Recruitment in Today's Society What Tactics Do Violent Extremists Use to Radicalize Individuals? Who Do Violent Extremists Target in Radicalization and Recruitment Online? How and Why Do Youth Become Key Targets for Radicalization and Recruitment? Gendered Lens: How and Why Do Women Become Key Targets for Radicalization and Recruitment? How Does Religion Influence Online Recruitment and Radicalization? What About Policymakers? How do They Support Radicalization and Resilience Factors? Additional Resources for Session 1 Session 2: Objectives and Expected Results What Could An Extremist Narrative Look Like? How Can We Address Online Radicalization and Recruitment? What is Counter or Alternative Messaging and How Can it Be Used to Prevent Radicalization? Building a Strategic Campaign Guidelines for Creating an Effective Campaign Mapping Your Target Audience How is Our Target Audience Currently Interacting with Extremist Content? How to Craft Your Counter or Alternative Message Tactics to Disseminate Your Campaign Messages Your Counter or Alternative Narrative Campaign is Launched - Now What? Evaluating Your Counter or Alternative Narrative Campaign Now It’s Your Turn to Make a Counter Narrative Campaign! Additional Resources for Session 2 Session 3: Objectives and Expected Results Being Safe When Using Online Spaces Safety Through An Inclusive Lens What if Someone I know is Talking to an Unsafe Person? Additional Resources for Session 3 Print Your Course Certificate

Additional Resources for Session 3