PVE Quarterly highlights - Oct - Dec 2022

PVE Highlights - Oct - Dec 2022

Please also find the highlights attached in a handy PDF format, for ease of access and dissemination. The PDF file includes a special Country Office feature issue that will spotlight a new PVE project. For this Quarterly issue, discover UNDP Mozambique's Trust Building towards breaking the cycle of recruitment into violent extremist groups.

Global Highlights  

• In January, UNDP was pleased to co-sponsor the Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-based Organizations in International Affairs, on behalf of the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and Sustainable Development.

  • The Symposium was initiated in 2015 from the initiative of faith-based partners, and the 2023 edition focused on the issue of human security, including the intersections of human security with sustainable development, durable peace, and gender justice.

  • Distinguished speakers included Ms. Ulrika Modéer, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy, UNDP. 

• Between December 2022 and January 2023, two new episodes of the UNDP podcast series #ExploringExtremism were released: 

  • Episode V: Would I Lie to You? The Weaponization of social media 

  • Episode VI: Masculinities, Misogyny and Violent Extremism 

  • Tune in and listen at: PVE Portal - Podcast or on Spotify. 

Regional Highlights 

• Young Creators Promoting Tolerance and Diversity - In Partnership with TikTok & EU 
  • The Creators Forward is a network of creators contributing to social cohesion by sharing positive and inspiring content promoting tolerance and diversity. In collaboration with country offices and in partnership with Tik Tok, UNDP brought together 19 creators across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand in a series of masterclasses that looked at social change messaging for digital creators in Southeast Asia.  

  • Participants used their strengthened digital skills and creative thinking to produce campaigns that engage their community on diverse topics, including countering cyberbullying, celebrating cultural diversity, and gender equality, and advocating global empathy. Collectively, 91 videos were produced under this initiative with over 17.2 million views, while findings suggest an instant boost to respondents’ awareness of social cohesion.  

  • To learn more about the Creators Forward programme, please see the CF Summary Video and visit the website.

• UNDP in Africa and the Arab States is releasing a three-part Preventing Violent Extremism report series examining the underlying drivers of violent extremism and offering new programmatic and policy responses to address them.

  • Read the first report, “Perceptions, Vulnerabilities and Prevention: Violent Extremism Threat Assessment in Selected Regions of the Southern Libyan Borderlands and North-Western Nigeria” (published in October 2022). 

Country Highlights 

• UNDP Kyrgyzstan launched the Low-Value Grants Funding programme in December 2022 to support Public Prevention Centers to strengthen community resilience and preventive approaches in the prevention of violent extremism. Workshops to train these advisory groups began in September and October 2022 where they discussed best practices of PVE at the local community levels.  

• UNDP Kyrgyzstan provided technical support in the development of the next phase of PVE National Action Plan and assistance in refining the legal framework in the areas of C/PVE - Laws on Countering Terrorism and Countering Extremist Activity, which has been adopted by the Parliament on 4 July 2022 and 12 January 2023 respectively. The drafting process included a series of sub and national roundtables and engaged representatives of law enforcement agencies, CSOs, INGOs, human rights defenders, media, local authorities nationwide to ensure inclusivity.  

• Under the Joint EU-UN STRIVE Asia Project, UNDP Turkmenistan completed a series of activities. 

  • Partnering with experts, Beyond Conflict, UNDP organised trainings and seminars for PVE mentor groups covering Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in October.  This raises awareness of the importance of MHPSS for PVE and teaches MHPSS and mentorship skills such as active listening, boundaries and support for mentors, and coping skills. 

  • Under the UN-Turkmenistan Joint Programme on “Empowering and Engaging Youth in Mitigating the Threats of the Health Pandemic”, UNDP also supported the organised youth consultations on “Opportunities for full involvement and participation of youth in the development of society” by facilitating the exchange and networking between youths, civil society and decision makers. This raised awareness on youth participation and intercultural awareness through peer learning, at the same time promoting social values of friendship, trust, respect and peace.  

• In UNDP Libya, six municipalities developed actions plans and strategies for incorporating PVE, focusing on priorities underpinning social cohesion and sustainability. These priorities were identified in cooperation with national stakeholders, a unique achievement that will increase awareness about local governance and stability issues, as well as impediments to community stability.  

• UNDP Morocco has released a short documentary on promoting tolerance in the prison environment through the innovative “Peer Educator” approach. This has been carried out as part of the “Support for the DGAPR Strategy,” alongside DGAPR and Rabita Mohammadia of Ulèmas. 

  • Watch the videos here.

Disclaimer: the updates do not constitute an exhaustive list of monthly activities, rather only a selection of brief highlights that we are able to collect thanks to Country Office support.