Preventing Violent Extremism through Inclusive Development and the Promotion of Tolerance and Respect for Diversity: A Development Response to Addressing Radicalization and Violent Extremism

"A return to divisive politics (us vs. them) will only lead to more conflicts. Different faiths, political parties, human-rights defenders, media, educational institutions and others need to promote tolerance and respect for diversity (in political opinion, in faith, in lifestyle, in social behavior)."

This global framework by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) highlights that prevention of violent extremism (PVE) needs to look beyond strict security concerns to development-related causes of, and solutions to, the phenomenon. It is based on the January 2016 United Nations (UN) Secretary-General's Plan of Action to prevent violent extremism and on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 on building peaceful, just, and inclusive societies. At the heart of UNDP's approach is a belief that better governance of diversity will lead to societies better protected against violent extremism. "Future and current political settlements...need to adjust institutions and processes so that they can promote the peaceful governance of increasingly heterogeneous societies."

UNDP's conceptual framework for preventing violent extremism looks at potential drivers of radicalisation that can ultimately lead to violent extremism. UNDP explains that the root causes of violent extremism are complex, multifaceted, and intertwined, and relate to the structural environment in which radicalisation and possibly violent extremism can start to take hold. UNDP points to the following 8 drivers that can lead to radical behaviour and result in violent extremist action: the role and impact of global politics; economic exclusion and limited opportunities for upward mobility; political exclusion and shrinking civic space; inequality, injustice, corruption, and the violation of human rights; disenchantment with socio-economic and political systems; rejection of growing diversity in society; weak state capacity and failing security; and a changing global culture and banalisation of violence in media and entertainment. In addition to these, people get pulled into radical and ultimately violent movements through well-considered manipulation and accompanying socialisation processes (via media, schools, family, and religious and cultural organisations) and enabled by personal, emotional, or psychological factors such as alienation, search for identity, a sense of injustice, loss of a family member, breakdown of communication between authority figures and youth, or previous mistreatment or imprisonment, etc.). Also, when socialisation processes that aim to foster social cohesion fail, individuals become more vulnerable and may get attracted to more radical and violent beliefs and attitudes.

UNDP argues that sustainable solutions for PVE require an inclusive development approach anchored in tolerance, political and economic empowerment, and reduction of inequalities. UNDP's conceptual framework and theory of change defines 11 interlinked building blocks of strategies for preventing violent extremism:

1. Promoting a rule of law and human rights-based approach to PVE - The manner in which security institutions respond to potential threats could lead to the stigmatisation of certain groups and could thus become a driver in the radicalisation process. UNDP's global initiative will therefore include as one of its pillars for preventing violent extremism measures to increase the capacity of the justice and security sectors.
2. Enhancing the fight against corruption - This involves building capacities of anti-corruption institutions, such as by fostering capacities of civil society to monitor transparency and accountability in government and in assessing corruption risks in specific sectors and at the local community level.
3. Providing effective socio-economic alternatives to violence for groups at risk - UNDP's initiative will focus on improving the livelihoods of groups at risk (youth in particular), meaning improving their skills and education levels and ensuring better access to jobs and upward mobility. Special attention will need to be paid to adolescent girls to reduce their vulnerability to trafficking and gender-based violence.
4. Enhancing participatory decision-making and increasing civic space at national and local levels - UNDP's integrated approach to support inclusive political processes works with women and men of all ages to strengthen civil society capacities and expand and protect spaces for citizen participation in public life, with a special focus on groups experiencing discrimination and marginalisation. Regular engagement with political leaders and decisionmakers in particular at the local level can yield peace- and social-cohesion dividends. Creating opportunities for men and women to organise, culturally, politically, or for sports, also helps in managing frustrations. According to UNDP, genuine participation in, or access to, decision-making generates a strong sense of inclusion and tolerance, and hence decreases alienation.
5. Strengthening the capacity of local governments for service delivery and security - UNDP support focuses on strengthening the capacities of local institutions, local economic actors, and communities. In that way, by grounding development choices in the needs of the people - particularly the economically poor, marginalised, and traditionally excluded groups - and fostering transparency, accountability, participation, and ownership, local governments become forefront players in combating exclusion and reverse long-held perceptions of economic and social injustice.
6. Supporting credible internal intermediaries to promote dialogue with alienated groups and re-integration of former extremists - Noting that critical changes in political and social attitudes and behaviours cannot be manipulated from the outside but, rather, have to emerge from the organic conditions of a society, UNDP looks to trusted and credible "insider mediators" able to engage relevant political, social, and civic leaderships, build dialogue across lines of tension, and convene and facilitate critical conversations. These mediators - traditional or religious leaders (women or men), civic activists, artists, teachers, media anchors, etc. with legitimacy to mediate - can play an early warning role, identifying potential signs of radicalisation or recruitment by extremists. Building on a recently released Guidance Note on support for "insider mediation," prepared jointly with the European Union, UNDP will work with partners to develop in-depth guidance on identifying and working with credible intermediaries in situations characterised by the risk of violent extremism.
7. Promoting gender equality and women's empowerment - "A closer understanding of the roles women play in relation to violence and conflict is critical to the development of tailored strategies to strengthen resilience against violent extremism and to support victims and survivors. This not only requires reaching out to natural allies such as human-rights organizations, educational institutions and policy-makers already engaged in preventing violent extremism, but also calls for engaging with religious leaders, the media, community leaders, women's organizations, security forces and the private sector to promote values in compliance with international human rights standards and norms."
8. Engaging youth in building social cohesion - "When societies fail to integrate youth in meaningful ways, young people are more likely to engage in political violence. Young people however do play an important positive role. Youth are already transforming their communities, countering violence and building peace. Yet their efforts remain largely invisible due to lack of adequate mechanisms for participation, and lack of opportunities to partner with decision-making bodies. UNDP's work on youth therefore supports young men and women and their organizations as leaders and peacebuilders, as promoters of social cohesion in their communities and as actors for early warning and re-integration."
9. Working with faith-based organisations and religious leaders to counter the abuse of religion by violent extremists - According to UNDP, religious leaders bear a particular responsibility to help prevent violent extremism. "Intra-faith" and "inter-faith" dialogues at the regional and global levels can promote a counter-narrative to violent extremism, and also develop more concrete measures at the local and community levels that could be implemented through networks of religious organisations and institutions. Regional context needs to be taken into account.
10. Working with the media to promote human rights and tolerance - "UNDP will work with select partners to develop an online interactive platform for those advocating creative approaches to enhance inclusion, promotion of human rights, social cohesion and tolerance, gender equality and women's empowerment; and to reach out to and engage in dialogue with disaffected groups and individuals. The voices of women, youth, and religious leaders as well as victims, survivors and returnees are important in this approach. A communications tool-kit, including a guide for the use of social media, will be developed for use by development partners, governments, media and civic organizations in reaching out to and engaging with those susceptible to violent extremism. UNDP will partner with global and regional media to create messages of tolerance and respect for diversity and gender equality that can be launched on national and local TV, in schools, universities, sports clubs, and religious and community centers to discourage people from joining radical groups or to encourage them to disengage from these groups. The usefulness of 'social marketing' approaches and 'strategic communications' will also be examined to see how peaceful activism and mobilization might be promoted as a viable alternative leading to individual and collective empowerment."
11. Promoting respect for human rights and diversity and a culture of global citizenship in schools and universities - "The 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda pledges to foster inter-cultural understanding and an ethic of global citizenship, which means tolerance, respect for human rights and for different cultures, genders, religions and lifestyles. Education plays a key role in creating this ethic of global citizenship. UNDP will work with the education system including religious, public and private schools that are directly engaged in educating youth."

UNDP lays out a plan for the future - in the form of a "corporate initiative" - that is grounded in an approach based on research, advocacy, and action. UNDP's initiative will look at 2 main components of work: a) a research, policy, and advocacy agenda, and b) an action-oriented agenda aimed at meeting prevention targets at regional and country level. Using the building blocks for preventing violent extremism, UNDP will support the design/adaptation of regional, sub-regional, national, and sub-national strategies. Initial target groups of countries would be 25-30 countries in 4 regions (Africa, the Arab States, Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and Asia-Pacific). In implementing this corporate initiative, UNDP will work with: interested Member States; development partners; representatives of media, academia, the private sector, youth groups, women's organisations, and faith-based organizations; and with members of the judicial, law enforcement, and security communities who have engaged systematically with these issues. UNDP will also work with global, regional and national research institutions and think tanks and ensure that research is grounded in the daily realities faced by affected communities.

The initiative will specifically look at the role of women, youth, religious organisations and leaders, and the media when analysing problems and generating solutions, and at the way these play out in diverse socio-cultural and political settings. The research agenda will also seek to contribute to a better understanding of the challenges to achieving effective governance of diversity in multi-cultural and multi-confessional societies. UNDP will develop advocacy and communications toolkits for outreach to alienated and radicalised groups and individuals. An early warning tool with risk indicators of violent extremism, as well as a programming guide, will be developed to support country strategies. Specific regional action plans will be further tailored at the national level. "With offices in 177 countries and territories, five regional centers, and six global centers, UNDP can tap into a global network of policy and practice and facilitate analysis and action. UNDP's comparative advantage lies exactly in addressing the development dimensions as well as the conflict prevention and peace-building-related solutions of complex problems like violent extremism and the governance of diversity."