Supporting Civil Society Actors in Preventing Violent Extremism in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

In Bangladesh and in Sri Lanka, the youth faces multiple challenges including unemployment, lack of opportunities and space for social and political engagement. Consequently, online radicalization and targeting youth on social media, limited scope for freedom of expression as well as disinformation can lead to recruitment of youth by the extremist groups. 

In both countries, civil society actors are key in contributing to meaningful change of this dynamic as they utilize approaches that look at issues of prevention of violent extremism from a long-term perspective. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are highly motivated to approach the problem at its roots and channel the communities’ frustration into constructive and positive messaging to prevent violent extremism. However, the CSOs find themselves with insufficient knowledge and skills as well as capacity and resources to tackle the problem effectively.

That is why, Helvetas, together with its partners Rupantar in Bangladesh and National Peace Council (NPC) in Sri Lanka, supports selected CSOs in both countries to enhance their impact on preventing violent extremism.

In addition to the governments initiatives to prevent radicalization and violent extremism, the project focuses on CSOs as repositories of value-based approaches that emphasize the importance of pluralism and rule of law. Through capacity development on design approaches for the prevention of violent extremism, programming and implementation, monitoring and evaluation as well as complementary and mutual learning, this project counters the push and pull factors of violent extremism of youth in the specific contexts of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. 

The CSOs work together with community-based organizations, such as youth organizations, faith-based groups and local women’s organizations to capacitate youth to understand violent extremism and to help identify drivers and to be part of activities to counter violent extremism. Mobilizing multi-sectoral groups, particularly religious leaders and community youth as interlocutors of counter-narratives, contributes to social cohesion across various social, political and religious divides. A special focus lies in creating cross-country learnings and institutional dialogue.

Additionally, the project is responding to the Covid-19 pandemic through adapted activities, including information campaigns (see for example the video below) to prevent inter-ethnic violence and scapegoating in the context of the Corona virus spread through the distribution of protective clothing and community awareness raising activities.

The project is co-funded by the European Union.

Video for the Online COVID campaign under the CSO/PVE project in Bangladesh: