Community resilience is endangered by hate speech, discrimination, and various forms of violence

The aim of the training was to build capacities of civil society organisations to successfully design and implement programmes for prevention and countering (P/CVE) of violent extremism in their local communities. During the three-day training, the participants had the opportunity to get acquainted with the basic concepts and definitions in P/CVE field, to discuss about vulnerability and resilience to VE of their local communities, and potential actions and programs that should be implemented.

Participants of the training were representatives of civil society organizations from Niksic, Berane, Rozaje, and Bijelo Polje.

Hate speech, prejudices, lack of tolerance, ethnic distance, unemployment and poverty, politicization of institutions, disinformation are just some of the factors that CSOs during training, have identified as factors that can contribute to the spread of radicalism leading to violent extremism. Programs aimed at preventing and countering violent extremism must be comprehensive and must include representatives of all sectors.

The training is the first, out of seven, planned until the end of 2019. Trainings will be followed by a small grants programme.

The activity is a part of the regional project “Communities First: Creation of a civil society hub to address violent extremism – from prevention to reintegration” which Forum MNE implements in partnership with Centre for Legal Civic Initiatives (Albania), Hope and Homes for Children (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Partners Kosova – Centre for Conflict Management (Kosovo), Centre for Common Ground (North Macedonia), and Cultural Centre DamaD (Serbia). The project is financially supported by the European Union, the Balkan Trust for Democracy, a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and the Ministry of Public Administration of Montenegro.