Athens, Greece, 27-29 April – In the framework of the EU co-funded INDEED project on the prevention and countering of violent extremism (PVE/CVE), which is led by the Polish Platform on Internal Security and in which Efus is a partner, a workshop was organised on 27-29 April in Athens to map out and discuss potential lacks and needs with regard to the evaluation of PVE/CVE initiatives at the local, national and European level. The event was hosted by the Hellenic Police.
The INDEED project
The three-year (2021-2024) INDEED project, which is funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, brings together 19 partners from 15 European countries. Efus is in charge of echoing the needs and suggestions of local authorities and ensuring they are taken into account in the tools and recommendations to be produced by the project.
The project will deliver six ‘products’:
- A general Evidence-Based Model for Evaluation of Radicalisation Prevention and Mitigation for assessing the prevention and mitigation of radicalisation.
- A practical evaluation tool based on this model, which will be tailored to the needs of first-line practitioners and policy makers.
- User-friendly repositories of factors and pathways leading to or preventing social radicalisation.
- In-person and e-learning courses and training materials for practitioners and policy makers.
- Lessons learnt and policy recommendations on all processes related to the design, planning, implementation and evaluation of PVE/CVE initiatives.
- A practical, interactive toolkit comprising the project’s key results, all in one place for ease of use by practitioners and policy makers.
Mapping out the needs of first line practitioners and policy makers
In the current first phase of the project, the consortium seeks to map out the needs and gaps with regard to the evaluation of PVE/CVE initiatives. The Athens workshop, which gathered practitioners and local political decision-makers from various European countries, represented by Efus, was part of this phase. Participants used different working and brainstorming methods to identify the main strong points and limitations of current evaluation approaches. The results of the workshop will feed into the Evidence-Based Model for Evaluation of Radicalisation Prevention and Mitigation.
Efus will collect feedback and recommendations from its member local and regional authorities to ensure that the evidence-based evaluation model and tool becomes a useful and practical support for them.
A French SMART Hub
Efus is in charge of setting up and moderating a French Stakeholder Multisectoral Group working on the prevention of radicalisation (the term used in the project is SMART hub), which held its first meeting on 31 May at Efus’ head office in Paris.
This group gathers practitioners and policy makers in the field of the prevention and mitigation of radicalisation and violent extremism in France. As such, the meeting gathered representatives of the Cities of Bordeaux, Montreuil, Toulouse Métropole as well as the Espoir 18 Association, which works with young people from a neighbourhood of Paris (the 18th district).
Participants discussed the main forms and manifestations of radicalisation leading to violence at the local level and various initiatives to prevent and mitigate them. They also shared their experience and feedback when it comes to lacks and needs regarding the evaluation of initiatives.
Efus will regularly organise such SMART hub meetings to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and recommendations and learn more about the needs of participants concerning evaluation and training on the use of the INDEED evaluation tool.
> More information on Efus’ work and activities on the prevention of radicalisation
