Supporting Regional Efforts of the G5 Sahel Countries to Counter Terrorism and Prevent Violent Extremism (I-ACT)

Countering terrorism and preventing violent extremism under the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel - UNISS

Towards a Solution

This project actively engaged government officials of the G5 Sahel countries from relevant agencies involved in countering terrorism and preventing violent extremism, and civil society organizations from the G5 Sahel region.

UNCCT supported regional efforts of G5 Sahel countries to counter terrorism and prevent violent extremism. In March 2019, the Center organized a regional technical workshop in Nouakchott, Mauritania, on good practices in community resilience to radicalization and violent extremism in the G5 Sahel countries. This workshop was instrumental in pulling together shared practical experiences, lessons learned and good practices and local context, that was used to develop a handbook on good practices in building community resilience against violent extremism including among cross-border communities in G5 Sahel countries.

In May 2019, UNCCT organized a regional workshop in Nouakchott, Mauritania, to validate the draft handbook. The validation workshop provided participants with the opportunity to put forward suggestions on the content, which covered several topics such as community dialogue, counter-narratives and alternative messaging to violent extremism, youth and women’s role in building and strengthening community resilience to violent extremism, as well as initiatives developed by cross-border communities.

The active participation of civil society, religious and traditional leaders, youth and women’s representatives, as well as State actors involved in the prevention of violent extremism and the fight against terrorism made the development of this handbook an inclusive process. The handbook was prepared in French and translated into the five other UN official languages for further dissemination to relevant stakeholders. UNCCT is in the process of reviewing the translations and will be printing the handbook in 2020.