Developing Local CVE Strategies in Africa #1: Understanding the Rationale for Local CVE Action Plans
Channel: Africa Center for Strategic Studies
Date: 14/02/2022

Presented by:
• Mr. Idriss Lallali
• Ms. Angela Martin

Several African countries have developed or are in the process of developing strategies to prevent and counter violent extremism. In spite of these strategies, however, notable progress in addressing the challenge of violent extremism and terrorism is still lacking in many parts of the continent. Some critics point out that some of these strategies remain mere “paper exercises” or rely on “template approaches” which “do not necessarily align with the nuances of their specific country context or the actual causative factors of violent extremism domestically.” Others point to the existing gaps within national governments in “understanding the systems, structures, and processes” necessary to rectify the often weak cooperation among the different levels of actors (national and local) and other stakeholder groups (civil society, youth, women, private sector) in CVE programs and interventions. The persistence of barriers to collaboration compounds the lack of understanding between national and local actors, government and non-government actors, and law enforcement and local communities. 3 This deprives countries of leveraging the comparative advantages that these different levels of actors can bring to the design and implementation of CVE programs. Addressing these concerns and shortcomings are critical for improving the existing CVE strategies in line with the validity of the processes and empirical evidence that led to their development and adoption.

International guidance and emerging good practices from within the African continent all point to the necessity of bridging the void between the national and local. After all, the violent extremist challenges that national actors and strategies seek to address are local, which make it imperative to localize CVE strategies, ensuring in the process that national government plans are informed “by local practice and perspectives” and local action is “in line with national frameworks.” Such an approach recognizes the critical role that local governments and grassroots civil society stakeholders can play in helping design and implement multiagency and multi-stakeholder approaches, plans and strategies to countering violent extremism. Such importance is seen in the growing number of sub-national governments and cities that are developing local action plans that address violent extremism. Local actions plans provide an opportunity for countries to “decentralize their approach” in tackling challenges that are often community-specific. They also provide an avenue for local governments to utilize their “convening power by mainstreaming P/CVE activities into broader development plans and adopting a ‘whole-of-city’ approach.” These plans “should flow from and be consistent with the national framework.” In Kenya, for example, it was the national government that mandated the creation of local action plans “and accompanying local co-ordination mechanisms and structures.”

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Click here for the Program webpage, with recommended readings and panelist biographies:
https://africacenter.org/programs/2022-01-cvelocal-developing-local-strategies-counter-violent-extremism-africa/

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