Raising Awareness on Radical Extremism Among Youth and Stakeholders

January 30, 2020

Ashgabat, 28 January 2020: The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in cooperation with Hedayah International Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism brought together 15 representatives of the national ministries and agencies, as well as public associations and media for a four-day training on prevention of violent extremism.

The purpose of the training was to raise awareness and provide practical knowledge to the participants on the origins of violent extremism and ways to prevent it. The training was conducted within the joint regional project of UNDP, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population and Youth Organization of Turkmenistan on “Strengthening Community Resilience and Regional Cooperation to Prevent Violent Extremism in Central Asia” funded by the Government of Japan.

“The Government of Turkmenistan pays attention to the issues of radicalization in the region of Central Asia. In this regard, together with the UN Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy, the Government has designed and adopted the National strategy for prevention of violent extremism and countering terrorism for 2020-2024. This demonstrates Turkmenistan’s commitment to implement the provisions of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and UNDP offers its support to raise awareness and build capacity of understanding the causes of radicalization and extremism and exchange international experience,” stated Natia Natsvlishvili, UNDP Resident Representative a.i.

As part of the four-day training, participants were introduced to the concepts and theory of radicalization and countering violent extremism, discussed the drivers of the violent extremism and various approaches to countering extremism. The workshop participants discussed the roles of each stakeholder, including government, civil society, media, youth and private sector as well as highlighted the importance of education, new media, community engagement and monitoring as tools for prevention of radicalization and violent extremism.