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The emergence and spread of violent extremist groups have created climates of fear and insecurity and are adversely affecting peace efforts and human rights in Africa. Education was recognized as one of the most effective measures to create peaceful and conducive environments and to resist violent extremist ideologies. This follows the adoption of UNESCO’s Executive Board Decision on “UNESCO’s role in preventing violent extremism through education” and the “Plan of action to prevent violent extremism” announced by the UN Secretary-General in 2016.

This week, UNESCO – IICBA (International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa), together with UNESCO HQ and the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Center for International Understanding(APCEIU) are organizing a capacity-building workshop on the prevention of violent extremism through education (PVE-E). Hosted by the African Union in Addis Ababa, the gathering will bring together 30 policy-makers, teacher trainers and teachers from eight African countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania and Djibouti) in order to support national efforts to integrate Global Citizenship Education (GCED) in African education systems.

During a three-day workshop, the participants will acquire a basic understanding of key concepts and educational measures that contribute to the prevention of violent extremism in Sub-Saharan Africa. They will also identify priority areas of intervention and pedagogical approaches that can help build learners’ resilience to violent extremism and nurture a culture of peace. This will include special training sessions on how to create safe spaces for discussing contentious issues and the basics of socio-emotional learning, as well as the importance of media and information literacy. In addition, participants will have an opportunity to discuss and explore the local challenges of teacher support in preventing the spread of violent extremism at schools and ways to best overcome them.

This is the first capacity-building workshop on the prevention of violent extremism through education organized in Sub-Saharan Africa that will help contextualize the two UNESO Guides on PVE-E for teachers and policy-makers and identify which specific drivers of violent extremism to address in Sub-Saharan African context.