Workshop
Role of Women in Countering Radicalization and Violent Extremism
From 27-28 October 2015, Hedayah attended the Madrid +10 2015 Global Policy Dialogue organized by the Club de Madrid and the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation.
Hedayah was also a knowledge partner in the event and facilitated a two-day thematic workshop focused on the role of women in countering radicalization and violent extremism. This workshop aimed to expand on the existing international policy and good practices frameworks through articulating specific programmatic and policy recommendations.
The workshop was carried out through two panels. The first panel featured remarks by Laura Chinchilla, the former President of Costa Rica (2010-2014) and Andres Pastrana, the former President of Colombia (1998-2002).
The panel, moderated by Mr. Maqsoud Kruse, Executive Director of Hedayah, also featured Farah Pandith from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, Anne Speckhard of Georgetown University, and Sara Zeiger from Hedayah, who explored the process of radicalization for women and girls and identified possible interventions aimed to prevent women and girls from becoming involved in violent extremism. This panel specifically considered recruitment techniques for women and girls used by violent extremists and the different ways women and girls passively or actively support violent extremism.
The second panel featured Alejandro Toledo, the former President of Peru (2001-2006) and Timothy Phillips, the Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of Beyond Conflict as well as Georgia Holmer from the US Institute of Peace, Mariam Safi from the Organization for Policy, Research, and Development Studies in Afghanistan, and Edit Schlaffer of Sisters Against Violent Extremism.
The panel explored the roles women can play in countering violent extremism and if/how these roles can be more effective than their male counterparts. This panel examined the risks and benefits of integrating women into CVE programming and policy.
Mr. Ivo Veenkamp, Deputy Executive Director of Hedayah presented on countering violent extremism and education in the “Educators in dialogue, youth in debate: countering violent extremism” workshop. During this workshop, Hedayah shared its insides and recommendations on the role of education in countering violent extremism and on preventive efforts using the Global Counter Terrorism Forum (GCTF) good practices from the Abu Dhabi Memorandum for Education and CVE.
The discussions at this workshop, along with the other workshops, will feed into the “Global Consensus” document, which is being drafted through four working groups with support and oversight by Club de Madrid.