Preventing phenomena associated with violence that is happening in our society is very important, especially when it comes to the prevention of extremism that can turn into violent extremism. Prevention programs should include wider social factors – from schools, social work centers to non-governmental sectors.
Author: Global Analitika
The chart shows the correlation of three most significant segments of prevention of extremism, but what is unavoidable is the target group. All the research conducted by the Center for Social Research Global Analitika gave the same result that young people are the most important target group in the prevention of extremism and other phenomena associated with violence. Independent researcher Safet Mušić in his paper entitled “Role of Education in the Prevention of Violent Extremism and Radicalism”, in 2016 was the first who explained the importance of the education system in the prevention of extremism. In the conclusion of this scientific-research paper[1] the author states the following: “Educational programs, initiatives, and activities that have an aim of countering violent extremism and radicalism should nurture and develop social justice, interculturalism, and respect for universal human rights”.
By using recommendations from this scientific-research paper, Global Analitika develops its own prevention programs and has been actively working with elementary and high school students as well as with students across the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2015. Mostly, we select rural areas because in these areas young people do not have much choice nor social events. Therefore, for quality prevention, it is important to precisely select the area.
[masterslider id=”7″]
Therefore, Global Analitika has been cooperating with Elementary School from Teočak and has participated in a project called “Inter-Entity Summer School of Human Rights Teočak 2018”, supported by the United States Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Experts from Global Analitika through an interactive approach organized a lecture called Countering and Prevention of Violent Extremis for students from Teočak, Ugljevik, Sapna and Lopare. The students showed interest and actively participated in the workshop, which also provided feedback to the Global Analitika’s trainers, which will contribute to the upgrade of existing youth work programs. This way of working has confirmed all those recommendations from the scientific research paper by an author, Safet Mušić, and helped us understand the facts that are important to plan preventive programs in the local community. Hereby, we would like to express our gratitude to Elementary School from Teočak and partner schools from Ugljevik, Sapna and Lopare, as well as to the teaching staff who participated in the project, and especially students who have impressed us. We hope that the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina will recognize the importance of preventing extremism and supporting similar projects in the future.
Furthermore, we emphasize that it is very important to select competent lecturers/trainers who are trained on the subject of extremism and who are able to adapt the content of this topic to a certain age of students. Through communication with children and young people from across the country, we realized that the information they have previously received from some lecturers on the topic of extremism is not intended for their age and cognitive intelligence.
[1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323692847_Uloga_obrazovanja_u_prevenciji_nasilnog_ekstremizma_i_radikalizma [accessed Oct 14 2018].
