Innovative Methodology for preventing Radicalization to promote Social Inclusion of Youth

Background The rationale behind this project is the fact that radicalisation is a growing and serious cross-border threat throughout the word. It is not a new phenomenon, but all the new technologies available to anyone today, makes it possible, quickly and efficiently, to spread radical and extremist ideas: texts, images, sound recordings or videos, including live transmissions try to convince you that you should join a radical group, take part in terrorist acts and/or provide you with instructions on how to commit offences. Radicalisation thus becomes a challenge to democratic societies, leads to polarization and lack of social coherence. Radicalization is defined by the EU Commission as the phenomenon of people embracing opinions, views and ideas, which could lead to acts of terrorism and it is a fact that there have been many examples of terrorism in Europe over the last years. It is remarkable that many of these attacks were actually perpetrated by European citizens. Preventive efforts to create resilience especially among young people must be made. They must be resilient to radical propaganda, analyse what they see on the internet and practice critical thinking. These are exactly the needs the Open Minds project have addressed. Objectives The Open Minds project was developed and implemented with the purpose of contributing to the prevention of young people becoming radicalized. Our aim was to identify social-economic problems, design and pilot solutions and refine and validate these solutions in close collaboration with young people, local stakeholders and civil society. The partnership explored the socio-economic drivers of radical religious and political ideologies prone to incite or lead to violence, analysed exit strategies and disengagement from radical contexts and presented complementary knowledge on non-radicalizing identity. Fieldwork was conducted and the research findings were translated into two intervention scenarios: gaming and training, which will enable young people to become more critical and resilient. They will become more critically thinking and thus resistant to efforts to attract them to radicalized groups and environments. Implementation Among others: Desk research studying relevant literature on the topic and searching online for different projects and organizations that are focusing on radicalization. Research analysis exploring the visibility and impact of the specific hashtag-marked social media messages across gender and age groups, suggested specifically by each partner country, depending on its radicalization/polarization situation. Field research: surveys conducted promoting questionnaires a) to young people of different gender, socio-economic, political- and educational backgrounds. b) to educators and youth workers c) to experts c) to different stakeholders – and the results were collected and analysed based on the answers. Collection and analysis of deradicalization pathways and exit strategies. Collection and analysis of life stories. Collection and evaluation of policies for social inclusion of youth. Perception surveys. Development of sceneries and story boards. Development of game and training modules. Piloting. Reports. Besides: Five Transnational partner meetings. Dissemination activities, including 7 Multiplier Events, development of logo, website and newsletters. Quality assurance activities. Cooperation with external stakeholders. Achievements Concrete outputs: • A synthesis report on how socio-economics affect psychological and social mechanisms of polarization and radicalization of youth • Collection and analysis of deradicalization pathways towards social inclusion • Development of an innovative game and training material for promoting social resilience and social inclusion of youth Besides the project has contributed to: - increased evidence-based knowledge of trends and socio-economic drivers of polarization and radicalization - increased knowledge regarding the links between social inclusion/exclusion and polarization and radicalization - promotion of collaboration between social-service providers and the educational system for preventing radicalization and promoting social inclusion of youth - increased capacity of local institutions, organizations and civil society actors on how to calibrate their approaches and resources to increase socio-ecological resilience and protect communities and individuals that are vulnerable to radicalization and violent extremism. - strengthening the capacity of the EU and its member states to develop effective prevention policies and intervention scenarios supporting social inclusion in local contexts.