OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe completes annual community resilience activities in Tajikistan’s Sughd region

The OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe completed its activities aimed at building community resilience against terrorist radicalization and violent extremism at grassroots level in the Sughd region on 12 July 2018.

The activities commenced on 2 July with training courses for local teachers on preventing and countering violent extremism and radicalization leading to terrorism (P/CVERLT) among youth. Four one-day training courses involved 80 local teachers and educators on P/CVERLT issues in Konibodom, Spitamen, Jabbor Rasulov, and Zafarobod towns of the Sughd region. The courses were organized following a training course for teachers on preventing violent extremism in close co-operation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in May 2018.

Similarly, the Office organized four one-day training courses for 120 grassroots citizens of the towns Isfara, Asht, Panjakent, and Istarafshan in the Sughd region. The courses were based on the OSCE handbook Preventing Terrorism and Countering Violent Extremism and Radicalisation Leading to Terrorism (VERLT): A Community Policing Approach, and aimed at improving the understanding of this complex issue among local communities. The activities also included receiving feedback from grassroots citizens on how to prevent and counter VERLT from their perspective.

“We are thankful to the OSCE for bringing these issues up, since the topic is very relevant and complex,” said Khalil Sharipov, a parent from Isfara. He also added that he and other parents are very much eager to disseminate the knowledge gained among their families and communities.

The community resilience activities are part of the OSCE Programme Office’s project on assisting the Government of Tajikistan in implementing its National Strategy and Action Plan on Preventing Violent Extremism and Terrorism by 2020.