OSCE train-the-trainers regional seminar aims to strengthen capacities of community leaders in Central Asia to prevent violent extremism

Twenty future facilitators from four countries in Central Asia, including 13 women and 7 men, were selected to participate in a regional train-the-trainers seminar. The Action against Terrorism Unit of the OSCE Transnational Threats Department organized the seminar in co-operation with OSCE field operations in Central Asia.

The event is part of the OSCE’s Leaders against Intolerance and Violent Extremism (LIVE) Initiative, designed to build the capacity of civil society in fostering community resilience to violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism (VERLT). The LIVE Initiative consists of three training courses tailored to youth, women and community leaders across the OSCE area.

Selected participants will attend the nine-week LIVE train-the-trainer seminar for community leaders in Central Asia, launched on 19 April 2021. Held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the course features two sessions per week that focus on strengthening participants’ facilitation skills, awareness of concepts covered by the LIVE curriculum and context-specific efforts against violent extremism developed and led by civil society. Topics of the seminar include: the role of community leaders in P/CVERLT; policy development; media literacy; increasing the share of positive narratives online; community-led prevention efforts; security awareness; and a do-no-harm approach in prevention work.  

“The engagement of communities is instrumental in the prevention of violent extremism and terrorist radicalization as an integral parts of the ‘whole-of-society approach’ to tackle these issues,” said Abdumannop Saitov, National Programme Officer in the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe. “The empowerment of community leaders needs to be supported at all levels and in parallel with state efforts. I am certain the LIVE initiative will equip local trainers from the Central Asian region with skills and knowledge to further strengthen the role of community leaders to contest those who seek to radicalize others with violent views.”

In the LIVE training programme, community leaders are understood as leaders within a community who exercise, by virtue of their position in the society, inherent authority and influence over a clearly defined group of people. This may include, but is not limited to; leaders of religious and traditional communities, mayors and village heads, leaders of cultural centres and sports clubs, school principals and teachers, local celebrities/cultural personalities, and in some cases business leaders or owners of local businesses.

“The LIVE train-the-trainers seminar is an excellent opportunity for civil society and international actors in Central Asian countries to get a team of OSCE-certified facilitators to lead preventive campaigns against intolerance and violent extremism and meaningfully contribute to national rehabilitation and reintegration programmes,” said Guncha Nepesova, Senior Programme Assistant in the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat.

The seminar is the third in a series of train-the-trainer seminars tailored to Central Asia. The earlier seminars prepared 39 participants (19 women, 10 men) from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to provide local training for youth and women leaders respectively. From 2018 to 2021, the Action against Terrorism Unit in co-operation with OSCE field operations, is delivering a series of LIVE train-the-trainer seminars tailored for South-Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as well as supported OSCE field operations in their implementation of national LIVE training courses.