Violent extremism (VE) is a challenge that affects societies around the globe in similar but context-specific ways. Neither radicalization nor VE is rooted in one cause alone – such as ideological, political, or religious, and the spread of VE is first and foremost considered a development challenge. Prevention of VE and radicalization requires a whole of society approach since the phenomenon is multifaceted and affects all society in one way or the other. The youth (18-35-year olds) have an important role in preventing violent extremism (PVE) across the globe.

The iDove Project and Capacity building support program on Interfaith Dialogue and prevention of violent extremism provides youth-driven, innovative, and context-specific responses to preventing violence. The program activities are implemented by selected seven local organizations associated with iDovers, who are youth peacebuilders from Europe, Asia, and Africa. The program contributes particularly to the advancements of the small-scale projects while supporting iDovers engagement more broadly. The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers supports the actions implemented by the iDover-associated organisations to enhance their organisational capacity building to ensure timely and effective youth-led responses to preventing violence.

The Interfaith Dialogue on Violent Extremism (iDove) has been jointly launched by the African Union Commission (AUC) through the Citizens and Diaspora Directorate (CIDO) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, and commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). iDove provides a youth-led platform to dialogue and foster creative approaches to preventing violent extremism (PVE) drawing on the soft power of religion.

This campaign will reintroduce the iDove project to international stakeholders as well as highlight the peacebuilding work of iDovers in the form of personal testimonies. The information contained in these articles represents the views and opinions of the author and not necessarily of the Peacemakers Network or iDove project.