Strengthening Resilience - MENA II

The Strengthening Resilience project in Lebanon is aimed at supporting the Lebanon government in the action plan development of the national strategy of preventing violent extremism that is under the Prime Minister department. The Republic of Lebanon’s National Strategy for Preventing Violent Extremism was published in 2017.

The strategy, the culmination of an extensive process of dialogue and engagement involving every government ministry, defines violent extremism in broad terms using three categories:

1. The spread of individual and collective hatred that may lead to social violence
2. The rejection of diversity and non-acceptance of the other, and the use of violence as a means of expression and influence
3. A behaviour that threatens societal values ensuring social stability.

In response, the strategy recognises that preventing the spread of violent extremism requires a similarly wide-ranging effort entailing a whole-of-society and whole-of-government effort: one that “enhances the community’s immunity against violent extremism”.

The National strategy has identified 9 pillars for its strategic interventions:

Pillar 01 : Dialogue & Conflict Prevention

Pillar 02 : The Promotion of Good Governance

Pillar 03 : Justice, Human Rights and the Rule of Law

Pillar 04 : Urban Development & Engaging Local Communities

Pillar 05 : Gender Equality and Empowering Women

Pillar 06 : Education, Training and Skill development

Pillar 07 : Economic Development and job creation

Pillar 08 : Strategic Communications including through the Internet and Social Media

Pillar 09 : Empowering Youth

The result is an ambitious programme of work that seeks to engage a wide array of Lebanese government and society in a national effort to regain social trust, promote citizenship and achieve social justice. 

The vision for the strategy is to be "nationally owned, governmental, community based with international standards". 

The process involve a wide-ranging consultation exercise encompassing :

• 9 sectoral workshops to develop the plan, consult the relevant target audience and ask for support across the 9 different pillars of the strategy
• 1 national workshop involving all participants from the sectoral workshops
• A nationwide youth consultation process, and
• A series of ‘national days’ focused on each pillar of the strategy.

This consultation process is a vital opportunity to communicate and promote the strategy’s purpose to both governmental and public stakeholders in order to engage these critical audiences and encourage them to contribute to its success. This will provide them with a sense of equity and ownership; and ensure the strategy secures a license to operate.

CIVIPOL, as technical partner of British Council, has been asked to offer contribution and expertise to support the different phases of the national strategy PVE pilot through the Strengthening Resilience project.