RAN C&N How to make an effective campaign that is reaching the target audience and selling the message (Brussels, 14-15 November)

What’s the best way to create, implement and evaluate effective P/CVE communications campaigns? Participants will tackle this question, focussing on how to make a counter- or alternative narrative campaign attractive for the target audience and how to enhance the effectiveness of this campaign.

They will review the GAMMMA+ model, which comprises the following key elements: Goal, Audience, Message, Messenger, Media, Action plus Monitoring and Evaluation.

RAN EDU Challenges in Islamist extremist ideology in schools
(Antwerp, 14-15 November)

The immediate goal of schools is to provide a safe and respectful learning environment for their students. However, teachers are increasingly confronted with challenges related to religious-inspired extremist ideologies which polarise European societies and are echoed in classrooms.

Addressing claims, grievances, real or perceived injustices, controversial questions, and sensitive issues related to children’s religious sphere is crucial for promoting a democratic space of reflexion and to protect students from extremist propaganda. Participants will discuss challenges, practices, and pedagogical perspectives in dealing with religious-inspired extremist ideologies in primary and secondary schools.

Steering Committee (Brussels, 19 November)

This will be the final gathering of RAN’s Working Group leaders with representatives of the European Commission and the Centre of Excellence under the current mandate, which started October 2015 and ends at the end of 2019. Starting 2020, a new mandate will govern the RAN and the support it receives.

As such, the Steering Committee will discuss a proposal for the 2020 activity plan. The recommendations included in the proposal will be mainly drawn from the RAN Plenary and High-Level Conference. It is also worth noting that the current composition of Working Groups and co-chairs will remain in place until a review has taken place early next year.

RAN RVT VIII International Congress for the Victims of Terrorism
(Nice, 21-23 November)

Organised in partnership with AfVT, the city of Nice and RAN RVT, and under the High Patronage of French President Emmanuel Macron, this congress evolves around victims' testimonies and many round tables with different aims.

Round tables included in the programme include, among others, the following topics: the role of victims in the prevention of radicalisation, the evolution of the terrorist threat, the role of states and local authorities in supporting victims of terrorism, specific accompaniment of child victims of terrorism, support for caregivers and first responders and victim recognition and remembrance.

The participants of the RAN RVT Working Group will be present throughout the programme and moreover, actively take part in the round table related to the role of victims in P/CVE. The event will gather many victims of terrorism, civil society organisations and politicians, representatives of different institutions, international experts and journalists in Nice.

RAN P&P What challenges do the currently sentenced extremists pose to prison regimes, and how to encounter those? (Lisbon, 21-22 November)

Maintaining a safe prison environment can be challenging. With regard to the presence of extremist offenders in prison, police and probation officers will discuss what is needed to keep all prisoners and staff safe. As regards the engagement between prisoners and staff, they will discuss instances in which extremists do not accept the prison system and cases in which they have attacked the staff.

Another relevant matter is to what extent staff manage to build some trust to build a working relationship. In turn, participants will discuss how the presence of extremists in the prison system influence the daily routine (e.g. stricter rules or increased tension among prisoners). They will also examine whether convicted extremists should be subject to special arrangements in terms of ensuring safety in prison and working on rehabilitation and meeting the needs of the prisoner.

Such exchanges about how to deal with these types of situations is key to addressing how the prison regime can prevent and tackle the related challenges.

RAN YF&C Expert Meeting - ‘Digital youth work’
(Copenhagen, 28-29 November)

Young people spend a significant amount of time online. Extremists know where to find them and how to provide them with large amounts of high-production-value propaganda material and recruit them online. Youth workers are best placed to reach out to these young people and to do effective online youth work and one-to-one interventions.

However, most European countries are still at the beginning of doing effective online youth work in P/CVE and practitioners often need more tools to be able to engage with them online.

This is why participants at this meeting will delve into the local aspects of digital youth work and discuss ways to ensure the interaction online goes both ways. They will outline the step-by-step approach to how to conduct digital youth work and one-to-one interventions.

RAN POL Information sharing (Athens, 28-29 November)

Highly sensitive information may need to be shared among different organisations, and processes need to be in place to support such exchanges. Stepping up the exchange of information is complex and rather tricky. Participants at this meeting will discuss recent developments, barriers and solutions in some of the well-known multi-agency arrangements in Europe. They will discuss how new EU rules on data protection impact local contexts.

Participants will draw up a list of recommendations that could help police and law enforcement challenge some of the cultural, legislative and institutional barriers to information sharing. What is more, by raising awareness of the complexities created by the EU law on data protection, this meeting aims to help improve police preparedness in responding to and preventing violent extremism.

Multi-agency meeting RAN EXIT-RVT (Dublin, 3-4 December)

Restorative justice is common practice in dealing with ‘regular’ crimes. It has also been used in post-conflict situations like in Northern Ireland, Spain or Italy. The idea of bringing together perpetrator and victim (the person who was inflicted or society which was harmed) may include a restitution to be given from the offender to the victim, or steps to prevent the offender from causing future harm.

What can we learn from restorative justice for exit processes for (violent) extremists? And how does it benefit victims of terrorism? Victims of terrorism (RAN RVT) and exit workers (RAN EXIT), as well as professionals in the field of restorative justice will come together in Dublin to discuss this topic. The meeting will be co-organised by the European Forum for Restorative Justice.

The aim of this meeting is to learn what elements (insights, methodological approaches and tools) of restorative justice can be implemented in exit work and provide guidelines (including the methodological approach) enabling to put in place this restorative justice for both victims and offenders.

Editorial Board (Amsterdam, 6 December)

This will be the RAN Editorial Board’s second and last bi-annual meeting of the year. Participants will gather to discuss lessons learned from recent research, as well as future research trends and gaps that need to be filled.

They will focus on the priority issues highlighted at the High-Level Conference, as well as the Steering Board for Union actions on preventing and countering radicalisation and from earlier outcomes of the RAN Research Seminar 2018 and 2019.