In our bid to promote Prevention/Countering Violent Extremism, working with the Kofi Annan Foundation with support from the European Union, we are implementing an 18 months PCVE project from this year.
Our efforts started with a number of stakeholders meetings and consultations which gave us a proper direction and understanding of the need for the project. On the 27th - 28th March 2023 we held a training for key figures from different parts of the country.
The influencers training attracted 20 participants and among these included religious leaders, online influencers, journalists and other persons whose voices count more in their communities.
The influencers training which our team executed successfully is intended to prepare these men and women to preach peace through Prevention/Countering Violent Extremism. Through this training we witnessed a great change of mindset among the trainees.
The mindset change was witnessed through the different testimonies which our team got from some participants. A youth participant testified that for a long time he always thought that stopping Violent Extremism was only possible to those with huge logistics and power (like the Government). “now I am ready to go back to my community and influence my fellow youth to consider
Prevention/Countering Violent Extremism as a way of bringing peace and Development”, he also added on by thanking UMYDF, Kofi Annan Foundation and the European Union for all the effort they have put in making sure that such great initiatives happen.
A Pastor who was also among the participants confessed that for a long time he has been looking at all Moslems as the enemies and terrorists who are killing people but after the training he has stopped to look at Moslems as enemies, “When I was called for the training and I saw the initiative was a Moslem initiative, I feared for my life but after the first day of the training, today on the second day of the training I chose to sit next to my Moslem brothers because now I know they are not the enemies” the Pastor and one of the Participants confessed.
One social media influencer appreciated the training and said that she learned so many things that she did not know, she also emphasised that after the training she no longer looks at Moslems as enemies, she now believes that through her platforms she can create real change in terms of Prevention/Countering Violent Extremism. “I even know someone who is getting into acts of violent extremism in my circles but I have been taking it lightly, now I am going to act and see how I can help that person” she said.
As Uganda Muslim Youth Development Forum, we take this opportunity to thank our partner Kofi Annan Foundation for the every technical input they have been and are still offering, also we thank the European Union for the financial support to see that that BRIDGES TO PEACE Project is in the implementation stage, together we hope to see Prevention/Countering Violent Extremism taken up as a major tool in Peace-building and stopping radicalisation.
