Call for Proposals “Research for the Design of Countering Violent Extremism Evidence based Projects”

Deadline: 8-Sep-23

Hedayah has announced a call for research proposals under STRIVE Global Programme-Phase II for countering violent extremism evidence based projects in Central Asia, Western Balkans, South Caucasus and Mena regions.

STRIVE Global Programme-Phase II responds to the ongoing threat of global terrorism and the need for effective responses that ameliorate, rather than exacerbate, the threat. The Mission Statement is to reduce the risk of radicalisation leading to violent extremism through resilience building of vulnerable communities and individuals to recruitment and radicalisation techniques whilst continuing to respect human rights and international law.

The STRIVE Global Programme, funded by the European Union and implemented by Hedayah, has provided assistance to governments and civil society organisations (CSOs) to implement activities as outlined in their respective countries National CVE Strategies and Action Plans.

Objectives

• The global objective of this call for proposals is to build the capacity of local CSOs and government entities to design and implement impactful interventions in line with their respective CVE National Strategies and Action Plans to prevent radicalisation leading to violent extremism, and recruitment to terrorism and facilitate the de-radicalisation, rehabilitation and reintegration processes of foreign terrorist fighter returnees and their family members.
• The specific objectives of this call for proposals are:
  • To increase local understanding of the fundamentals of P/CVE, inclusive of recruitment, radicalisation, perceptions of security issues and attitudes towards ethnic, religious minority groups, returnees, push and pull factors.
  • To develop research resources that provide an evidence base for P/CVE interventions

Priority Issues

• The priorities per country of this call for proposals are (as per leading consultations with governments’ representatives and different stakeholders at country level):
  • Kazakhstan
    • Social media and radicalisation.
      • Assess the most popular social media platforms in the country, with a demographic breakdown by sex and age. They plan to examine any radical rhetoric found on these platforms and evaluate its influence on individual attitudes and behaviors, particularly among young people.
      • The goal is to understand the overarching ‘push’ factors that make certain individuals more susceptible to extremist propaganda. Furthermore, they want to explore strategies for building resilience against online radicalisation through the promotion of critical thinking and fact-checking among those most at risk.
  • Kyrgyzstan 
    • Religion and radicalisation.
      • The aim is to execute a thorough mapping and assessment of the current religious climate within the Kyrgyz Republic, including a comprehensive mapping of Islamic religious infrastructure and communities. They also intend to identify and analyse the discourse of principal Islamic opinion leaders and preachers.
    • Rehabilitation and Reintegration.
      • The objective is to map out and evaluate the current organisations and programs that are focused on the rehabilitation and reintegration of returnees and repatriates. They aim to assess the effectiveness of these programs and activities while also gaining insight into the current situation and needs of these targeted groups.
  • Uzbekistan
    • Women and radicalisation.
      • To map the primary push and pull factors which lead women down a path of violent radicalisation, by exploring societal, economic and religious factors. To understand the gender dynamics within radicalisation and gain a better in-depth understanding as to why females are being radicalised into violent extremist networks and the role women play within these violent networks. To explore the gender roles in each specific context and how violent groups manipulate them for recruitment. To analyse the different mechanisms for women’s mobilisation and whether patterns indicate that women are coerced or are willing participants in terrorist violence. To know the diversity of female profiles becoming radicalised.
      • To create a broad profile of females vulnerable to radicalisation based on age, location, ethnicity, family relations, religious background, personal grievances among other factors. To establish the role women can play in CVE in different local contexts, especially in the role they can play as first-responders to family members who are vulnerable to radicalisation or show signs of radicalisation.
  • Albania
    • Community-oriented policing.
      • Analyse the level of understanding of community-oriented policing concept among the police in Albania. To map/assess any initiative conducted and/or ongoing related to community policing in Albania. To conduct a SWOT analysis to assess the possibility of institutionalizing the community policing philosophy among the police in Albania.
    • The military and police insider threat.
      • Terrorists often display an interest in military culture, weaponry, law enforcement agencies as well as the military. This leads both to individuals seeking to join the military, and groups seeking to recruit within the military and police.
      • The aim is to assess the vulnerability to be radicalised and/or the current extremism levels, within the military, police, and prison forces; assess the existing measures/procedures in order to prevent potential vulnerabilities to radicalisation (for example, clear direction to service personnel regarding membership of any organisation, level of awareness, influencing factors on their routine lives, enhanced exposure to extremist content due to their specialist roles).
  • Republic of North Macedonia
    • P/CVE and education.
      • Research mapping the P/CVE activities that have taken place or are taking place at the school level/assessing the impact and identifying gaps for future programming.
    • Social media and radicalisation.
      • The goal is to conduct a comprehensive mapping of the most frequently used social media platforms in the country, taking into account factors such as age and gender. They aim to scrutinise any radical narratives prevalent on these platforms and evaluate their impact on individual thought processes and behaviors, with a particular focus on the youth demographic.
    • Religion and radicalisation.
      • The aim is to execute a thorough mapping and assessment of the current religious climate within the Republic of North Macedonia, including a comprehensive mapping of religious infrastructure and communities. They also intend to identify and analyse the discourse of principal religious opinion leaders and preachers.
  • Georgia
    • Alt-right groups.
      • The aim is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the ideology, recruitment strategies, broader objectives, and demographic composition of far-right factions within Georgia. This endeavor will entail an in-depth empirical research and analysis, focusing on specific case studies that include a particular group and individual members within that group. The research will encompass both alt-right groups and Orthodox Christian-inspired fundamentalists, exploring their social basis and underlying ideologies.
  • Iraq 
    • Education and radicalisation.
      • The analysis is focused on understanding the capacity of young individuals to critically engage with radicalising narratives. It also aims to identify potential risk factors among individuals or groups based on socioeconomic or ethno-religious aspects before evidence of radicalisation emerges.
    • Social media/mass media and radicalisation.
      • Social media: The analysis will delve into the impact of social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, or others popular in the country, on individuals’ behaviour, and how the community responds to the radicalising narrative of violent extremists on social media. The study aims to discern if the rise in social media usage and online platforms for communication and social interaction has turned them into new frontlines for engagement.
      • Mass media: The research will map out existing mass media in the targeted location, including newspapers, radio, TV, and internet news websites. The audiences will be analysed based on sex and age, utilising secondary sources if needed. Current mass media reporting trends will be explored and analysed, with particular attention to any potentially radicalised narratives. Similarly, government mass media will be mapped, with the communication trend analysed through discourse analysis.
    • Impact of P/CVE work.
      • P/CVE programming is taking place across most of Iraq. There is no known stakeholder mapping of all the organisations working in the P/CVE space or the programmes implemented. Furthermore, there is little understanding of the impact of these programmes across the country. As a result, there needs to be an evidence base for the Iraqi government to identify the most effective programmes and share lessons learnt to enhance future programmes.

Funding Information

• The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 460,000.
  • Minimum Amount: EUR 20,000
  • Maximum Amount: EUR 50,000

Duration

• The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 3 months nor exceed 6 months.

Eligible Countries

• A preliminary consultation with Governmental and non-Governmental actors and European Union delegations at country level has led them to focus on the following regions and countries:
  • Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan
  • Western Balkans: Albania, Republic of North Macedonia
  • South Caucasus: Georgia
  • MENA: Iraq

Eligibility Criteria

• Lead applicant(s)
  • In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:
    • be a legal person established in any of the countries mentioned above and
    • be non-profit-making and
    • be a civil society organisation or university, including non-governmental non-profit organisations with headquarters in any of the countries mentioned above and
    • be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant (s) and affiliated entity (ies), not acting as an intermediary.
  • The lead applicant may act individually or with co-applicant(s).
  • If awarded the grant contract, the lead applicant will become the beneficiary identified as Grantee in the Grant Contract. The Grantee is the sole interlocutor of the contracting authority. It represents and acts on behalf of any other co-beneficiary (if any) and coordinate the design and implementation of the action.
• Co-applicant(s)
  • Co-applicants participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the lead applicant.
  • Co-applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant himself.
  • Co-applicants must sign the mandate form.
• Affiliated entities
  • The lead applicant and its co-applicant(s) may act with affiliated entity(ies). Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the lead applicant and/or to co-applicant(s):
    • Only entities having a structural link with the applicants (i.e. the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.
    • This structural link encompasses mainly two notions:
      • Control on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:
      • Entities affiliated to an applicant may hence be:
        • Entities directly or indirectly controlled by the applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by the applicant (granddaughter companies or second-tier subsidiaries) and the same applies to further tiers of control;
        • Entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant (parent companies). Likewise, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant;
        • Entities under the same direct or indirect control as the applicant (sister companies).
      • Membership, i.e. the applicant is legally defined as a e.g. network, federation, association in which the proposed affiliated entities also participate or the applicant participates in the same entity (e.g. network, federation, association,) as the proposed affiliated entities.

For more information, visit Hedayah.