Good Practices Exchange Forum: Examining Practices for Countering Violent Extremism and Building Community Resilience

This event is upon personal invitation only.

The Belgian Ministry of  Home Affairs, in partnership with the Egmont Institute and Rutgers University Institute for Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security,  is coordinating and hosting this Good Practices Exchange Forum with international and local partners in Brussels.

Sr. Research Fellow Bibi van Ginkel will act as guest speaker in a panel discussion on strategic communication, assessing the possibility of building counter-narratives in response to extremist and terrorist propaganda and messaging. 

The purpose of the Good Practices Exchange Forum is to bring together key individuals from law enforcement, academia, civil society and practitioners who face from differing perspectives a common challenge:  understanding and preventing acts of extremist violence.  The format will not be a typical academic conference, but a less formal exchange of views across disciplines designed to have a practical impact.

Specific goals and objectives are:

• To share examples of good practice; expertise and knowledge, including public participation in situational awareness and counterterrorism policies.
• To examine the key challenges currently faced relating  to radicalisation, violent extremism and the prevention of terror attacks.
• Explore the specific ways and means through which government and police services facilitate and motivate the public for effective engagement in counterterrorism policies.
• To establish on-going forums in each of the key areas listed above that will allow future engagement.
• To ensure that good practices have a purpose that is beneficial for all involved.

The forum will comprise key individuals with expertise on CVE including police officials who have led community/police engagement, those focused on dealing with radicalization and those that have helped individuals turn from extremism to becoming moderates.

The forum will have a facilitator and three moderated panels who will lead discussions and present findings on their areas of expertise.

Overview of Panels

Panel I: The Importance of Community Policing
The focus of this session is to understand how Community Policing can greatly benefit from interaction between Police; Communities and other agencies as well as Muncipalities.
Confirmed speakers include Luc Van der Taelen (COPPRA) and Chief Ronald Haddad (Dearborn Police Department, Michigan, USA)

Panel II: The Question of Identity and Identities
This panel will explore the role identity plays in the pathway to violence and violent extremism, particularly among youth and at-risk communities.
Confirmed speakers include Commander Mak  Chishty (Metropolitan Police Service, UK) and a representative from asbl D’Broej

Panel III: Strategic Communication
This panel will examine extremist and terrorist propaganda and messaging in order to assess and build viable and effective counter-narratives, from the content of messaging to the identification and engagement of credible messengers.
Confirmed speakers include Bibi van Ginkel (ICCT, The Netherlands) and a representative from Ceapire (Antwerp).

Audience
Prevention Officers
Federal Police Officials
Municipal Police Officials
Academics & Researchers
Federal/Municipal Government Officials