Using education to promote peace and counter radicalisation and violent extremism in Africa

Radicalization and violent extremism have increasingly become major threats to humanity in the 21st century and continue to negatively affect international peace, compromise peaceful coexistence, national security, and economic prosperity. The challenge of radicalization and violent extremism has mainly been addressed through soft diplomacy and hard approaches. For many African governments the latter method has been used to weed out the power bases of extremist groups. However, this has met little success. Soft initiatives such as education can address the conditions conducive to the spread of violent extremism. Education can help promote the global values of tolerance of diversity, inclusion and redress for vulnerable groups.

This policy brief will explore the challenge of radicalisation and violent extremism in society and propose interventions in education to promote peace and that mitigate the growth of radicalisation and violent extremism. It includes continental trends, strategic actions, recommendations for interventions.