CONNEKT is a research and action project involving 14 partners from the EU, MENA and Balkans and targeting 8 countries in the MENA and Balkans region (Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Bulgaria) that will run for 3.5 years. Its purpose is to establish a multi-dimensional map of drivers of violent extremism (VE) among youth aged 12-30 in MENA and Balkans and to identify the interplay between them. The multi-disciplinary research and the multi-stakeholder approach will allow the enrichment of empirical and academic research in order to draw a comprehensive picture of VE drivers among youth in target countries. Using a building-blocks methodology the project will be staged to allow the findings from one phase to inform research and data analysis for the following phases at key milestones. A final stage will be devoted to research on prevention of VE from a community perspective and will converge in a set of actions and recommendations on prevention measures implemented at a local and community level.
Objective 1: Mapping past and current country strategies and approaches towards radicalisation and VE in Europe, MENA and Balkans.
Objective 2: Drawing a comprehensive picture of radicalisation drivers among youth in Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Bulgaria.
Objective 3: Establishing a cartography of conducive collective contexts of radicalisation and VE in MENA and Balkans involving diverse stakeholders
Objective 4: Identifying measures, strategies and policies at state, community, local and society level to prevent radicalisation and VE in target countries
Objective 5: Implementing pilot experiences of context intervention in target countries in liaison with local authorities and civil society actors
Objective 6: Transferring results and recommendations to multi-level policy-makers in target countries and to the EU.e EU’s foreign and security tool.