Global Programme on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE)
"There needs to be a renewed and sustained focus on prevention, including addressing the underlying conditions that cause young men and women to be lured by terrorism"
-- UN Secretary-General António Gutterres' remarks during the Regional High-Level Conference on Counter Terrorism and Prevention of Violent Extremism Conducive to Terrorism in Africa
The Global Programme on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE) builds the capacity of beneficiaries and partners to become more resilient to violent extremism and reduce the threat of terrorism. The Programme is delivered through the United Nations Counter Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) within the United Nations Office of Counter Terrorism (UNOCT).
PCVE geographical reach and beneficiaries
PCVE Portfolio
The Global Programme on PCVE delivers globally informed and locally tailored capacity building across four key portfolio areas, with a focus on human rights and gender mainstreaming, and on developing sustainable partnerships in support of PCVE coordination.
Online Radicalization & Strategic Communication
Harmful narratives, mis- and disinformation, and hate speech legitimizing extremist ideologies can fuel violent extremism. Strategic communication can help counter such harmful narratives and reduce the threat of terrorism. Governments, civil society actors, regional organizations, and media representatives all have a key role to play in strategic communications efforts to ensure information integrity online and offline and address hate speech conducive to violent extremism.
UNOCT’s Global Programme on PCVE provides interactive training on PCVE strategic communication initiatives, across ten key modules:
- Situation and environment analysis
- Target audience analysis
- Stakeholder identification and mapping
- Setting objectives
- Building and utilizing a coherent narrative
- Measurement and evaluation
- Proactive communications (including campaigns and interventions designed to promote positive narratives)
- Reactive communications (including countering misinformation and communicating during a crisis)
- Countering hate speech conducive to violent extremism and misinformation
- Communications to support the reintegration of returnees and their family members
The Programme has also published a suite of publications to further support capacity-building in strategic communication and provides expert advice and technical support, for example on building a comprehensive strategic communication plan with civil society organizations, or working with Member States to strengthen inter-agency coordination in strategic communication delivery.
Youth Engagement
Youth are often at the forefront of challenges related to violent extremism as they are both targeted as recruits and impacted by terrorist violence. At the same time, their involvement is critical to the success of efforts to prevent violent extremism, promote tolerance and value pluralism, and build resilience in their local communities and societies. UNOCT/UNCCT is committed to investing in young people as positive agents of change to strengthen UN-wide efforts in prevention efforts in peace and security.
The Global Programme on PCVE has delivered three key initiatives with young people:
- The Youth Engagement and Empowerment Project (YEEP) in Southeast Asia (2022) and East Africa (2023) which supports young people to become leaders in PCVE policymaking.
- Empowering Dialogue and Interfaith Networks (EDIN) (2021) which supports young religious leaders and young media makers across the globe to develop media campaigns championing religious harmony.
- Young Leaders for Online PCVE (2023) which supports young people in Southeast Asia to develop online PCVE strategic communication initiatives. In 2024, UNOCT will establish a PCVE youth network so that young people from across our projects can continue to collaborate.
Policy Assistance
Many Member States and regional organizations require support to design, implement and measure PCVE national and regional action plans (NAPs and RAPs). The Global Programme on PCVE provides tailored technical support to ensure these plans contribute to effective PCVE efforts, as recommended by the overarching United Nations Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism. This includes:
- Technical support to develop or update PCVE NAPs and RAPs in line with international best practice.
- Technical support to effectively implement PCVE NAPs and RAPs, including advice on interagency coordination.
- Technical support to measure the impact of PCVE NAPs and RAPs and promote continuous improvement, including through our Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Toolkit.
New Frontiers
PCVE is an evolving field of policy and practice. This portfolio aims to generate dialogue around emerging topics -- such as the nexus between violent extremism and video games, Artificial Intelligence, climate change, mental health & psychosocial support, and migration.
The Global PCVE Programme achieves this through:
- Commissioning original research in partnership with leading academics and think tanks to inform capacity building efforts
- Preparing discussion papers and other thought leadership products on emerging topics
- Convening dialogues to share insights, build practitioner expertise and promote discussion
Statements
| 23 June 2023 | CT week side event: Ungoverned Online Spaces and Grey-Area Content: Challenges of Addressing Terrorism-Adjacent and Terrorist-Driven Content Across Jurisdictions and Multi-stakeholder Solutions |
| 21 June 2023 | CT week side event Climate Security and Violent Extremism: From Research to Climate-based Risk Assessments and Programming |
| 5 Oct 2022 | High-Level Research Launch on Examining the Intersection between Gaming and Violent Extremism |
| 7 Dec 2021 | Statement by Dr. Jehangir Khan, Director, at the Webinar on Resilience to violent extremism through Strategic Communications |
| 6 Dec 2021 | Expert Roundtable on Video Games and Violent Extremism |
Key Publications
Internal Evaluation of the Young Leaders for Online Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE) in Southeast Asia The internal evaluation of the Young Leaders for Online Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE) in Southeast Asia Project (2023-2024) was conducted by UNOCT to support the improvement of the Global Programme on PCVE’s youth/strategic communications work; demonstrate project results to stakeholders; and share best practice with other PCVE practitioners delivering youth/strategic communications work. The Project, funded by Australia, aimed to build the capacity of young people from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand in PCVE strategic communications. The evaluation found the Project achieved its intended outcomes and provided six recommendations for future projects.
UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy
The UN General Assembly adopted by consensus the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy on 8 September 2006. The strategy is a unique global instrument to enhance national, regional and international efforts to counter terrorism. The General Assembly reviews the Strategy every two years, making it a living document attuned to Member States’ counter-terrorism priorities.
Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism
This Plan of Action, put forward by the UN Secretary-General in 2016, calls for a comprehensive approach encompassing not only essential security-based counter-terrorism measures but also systematic preventive steps to address the underlying conditions that drive individuals to radicalize and join violent extremist groups. In its resolutions A/RES/70/291 and A/RES/72/284 for the fifth and sixth biennial review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, the General Assembly encouraged Member States to consider implementing relevant recommendations from the Plan of Action, and to develop their own national and regional plans of action.