Training sessions for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) on preventing violent extremist were held under NPC’s project Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) conducted with Helvetas Sri Lanka and funded by the European Union.

Five CSO members will be selected from each district to train others including government officials, community police and youth who are eligible to deliver training to the next level. Sixty percent of the 267 CSO members were interested in training others.

Although the initial plan was to have physical training for 20 to 25 CSO members, because of the Covid-19 pandemic two one day sessions were held via zoom. The themes were understanding violent extremism, the context of violent extremism, how violent extremists recruit followers and preventing violent extremism. Examples of successful programmes from other countries and creating a plan to prevent violent extremism in communities were discussed.

The sessions included a visual presentation, watching a documentary video related to PVE concepts and group discussions. Poor internet connections in some districts disrupted the sessions. The technical knowledge of participants should be improved to facilitate their participation in virtual workshops.