Violent extremism is a phenomenon for society and the community we live in, especially for young people. Reality shows that among the youth groups there is no complete understanding of this phenomenon and the form by which it appears. Preparing with the necessary information and knowledge of this target group has been one of the key interventions that Terre des hommes has supported and promoted in order to educate young people on identifying early signs of involvement in violent or extreme acts and their response referring these cases to the structures responsible for further treatment.
The Albanian government has been trying to advance Albania's EU membership process for years now and the empowerment of young people is an important element in achieving this goal as well as in raising policies or interventions that have young people in their center.
The project "Empowering Civil Society Organizations to Improve Youth Resilience to the Phenomena of Violent Extremism" funded by the European Union and implemented by Terre des Hommes in partnership with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, Center for Common Ground and University Beder, has been a new experience for Tdh in Albania, which has been maximally used as an opportunity to bring an alternative approach to dealing with the issue based on direct community interventions, respect for human rights, interfaith coexistence, involvement of groups teachers, parents and youth activists in understanding and preventing the phenomenon.
This project has been implemented in Tirana, Elbasan and Pogradec and has financially supported 21 local civil society organizations. An event, for concluding the project, was organised in Elbasan City with the aim of serving as a platform for bringing together representatives of the European Union Delegation to Albania, representatives of the Albanian government at national and local level, civil society organizations and youth activists, in a friendly and open conversation on the importance and challenges of youth development in Albania as the most important and important social group that will bring about changes in the long run.