CVE: Working with Returnees and Former Fighters in South East Asia

Last month our colleague Mal Brailey was invited to speak at a meeting of the Southeast Asian Network of Civil Society Organisations Working Together Against Violent Extremism (SEAN-CSO), an organisation supporting capacity building of SEA civil society organisations working to prevent violent extremism.

Fifty five participants from Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Australia attended the event, which was held in the Malaysian capital. The workshop explored and discussed practical approaches to secondary and tertiary CVE interventions in Australia and South East Asia. Civil society organisation practitioners, researchers and public officials shared and discussed case studies of projects with former terrorists and their families, and with individuals and communities at risk of radicalisation.

Mal provided insights drawn from the work we are engaged in with our Indonesian partners and was able to share practical advice based on ongoing work using returnees (including from Syria) and former terrorists in the delivery of programmes designed to prevent and counter radicalisation and recruitment into violent extremism. Mal will be delivering a similar training input on design and delivering CVE programming for participants from Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam next month in the Philippines.