Cairo, Egypt - CCCPA held a two-day workshop on "Empowering Local Communities in Somalia and East Africa to Combat Terrorism and Extremism Leading to It", from 11-12 January 2016.

The workshop comes within the context of the program "Preventing Recruitment to Terrorism" being implemented by the Center. The program aims to increase the resilience of local communities and empower local leaders with the necessary knowledge and skills to detect, interrupt and prevent extremism and radicalization leading to terrorism.

The aim of the exploratory workshop was to "flesh out" issues related to extremist thoughts leading to terrorism propagated by the terrorist group "Al Shabaab" in Somalia and the rest of East Africa. A select group of local leaders, officials, civil society activists as well as subject-matter experts from Somalia and the East Africa region attended the workshop. Through facilitator-led discussions, this workshop developed a better understanding of extremist ideologies of Al Shabaab, as well as the local context and grievances that it exploits to recruit young Somalis. 

Experience and best practices of local communities in the fight against extremism were captured, and gaps and deficiencies in existing policies and interventions identified. 

Ambassador Mohamed Idriss, Assistant Minister for African Affairs delivered an opening speech discussing the workshop and its aims.  The output of the workshop will contribute to development of the training manual "Countering Extreme Ideologies Leading to Terrorism", which the Center is currently developing also within the context of the program.