Model Project for Preventing Radicalisation: Face-to-face Empowerment Against Islamist Orientation

Funded as part of the Live Democracy! project by the Federal Republic of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth

IPSO’s model project for preventing radicalisation was aimed at young people between 17–27 who are at risk, members and sympathisers of radical scenes and groups and their parents, family members and other related people.

It included a wide range of activities:

1. Outreached to conflict-affected social environments and held discussions with mosques, schools and training centres, etc.
2. Daily personal counseling provided both in-person and online
3. Attractive support groups established for dealing with discrimination experiences and different value systems as well as – in a media-critical way – with politically radical online content
4. Developing and implementing customised intervention formats, especially the development of new, peer-based concepts for exiting, disengaging and distancing work
5. Testing measures for preventing radicalisation on the internet and in social media
6. Public relations, networking and committee work

Five counselors were involved in this project and they also acted as role models in their communities.

A project with a sustainable impact

The training of the “Young Community Guides” carried out in 2019 gave the project a lasting impression. It provided the incentive for establishing a self-organisation of Arabic-speaking young people who became involved in supporting Arabic-speaking migrants and placing them with aid and care organisations in the city.