Last week Malaga hosted a training course on Strategic Communication in which around 40 local actors from the European Union participated.
The main objective of this training was to deepen the role of this communication in mitigating radicalisation processes and extremist dynamics, while promoting the resilience of vulnerable communities.
For Javier Ruipérez, director of StratComms (Strategic Communications) at the European Knowledge Hub for Prevention of Radicalisation, “strategic communication plays an essential role in developing effective policies and actions aimed at preventing radicalisation that can lead to violent extremist actions, regardless of ideology”.
According to this expert, the radicalisation of narratives is “a phenomenon that is increasingly tending to polarise our societies in Europe, to normalise extremist narratives in political discourse, in the media or through the viralisation of content – often false and manipulated – on social networks”. Ruipérez is Director of Research and Projects at the Euro-Arab Foundation, one of the entities that make up the European Knowledge Hub, the European Union’s new knowledge centre for the prevention of violent extremism, and organiser of this event.
In the course held in Malaga on 6th and 7th March, participants from different European countries were trained by leading experts on the crucial role of strategic communication in building community resilience and the use of narratives for positive change.
During this training they worked on identifying specific audiences within the community and tailoring messages for each group, developing practical skills in creating personalised messages that address local concerns and counter extremist narratives. In addition, techniques have been explored to engage local and community stakeholders, building trust and cohesion. Tools and strategies have also been applied in simulated cases aimed at communicating effectively in crisis situations, maintaining public trust and controlling narratives.
About the EUKH
The European Knowledge Hub for Prevention of Radicalisation, established in the EU Counter-Terrorism Agenda 2020, acts as a meeting point for practitioners, policymakers and researchers engaged in the prevention of radicalisation in Europe and priority countries.
The Euro-Arab Foundation, based in Granada-Spain, leads the Strategic Communication (StratComms) line, implementing various activities such as thematic panels that function as forums for experts to facilitate debate and knowledge consolidation; workshops and ad hoc events to help respond to new challenges; study visits to the Middle East; research and preparation of reports and analyses for member states, among other activities.
