Italy believes that more investment is needed to combat radicalisation and violent extremism in the Sahel and other areas of the world by engaging women and youth, deputy foreign minister Marina Sereni said on Tuesday.
"To make international counter-terrorism activities and those of the region more effective, we need to make much more significant investments in the prevention of violent extremism," Sereni told an event in Paris on fighting radicalization in the Sahel.
The investments should be channelled through local communities to ensure basic services, training and development opportunities and the building of credible institutions by involving citizens in decision-making processes, Sereni argued.
"We need an approach that combines a military presence with measures aimed at addressing the root economic and social causes of radicalisation leading to violent extremism," Sereni underlined.
Italy, together with other European countries, supports the Global Fund for Community Involvement and Resilience (GCERF)'s "bottom-up" activities involving youth which have a specific focus on gender equality in the communities of southern Mali, Sereni noted.
"We have decided this year to allocate another 2 million euros to finance other GCERF projects," Sereni stated.
The Geneva-based GCERF supports projects to prevent radicalisation in 'at-risk' communities by supporting them and locally operating NGOs. The Fund operates in thirteen countries: Mali, Albania, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Philippines, Kenya, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Niger, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Somalia.
The Paris meeting was organised by GCERF in collaboration with France and the G5 Sahel intergovernmental body including Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
