BRaVE

Right-wing extremist and Islamist groups that want to recruit people to their respective political causes promote simplistic 'black and white' thinking and attitudes of group-hatred that lead to polarization, hatred, intolerance and violence. The activities of such groups disrupt social cohesion and diminish civic agency. They can lead to a loss of trust in democracy and human rights, to social tensions and to hate speech, intolerance, discrimination and even violence.

The BRaVE project built on existing knowledge and policy experience to develop better analytical and policy tools for designing more effective resilience-building measures. These should help to counteract polarization and prevent violent extremism. At the beginning of the project, the current state of the scientific literature and approaches to countering polarization and violent extremism were surveyed. An extended overview of 'best practice' models with a focus on youth cultural methods, such as sport and art projects, was compiled in the form of an integrated database.

Promoting resilience in various areas

As part of the project, a “Resilience Hub” was also developed, which deals with three factors that can promote or mitigate polarization and violent extremism in societies. In particular, historical and cultural factors, socio-economic conditions and the role of social media and networks were examined. In addition, “stakeholder workshops” were developed with the aim of weakening radicalization processes in various communities. Subsequently, digital forums were set up to enable the participation of a large number of stakeholders.

Each “stakeholder dialog” built a tool of resilience in different areas: in particular, interfaith training of secondary school teachers; a proposal for a basic income policy that mitigates socio-economic inequalities and a guide for responsible social media design. A particular focus was on prevention approaches that work on a youth-cultural basis. The BRaVE Fair was therefore organized as part of the 'Resilience Hub'. As part of this BRaVE Fair, projects were presented that use youth cultural interventions to stop polarization in their community and build resilience.

BRaVE Fair

In September 2021, the BRaVE Fair brought together prevention projects from all over Europe that use art and sport to promote democratic and respectful coexistence - including the winners of the BRaVE Award. The event offered these projects the opportunity to share their experiences, present their own work and discuss different approaches. The BRaVe Fair was also intended to support the projects in building new networks, engaging in direct exchange and gaining inspiration for their own work from best-practice projects. The BRaVE Fair was the central event of the three-year BRaVE project, which is funded by H2020.

Presentation of the BRaVE Award

Numerous projects applied for the BRaVE Award in spring 2020. All projects in the arts and sport that involve children, young people or young adults and are committed to preventing polarization and violent extremism in an innovative way were invited to apply. Projects from all over Europe that aim to strengthen young people's resilience against polarization and violence and promote interreligious dialogue then applied for the award.

A jury of experts then selected 15 projects and associations from Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany, Poland, Kosovo, Serbia, Slovakia and Spain from the projects submitted. And on November 19, the time had come: Build Solid Grounds from Slovakia, Jamal al-Khatib - Mein Weg from Vienna and Breath in Break Out from Halle received the BRaVE Award, endowed with 10,000 euros in project funding! The BRaVE Innovation Award went to the Loulu project and the winners of the BRaVE Audience Award, the Klanggerüst e.V. association from Erfurt, received project funding of 1,000 euros.

BRaVE Academy: learning, exchanging and networking

The BRaVE Academy took place from April 8 to May 6, 2021: Every Thursday for five weeks, participants were able to discuss current challenges in prevention work with experts in various workshops and learn about projects from all over Europe. In each module, international experts from research and practice shared their knowledge with the participants, including on online prevention work, working with different target groups and art- and sports-based prevention approaches.

Numerous European projects are committed to strengthening resilience to radicalization and polarization in their region. As part of BRaVE, we wanted to give you the opportunity to exchange ideas, learn from each other, train and network across Europe.