The training began at Civil Society House in Prishtina, where representatives of GCERF – Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund – and NGOs shared experiences in combating extremism and terrorism, focusing on rehabilitation and reintegration in Kosovo.
Organisations including ATRC – Advocacy Training and Resource Centre – the youth organisation RinON, and BIRN Kosovo discussed their efforts to combat religious extremism and ethnonationalism. The second part of the day involved a meeting in Hani i Elezit with Mayor Mehmet Ballazhi, who praised the municipality’s approach towards rehabilitating returnees and engaging the community.
The head of the Referral Mechanism emphasized their active cooperation with civil society organisations and with BIRN Kosovo, particularly on skills like cybersecurity and privacy documentation.
The second day featured an address by Kreshnik Gashi from Kallxo.com, on ethical reporting on violent extremism and terrorism. Labinot Leposhtica, from BIRN Kosovo, presented studies on the causes of extremism and the reintegration of returnees, contrasting Albania’s targeted approach with that of Kosovo.
Lejdi Dervishi, Albania’s National Coordinator on Countering Extremism, discussed the importance of regional cooperation in rehabilitation efforts. Iris Luarasi from the Counseling Line for Women and Girls emphasized advocacy and strategic communication to combat the stigma faced by returnees, highlighting issues surrounding identity exposure in media coverage.
The day concluded with a documentary screening by BIRN, Extremism and Radicalism, which explored various perspectives on the motivations behind joining foreign conflicts.
On the third day of training, Kreshnik Gashi gave a presentation on right-wing extremist groups in the Balkans, followed by Mensur Hoti’s overview of Kosovo’s anti-terrorism strategy, encompassing prevention, protection, pursuit, and response.
Fatos Makolli discussed the current terrorism situation in Kosovo, while Luan Keka led a session on the rise of religious extremism in Europe and its impact in Kosovo. The day concluded with a panel on the reintegration of individuals returning from war zones and a documentary, The Danger from Extremism, highlighting updated perspectives on extremism and terrorism cases.
The fourth day was focused on building communication between security institutions and journalists in crisis situations and lessons learned from the case of Kosovo and building educational media campaigns to educate the public on the prevention of violent extremism, including the importance of building editorial policies to stop the spread of extremist ideologies in the media and social networks.
An important aspect of the day was the protection of privacy and confidentiality of persons involved in the resocialization process and concrete policies, especially for children and women.
On the final day, participants conducted a study visit to the Correctional facility of Dubrava in Istog, Kosovo, and by visiting this correctional centre, gained a more practical perspective on how those sentenced by courts for terrorism are doing their sentences.
The study visit was led by the director of this centre, which is one of the largest prisons in Kosovo, with a capacity for around 1,000 people.
He welcomed the group and explained in detail the process inside this facility, which includes educational and recreative programmes and monitoring of their actions by psychologists and other staff members of the centre.
The training included 20 participants, 10 of whom were women. The participants actively engaged in the training, sharing experiences and asking questions on how to effectively deal with terrorism and violent extremism.
The training was part of the “Resilient Community Programme” funded by GCERF.