At its core, peacebuilding work seeks to rebuild social relations and bridge identity divides
while working through issues of marginalization and political grievances, often in areas
afflicted by violent conflict. In 2013, drawing on more than thirty years of peacebuilding
and conflict-resolution approaches, the US Institute of Peace (USIP) began to implement
a robust and innovative countering violent extremism (CVE) capacity-strengthening project. As part of this effort, USIP partnered with CVE and peacebuilding experts to deliver
skills- and knowledge-based training to participants, including members of civil society
organizations (CSOs) and governments, providing them with tools and resources to enhance
CVE efforts. The project delivered nine courses in three categories to prevent and mitigate
violent extremism: reducing vulnerabilities through education, developing alternative narratives in media and messaging, and working with communities to increase resistance to
violent extremists and their ability to recover from successful infiltration.