Tackling violent extremism (VE) as a part of education interventions is reflective of a broader international shift toward prevention of terrorism, and toward efforts to address the environment conducive for extremists to spread their ideologies and recruit supporters. Education has been leveraged to both radicalize and to de-radicalize young people and increasingly, governments in conflict-affected countries are interested in financing measures that counter violent extremism as part of education programs. Yet the term “violent extremism” lacks a specific definition making it difficult to carry out research, policy dialogue and/or programming. Furthermore, there is little empirical evidence to demonstrate the efficacy of CVE programs that work consistently and across different contexts, primarily because the root causes of violent extremism are poorly understood.
The World Bank Group (WBG) is increasingly being called upon to address the development dimensions of VE both by client governments and the international community. Up to now, the Bank has shied away from designing standalone CVE programs even in contexts where violent extremism is present. And education programs for the most part, whether in stable or conflict- affected countries, have had similar goals. Going forward, we propose two avenues of strategic engagement for the Bank in this area. First, to undertake more in-depth learning on what works and what does not work including through rigorous impact evaluations and research. Second to ensure that Bank financed programs are designed with dynamics of VE clearly in mind, using existing CVE frameworks and tools and addressing some of the key drivers for VE, within the broader objectives of the operation. Ultimately, the Bank’s contribution to this agenda, will focus, together with client governments, on piloting, testing and scaling up CVE programs that do work.