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"I always hear about extremists, especially terrorists, through social networks and media outlets, and I never bothered to find out what motivates a young person to join these groups. I realized that I had a tendency to stigmatize young people from the most excluded regions, instead of understanding the challenges they face and identifying possible solutions to integrate them," shared a Tunisian student who took part in the training sessions on preventing violent extremism through debate, organized by the on 30 October 2019. 

These two trainings, organized within the framework of the project "Prevention of Violent Extremism through Youth Empowerment in Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia", brought together some 30 students and five teachers to discover the basics of debating, as well as argumentation and research techniques on the prevention of violent extremism. The goal of these workshops was to train the students for a vast debate competition that took place at ENSTAB (The National School of Advanced Science and Technology in Borj Cédria) on 24 November 2019. The competition’s model was based on the "World School Debate Competition", which is used by the British Parliament to debate laws. This enabled iiDebate to introduce young students to advocacy and, above all, to propose applicable solutions in terms of preventing violent extremism through constructive exchanges.

During the trainings, participants found that the concept of extremism was generally linked to terrorism and Islam. In order to clarify this confusion, the young students conducted research on the terminology of violent extremism.

The debate appeared to be a privileged tool for talking about violent extremism, as it helps to establish a non-violent culture of sharing opinions on sensitive or even taboo subjects within universities.

The training sessions on 30 October, as well as the debate competition, were held in English. Indeed, most of the research and sources on the subject are in English, and conducting advocacy exercises in English is a good way for young people to raise awareness beyond their community or country. It is a way to make their voices heard on the international stage. Participants were divided into 6 teams of 3 people. They were accompanied by 5 professors and a representative of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. They were also joined by about 30 students from the ENSTAB institution, coming from different regions across the country, including Bizerte, Nabeul and Ariana.

The discussions highlighted some of the main factors of radicalization and extremism:

• Marginalization and the lack of social, economic and cultural framework, which fosters violence;
• The lack of State intervention in its rural areas to combat violence and extremism;
• Daily stress due to social and economic pressures causes depression and vulnerability of young people, which pushes them to turn to new alternatives such as extremist groups;
• Immigration as a factor favoring radicalization, as a major cause of inflation and social disparity;
• Overcrowding and lack of social cohesion encourages violence and extremism, especially in transport and public places.

The students therefore decided to identify concrete and applicable solutions, in particular:

• The importance of the educational program in the construction of the psychology and personality of the students. They illustrated their ideas with the example of integrating sex education into the curriculum, which could reduce violence and sexual harassment;
• Teaching the values of daily life through the establishment of a culture of debate and respect for others;
• To support technically and financially the innovation of young students in their creations;
• To integrate the aspect of civic education and volunteerism as a compulsory pedagogy in order to inspire young people to engage in associative and social activities.

"Debating in front of an audience is a great feeling. I have learned to manage my stress, to structure my ideas, and to convince an audience while remaining in non-violent communication," said one of the participants after the competition.

Finally, the young people decided to set up debate and training clubs for young students, focusing on argumentation techniques, soft skills, advocacy techniques, and debate. The idea is to establish a new culture of non-violent communication and to open a space for dialogue on all subjects that affect young people within the university.

A snapshot of the competition!

- Watch the summary video of the debate training sessions:

- Watch the summary video of the debate competition:                                              

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The project "Preventing Violent Extremism through Youth Empowerment in Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia" aims to activate the transformative power of education, science, culture and media to build the intellectual immunity of young women and men. One of the keys to achieving this is to mobilize universities and student networks as actors of prevention, to develop social and cultural revitalization programmes within their campuses and, more broadly, within their communities.

iiDebate is a non-profit and apolitical NGO created in 2013 by young professionals and students who aspire to a better education system in Tunisia. With a network of more than 220 active members and 40 partners in all regions of Tunisia, iiDebate aims to engage young people aged 15-29 to become active in their communities, particularly on the theme of preventing violent extremism.