Understanding and enhancing CVE capacity in Victorian rural and regional communities
Understanding and enhancing CVE capacity in Victorian rural and regional communities
This study aimed to investigate local community resources, capacities, gaps and vulnerabilities in relation to community understanding of and capacity for countering violent extremism in rural-regional Australia, particularly in relation to how such understandings and capacity may differ or reflect unique elements compared to metropolitan settings.
The analysis of the study data draws on theories of social-ecological resilience and analysis of the changing nature of community social networks and ties (Ungar, 2008, 2011; Grossman et al., 2017; Grossman, 2021; Ellis and Abdi, 2017; Rockenbauch and Sakdapolrak, 2017; Chambers, 2006) in order to explore rural-regional community perspectives concerning:
1. Understanding and definition(s) of radicalisation and violent extremism
2. Levels of awareness about radicalisation and violent extremism in local rural-regional communities
3. The extent to which radicalisation to violent extremism is perceived as an issue that poses local challenges
4. Resilience factors covering both risks and protections that are likely to affect local community capacity in understanding and responding to violent extremist mobilisation and recruitment
5. Willingness and/or confidence to identify and seek support for those who may be radicalising to violence
6. Potential barriers for local community members in sharing concerns or information with authorities about violent extremism
7. Resource base for finding information on, sharing concerns about or accessing services related to education and awareness programs on countering violent extremism
8. What existing resources and capacities are already in place in local regional or rural communities to support the goals identified above, and what gaps may need to be addressed.
Summary of recommendations and future considerations
1. Rural-regional communities in this study were hungry for education and awareness resources around radicalisation and violent extremism.
2. While the line between hateful beliefs and behaviours and violent extremism can be a challenging one to locate and define, the generally accepted association of violent extremism with an ideological or political belief structures needs to be better understood by community members within the current CVE landscape.
3. Involve local community representatives in the design and delivery of education and awareness campaigns to give meaningful effect to community co-design principles that have been shown to be effective in community knowledge uplift and willingness to engage with difficult or sensitive subject matter such as issues concerning violent extremism and terrorism.
4. Develop and resource systems that can deliver more granular, place-based data that can be analysed to support more targeted and nuanced CVE initiatives in ways that help build local community CVE awareness and responsiveness.
5. Design and deliver messaging that helps rural-regional communities understand that reaching out for more centralised services and supports is not a weakness or an undercutting of values and norms around self-reliance.
6. Enhance the capacity of local community organisations, clubs, networks, schools and services to deliver education for general community members, including young people, in ways that are easily accessible and relevant for these communities.
7. Invest in specific upskilling and collaboration between centralised CVE programming and resources and local government area (LGA) councils and shires.
8. Invest in stronger training and resourcing for Victorian schools so that they can take full advantage of existing centralised state-level support and reporting mechanisms around concerns relating to radicalisation to violent extremism.
9. Consider the development of Victorian specific information and education resources on radicalisation and violent extremism and ensure that they benefit from search engine optimisation for online delivery.
10. Training and upskilling for local police in rural-regional communities, regardless of community size is considered best practice.
11. Similar training to that delivered to local police should be extended to other first responders in the emergency management and health sectors, who may be first to notice signs of concern that need to be reported or further explored.
12. Improvement in community reporting awareness in rural-regional areas presupposes robust community reporting systems and mechanisms.
13. Proactively support, resource and promote the national rollout of the Step Together program, a telephone and web-based information and support service for those concerned about someone who may be radicalising to violence that addresses a significant number of the needs and gaps identified by participants across Victorian rural-regional field sites in this study.
14. The current study is an exploratory qualitative research project that has delivered preliminary insights on how rural-regional communities and state-based government stakeholders view existing CVE capacity outside metropolitan settings in Victoria. Further research to help pinpoint, refine and elaborate on the findings contained herein would benefit from conducting additional studies with larger sample sizes across more rural-regional communities in the state.