Towards a fairer, more peaceful worldExtremely Together South & Southeast Asia
Overview
South & Southeast Asia is impacted by high levels of violent extremist activity. According to the 2109 Global Terrorism Index, South Asia had the highest average impact from terrorism, with Pakistan and the Philippines ranking amongst the top ten countries most affected by such activities.
Young people are most at risk of adhering to violent extremist ideology and joining groups.
Whilst factors of youth vulnerability have generally correlated with a lack of economic opportunities and lower levels of education, recent trends have suggested an increase in attacks led by middle-class, educated youth across the region. A targeted approach by extremist groups to recruit women and men based on pronounced gender stereotypes can also be observed in different groups operating in the region.
In line with these trends, our Chapters in South & Southeast Asia focus on sensitizing and building the capacity of young people in urban areas across their respective countries. Chapters in the Philippines and Pakistan – as well as one honorary Chapter in Bangladesh – were established in 2020 as part of our “Leading the Way to Peace – Youth together for Social Cohesion” project implemented alongside the EU. Our Chapters in the Philippines and Pakistan were established with the help of Arizza Nocum and Ali Abbas, two of our Extremely Together Leaders working in those countries.
Through various activities, our country chapters work to foster peace and social cohesion in their respective countries and also collaborate to promote these values across the region.
The Extremely Together movement and its local chapters in the region strive to enhance civil society and youth capacities to recognize causes of violent extremism and to create innovative responses to radicalized narratives. A strong emphasis is placed on the use of digital platforms and social media to reach and mobilize young people.
Read more about the launch of our activities in the region here.
Latest news from our chapters
A Toolbox for Peacebuilders
The Peacebuilders’ Toolbox compiles all the resources and materials that resulted from the collaboration between our chapters in South and Southeast Asia. The toolkit aims to help fellow young peacebuilders drive change at their own level and empower them to take the lead in shaping their future.
What’s in the toolbox:
Our research on entry points to engaging with youth in the region
Analysis that synthesizes research conducted by our teams in each country in South and Southeast Asia and gives an overview of the central problems people are facing in these countries. Its aim is to help young peacebuilders find key entry points to engaging with youth in the region. See the research >
Our full “Building Peace Together” Guide
The full version of our Building Peace Together Guide. Discover the three main goals for fostering a youth-led approach to preventing violent extremism and the seven main challenges that PVE practitioners face. Download the full “Building Peace Together” Guide >
Our “Building Peace Together” Executive Summary
A short overview of the main points from the full Building Peace Together Guide. “Building Peace Together” Executive Summary >
Our recommendations to the European Union
Building on the challenges and solutions identified in the Building Peace Together Guide, discover our recommendations for the EU and the donor community on how to better support youth-led initiatives to promote peace and prevent violent extremism. Our recommendations to the EU >
Our video toolkit series
In this three-part series, three of our young leaders from Extremely Together Philippines, Pakistan, and Bangladesh take you through the ins and outs of youth-led peacebuilding, and provide key tips on how to get involved, how to drive change and how to build a movement.
See the video series >
Our Publications
Research
Building Peace Together Guide
Executive Summary
Recommendations to the European Union
Our research
Since 2020, the Kofi Annan Foundation and Extremely Together have been working with young leaders in South and Southeast Asia to prevent violent extremism in the region in the context of the “Leading the Way to Peace – Youth Together for Social Cohesion” project supported by the European Union.
In the context of this project, we collaborated with the Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library (KRIS) in the Philippines, the College of Youth Activism and Development (CYAAD) in Pakistan and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) and Rupantar in Bangladesh.
This research synthesizes baseline research conducted by our teams in each country. It helps peacebuilders find key entry-points to engaging with youth in the region and gives an overview of the central problems that people are facing in these countries.
Building Peace Together: The Guide
Since 2020, the Kofi Annan Foundation and its Extremely Together initiative have been working with young leaders in South and Southeast Asia to prevent violent extremism in the region in the context of the “Leading the Way to Peace – Youth Together for Social Cohesion” project supported by the European Union.
In the context of this project, we collaborated with the Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library (KRIS) in the Philippines, the College of Youth Activism and Development (CYAAD) in Pakistan and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) and Rupantar in Bangladesh.
Our Building Peace Together guide builds on our collective experience working with urban communities in the region and the lessons we learned from it.
This guide is the product of ongoing discussions between Extremely Together and 30 youth-led and youth-focused organizations from across the South & Southeast Asian region, and beyond. In the guide, you will find three main goals for fostering a youth-led approach to preventing violent extremism and seven main challenges that PVE practitioners face. You will also find solutions for overcoming these challenges and can get inspired from ten case studies from diverse local civil society organizations. to demonstrate how these principles work in practice and inspire you when thinking about implementing your own creative approaches to PVE action.
Building Peace Together: The Executive Summary
Since 2020, the Kofi Annan Foundation and its Extremely Together initiative have been working with young leaders in South and Southeast Asia to prevent violent extremism in the region in the context of the “Leading the Way to Peace – Youth Together for Social Cohesion” project supported by the European Union.
In the context of this project, we collaborated with the Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library (KRIS) in the Philippines, the College of Youth Activism and Development (CYAAD) in Pakistan and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) and Rupantar in Bangladesh.
Our Building Peace Together guide builds on our collective experience working with urban communities in the region and the lessons we learned from it. Click on the previous tab to read it.
Don’t have time to read the full guide? You can get a quick overview of its main points in this brief Executive Summary.
Our recommendations to the European Union
Since 2020, the Kofi Annan Foundation and its Extremely Together initiative have been working with young leaders in South and Southeast Asia to prevent violent extremism in the region in the context of the “Leading the Way to Peace – Youth Together for Social Cohesion” project supported by the European Union.
In the context of this project, we collaborated with the Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library (KRIS) in the Philippines, the College of Youth Activism and Development (CYAAD) in Pakistan and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) and Rupantar in Bangladesh.
Building on the challenges and solutions identified in the Building Peace Together guide, we created recommendations for the European Union and the rest of the donor community on how to better support youth-led initiatives to promote peace and prevent violent extremism.
Building Peace Together Video Toolkit
The Building Peace Together video toolkit features three of our young leaders from our Extremely Together in the Philippines, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. In this three-part series, our leaders take you through the ins and outs of youth-led peacebuilding, provide key tips on how to get involved, how to drive change at your own level, and how to build a movement. We hope this video toolkit will be used by youth-led groups in the region (and beyond) to train and inspire their peers.
Building Peace Together - Episode 1: How to make PVE an attractive cause for young people? 
Building Peace Together - Episode 2: How to sustain youth interest in PVE overtime? 
Building Peace Together - Episode 3: How to build a movement to prevent violent extremism (PVE)?
