Call for participants: RAN Practitioners training on “Digital skills for first-line practitioners in P/CVE”, May 2024

• 8May 2024, Brussels (BE) (09:00-15:00)
• 15 May 2024, Berlin (DE) (09:00-15:00)
• 23 May 2024, Madrid (ES) (09:00-15:00)

Context

Recent years have shown that violent extremists are adept at exploiting the internet – adopting, adapting and applying the latest in digital technology – to radicalise and recruit online. Innovations in digital technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) are changing the way people behave, communicate and engage with one another online (and offline). These technologies – such as ChatGPT, DALL-E and Invideo – are now giving the power to people to write, narrate, produce and curate their own content. A critical deficit now exists between practitioners’ and violent extremists’ understanding of the digital world, their use of digital technologies and their ability to connect with their audiences online.

The purpose of this new series of training events therefore is to help practitioners keep pace with changes in the digital world and develop an understanding of how to use digital technologies in their work. To achieve these aims, practitioners will have the opportunity to spend a day with digital experts through group discussions, practical demonstrations and one-on-one time. The aim of the day will be to develop an understanding of practitioners’ digital needs and challenges; to demonstrate how to use the latest digital platforms (such as TikTok and Instagram) and digital technologies (such as AI) and how they can be harnessed for P/CVE; and to help practitioners, and the organisations they represent, ‘get online’. Participants will also have the opportunity to network with practitioners from their region.

Target audience

The training is open to any first-line practitioner from within the RAN Practitioners network who is a ‘digital beginner’ and is looking to ‘get online’. This training is therefore for practitioners who would like to: better understand the digital world; develop or increase their online presence; reach audiences online; carry out intervention work online; and/or connect their offline work with online activity. These practitioners might include, but are not limited to the following: civil society representatives, social workers, youth workers, exit workers, community police officers, teachers, mental health professionals and other support services.

Please note that this new series of training events is an extension of the training events delivered in October and November 2023. We therefore invite all practitioners who were unable to participate in the previous training events to apply to participate in these new events.

Application

Practitioners are invited to apply to one of the three regional training events that will be delivered (please apply for the training closest to you). We kindly ask that you fill out this questionnaire by 5 April 2024.

We will select participants based on their answers. To be able to exchange knowledge and experiences, participants need to be able to communicate professionally in English.