8th Meeting of the European Policy Planners' Network (PPN)

Hosted by Belgium's Federal Public Service Home Affairs, the 8th Meeting of the European Policy Planners’ Network took place on October 14th in Brussels, Belgium. Over 30 policy planners, experts and practitioners from eight countries met to discuss the role of civil society in countering violent radicalisation and polarisation. The focus on the role of civil society in preventing violent radicalisation addressed one of the Belgian EU Presidency’s key concerns.

The meeting sessions looked at the roles of frontline workers within state and non-state services, the general public, NGOs and community groups. ISD presented a working paper on existing case studies and their good practices and lessons learned. This working paper was also circulated as a background paper at the Belgian EU Presidency Conference “Preventing Violent Radicalisation: The Role of Civil Society”.

In addition to the working paper, this PPN session provided input to the Belgian EU Presidency Conference, which took place the following day, by hosting a plenary panel which drew on the experiences of the PPN countries in this area.