Lessons Learned from Student-led Initiatives to Prevent Violent Extremism in Kenyan Universities

Summary

Universities can be attractive to violent extremist organisations (VEOs) as sites of potential radicalisation and recruitment. Historically, violent extremist (VE) groups have considered universities as sites that can provide recruits with specialised technical skillsets typically not offered by generic recruits or so-called 'foot soldiers'. VEOs also identify learning institutions as targets for recruitment because of their 'transitionary, permissive, biographical, secular and socialization space'. In Kenya, concerns emerged that universities were being taken advantage of for recruitment to the East Africa Al-Qa'ida affiliate Al-Shabaab following the 2015 terror attack at Garissa University. The attack led to the death of 148 people, mostly students, and caused deep trauma at the university and in the surrounding environment. In the aftermath of the attack, investigations revealed that one of the attackers was a former university student. From April 2015 onwards, reports that university students were being recruited to VE groups began to emerge. However, despite this situation, remarkably few preventing/countering violent extremism (P/CVE) projects were undertaken in Kenyan universities to reduce the risk of VE recruitment. At present, however, a limited yet expanding body of literature is emerging in Kenya and globally on the role of education in P/CVE efforts. Evidence suggests that education interventions are likely to create resilience capacities that prevent or suppress terrorism ideologies. In light of this, RUSI Nairobi received support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of the Netherlands to deliver two iterations of such initiatives. This Policy Brief is a summary of the key lessons learned from the project and provides recommendations for similar youth- or student-led interventions in a university setting.

Keywords

P/CVE, student-led, Kenyan universities, youth, Al-Shabaab, radicalization, resilience