NPC held four training programmes for 152 state officers in Batticaloa, Vavuniya, Kandy and Kurunegala including Grama Niladaris, development officers and social services officers directly involved with the community on Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) concepts and skills for PVE implementation.
Another six training programmes were held for 236 community police in Ampara, Mannar, Batticaloa, Vavuniya, Kandy and Kurunegala under the project Prevention of Violent Extremism - Capacity Building in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Participants learnt about the actors and drivers of extremism, the push and pull factors of extremism, the context of post independent politics, the JVP insurrections, Tamil minority alienation and the Easter Sunday attacks.
State officers and community police members discussed and identified root causes of extremism that were polarising different religious and ethnic communities as structural and cultural violence.