There are a range of extremist groups and narratives that promote the use of violence, which affect individuals and communities right across Europe. These include ISIS; Al Qaida; extreme Right and Left Wing quasi-political groups. Global events like the economic crisis and the conflicts in North Africa that spawned the recent influx of migrants throughout Europe are also impacting local communities. These can sometimes lead to community tensions, fuel suspicion, and create divisions between people from different cultures and backgrounds. Tensions in local communities between different ethnic groups; feelings of grievance and injustice; ‘them and us’ thinking; a need for identity, meaning and belonging are just some of the factors that are common place in Europe today and these factors help create the perfect conditions for radical extremists to operate. The process of radicalisation is different for every individual and can take place over an extended period or within a very short time frame. Radicalisation needs to be understood as a process not an event. As a process, it is possible to intervene to safeguard vulnerable young people. The chances of success for any proposed intervention can be significantly increased if the anti-radicalisation message is delivered by a credible voice from within the youth community. The aim of the HYPER project is to design and produce a full suite of educational resources that show the process of radicalisation in action. These resources will focus on demonstrating how radicalisation can happen on the most popular digital and social media platforms where today’s young people hang out and where many are at their most vulnerable. The suite of simulation resources will act as a gateway to an online learning environment where a wide range of suitable and appropriate training resources will be provided. To accompany these simulation resources the project consortium will develop a peer training programme for young people interested in being credible voices against radical extremist rhetoric and actions. Education is one of the key intervention tools available to EU Member States to counteract the growth of radicalisation and front-line youth workers who engage with a wide cross-section of young people in a variety of formal, in-formal and non-formal settings are the most appropriate individuals to lead this fight. To support these youth professionals HYPER will develop a bespoke in-service training programme to enable them extract the maximum benefit from the full range of proposed tools. It is imperative that society as a whole takes on the challenge to address the threat of radicalisation. The HYPER project will provide much needed induction training for youth volunteers, parents and guardians so they can actively support the work of front-line youth professionals to combat the threat of radicalisation.
Europe faces a real and ongoing threat from violent extremism - the forms in which extremism manifests itself have changed. On-and offline support for terrorist organisations shows an increase in radicalisation among young people on EU territory. In the words of Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs “no country is spared from the scourge of violent extremism but still far too few EU Member States are facing up to this rising threat. We need strong, preventive measures to counter extremism in all its forms”. So the HYPER project focuses on the prevention of radicalization themed "Empower youths - against radicalization and violent extremism". From a national and transnational perspective, the HYPER-Consortium of 6 European countries developed, tested and implemented a full innovative suite of educational resources that show the process of radicalisation in action. These resources focus on demonstrating how radicalisation can happen on the most popular digital and social media platforms where today’s young people hang out and where many are at their most vulnerable. The suite of simulation resources acts as a gateway to an online learning environment where a wide range of suitable and appropriate training resources are provided. In addition, to support educators and youth professionals to deliver this peer education programme to young people and to use the simulation resources in their sessions with young people, the team developed bespoke in-service and induction training programmes to enable to extract the maximum benefit from the full range of the simulation and training tools. Specifically, HYPER has achieved the following results and impacts: 1) a full innovative suite of interactive simulation resources that shows how the radicalisation process can unfold in a variety of different digital and social media environments. This includes a range of short simulation videos for use on smartphones and other mobile devices. Each simulation video supported by a full range of self-help learning resources presented in formats appropriate to the target group. 2) a peer training programme for young people act as credible voices against the extremist narratives. This training programme includes a suite of resources that can be used to help young people to think critically about extremists’ views and discourses and expose the flaws of their propaganda. 3) an in-service training programme for front-line youth workers to support their continuous professional development and an induction training programme for youth volunteers, parents and guardians. These resources facilitate the role of these key stakeholders as key multipliers within the framework of the HYPER project. It supports youth workers to deliver the proposed peer training programme and to extract the maximum benefit from the self-help resources and simulation resources planned. All resources developed are available online in 5 partner languages on website https://hyper-project.eu/. They are available to all interested parties without restriction maintaining the open access requirements of the ERASMUS+ programme. The main target groups addressed for developed resources are young people interested in becoming peer educators, as well as youth educators, youth workers and front-line trainers, parents and guardians who would like to learn more and new and emerging online threats. Especially the young people more learn about new and emerging threats and risks they face in online environments. They be able to support their peers to be protected against the online dangers. During the project period the consortium reached direct (attending the online or personally discussions, workshops, presentations, conferences) between 250 to 300 participants per country. These were e.g. youth workers; youth at risk; students; parents; youth volunteers and guardians but also police officer; service provider; educators; academic and policy makers. Indirect there were over 19 300 people (according to statistics) following the news and results thorough social media or by publishing articles and Newsletters.