Advocate
Many practitioners might be reluctant to identify as "advocates" for any number of reasons. Yet prevention and alternative narrative campaigns are forms of advocacy by definition: this is because, in some way, shape, or form, they advocate for better alternatives: the value of upholding prosocial norms, respecting inclusive identities, and/or engaging with constructive behaviours over harmful ones.
In practice, advocacy may look like petitions, letters to local representatives, coalition statements, or campaigns to change community norms. All of these must be rooted in authenticity and fact, not spin.
- Recognising this helps practitioners design advocacy intentionally rather than implicitly, making campaigns more strategic, transparent, and resilient. Unlike one-off interventions, advocacy is long-term and layered. It involves sustained effort, multiple tactics, and consistent reinforcement across platforms and communities.
- A single video or social media post is not advocacy on its own; advocacy means sustained activity that carries a message forward and embeds it into the wider civic space. Training provides the skills needed to do this safely and effectively.
- Making this explicit allows campaigns to be strategic rather than ad hoc, long-term rather than episodic, and legitimate rather than vulnerable to mistrust. By prioritizing safety, building solidarity, using civic tools like petitions and letters responsibly, and investing in advocacy skills, practitioners can design campaigns that genuinely shift attitudes and behaviors over time.
Personal Safety
The sensitivity of counter-violent extremism and terrorism activism, along with potential harms that activists face, places a serious onus on organizations to ensure activist wellbeing. Organizations should make due consideration of potential impacts on individual activists' welfare and develop mitigation strategies before engaging in a counter speech or counter-narrative campaign.
- Before launching your campaign, it is essential that you consider the potential risks involved, especially if your campaign targets vulnerable groups or touches on sensitive topics such as radicalization. If your organization works with vulnerable communities, be aware of the potential consequences of your campaign on this group.
- From security breaches to online harassment and abuse, digital threats can take multiple forms. Before launching your campaign, it is critical that you conduct a robust risk assessment to be aware of potential threats to your staff and infrastructure, and take steps to minimise these threats.
- Organizations dedicated to helping institutions, companies, and non-profits mitigate their risks online can offer you specific advice related to the needs of your campaign and assist you in conducting a thorough risk assessment.
A specific target and victim are explicitly identified by name;
Vague and non-specific threats where the author's intentions are not clear;
Threats vaguely implying a call for violence (e.g., shitposting and trolling);
Exposure to harmful content, experience of vicarious or secondary trauma; other threats caused by exposure of personally identifiable information.
- Do No Harm: organizations should ensure that staff are not harmed through their work and that risks are mitigated to the highest extent possible.
- Duty of Care and Risk Management: organizations should conduct a holistic risk assessment and management plan before engaging in a campaign. A risk assessment plan should include the likelihood of certain outcomes that may cause harm to staff and involved stakeholders.
- Additionally, organizations should develop a threat level indicator system. At a minimum, organizations should:
- Ensure a basic level of data and information security at the individual and organizational level to protect against data breaches, network infiltration, and inadvertent exposure at the device to network levels;
- Use encrypted communications wherever possible, including through free tools like Signal, ProtonMail, VeraCrypt, and vetted Virtual Private Network (VPN) services;
- Review legal guidelines in the jurisdiction of the organization and ensure compliance or safeguard against infringement;
- Develop physical and virtual staff safety protocols.
Campaign's security.
Digital Security
- Digital security: follow best practices on account protection, encryption, and safe storage. Resources such as Security in a Box (Access Now/Tactical Tech) remain essential.
- Anti-harassment preparedness:consult guides such as Equality Labs' Anti-Doxing Guide for Activists or the Coalition Against Online Violence's Online Violence Response Hub.
- Duty of care: survivors, formers, or other visible messengers must be supported with consent processes, takedown protocols, and psychosocial care.
- Wellbeing:advocacy is sustained work; schedule regular debriefs and access to counselling or peer-support networks.
- Terrorist and violent extremist groups operate across international borders and have a network of supporters and sympathizers all over the internet.
- However, activist organizations can counter these groups by collaborating and sharing information, resources, and strategies.Through collaboration, organizations can pool their resources and expertise, which can lead to better analysis and understanding of trends and activities.
- Additionally, partnerships can build trust and relationships between organizations, which can facilitate communication and coordination in times of crisis. Partnerships can also help amplify the impact of individual organizations by providing a united front against terrorism and violent extremism and raising public awareness of the issue.
When considering possible organizations to partner with, keep in mind that all you need to start is a shared goal!
Effective advocacy depends on solidarity. No campaigner can out-shout violent extremist networks alone. Coalitions and alliances expand reach, protect credibility, and diffuse risk.
- Coalitions and alliances: connect with civil society groups, educators, youth organizations, and faith communities. Campaigns rooted in genuine coalitions are harder to dismiss as being limited by a predominantly top-down approach.
- Cross-sector learning: adapt models from other advocacy fields, where long-term petitions, grassroots lobbying, and community mobilisation have shifted norms.
- Inclusion: ensure women, young people, and minority groups are not simply represented but actively co-leading campaigns. Tokenism erodes trust; meaningful involvement strengthens it.
Petitions can demonstrate visible support for change, particularly at local or institutional levels. They should be specific, time-bound, and linked to achievable actions. Platforms like Change.org or local civic portals can host campaigns, but practitioners should anticipate security risks (e.g., trolling, hostile encounters).
Coordinated letters to policymakers, community leaders, or institutions can amplify voices. Best practice is to provide templates that supporters can adapt, balancing consistency with personal authenticity. This tactic works best when aligned with campaign peaks or policy moments.
Coalitions can publish joint statements to show unity and legitimacy. These carry weight when signatories are diverse and represent different constituencies.
Campaigners can use petitions or letters to push for changes in platform policy or enforcement practices, linking local experiences of harm to global corporate responsibility
Collecting signatures for pledges of conduct (e.g., against online hate or disinformation) can anchor campaigns in visible, measurable commitments.
- Strategic advocacy design: setting long-term objectives, mapping pathways of change, and aligning tactics with goals.
- Message development: training in framing, storytelling, and narrative techniques to avoid reinforcing harmful tropes. The Dangerous Speech Project offers key resources.
- Civic advocacy tools: practical skills in petitions, letter-writing, and lobbying adapted to prevention contexts.
- Digital safety and resilience: protecting identities and infrastructure against harassment or attack.
- Monitoring and evaluation: building indicators to measure the effectiveness of advocacy tactics, drawing on resources such as the UNCCT MEL Toolkit.
Train-the-trainer models, open-access webinars, and practitioner networks extend the reach of training and help normalise advocacy as part of everyday prevention work.
