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Collaboration between mothers and teachers that is

based upon the similarities of their placement within the

community has significant implications for establishing

a well-functioning and integrated society. However, this

relationship is often tenuous, especially in communi-

ties already combatting the threat of violent extremism.

This is a very difficult topic for both sides to discuss, and

therefore these conversations are often avoided. On the

one side, teachers feel unable to respond effectively to

concerns about their students because parents often don’t

respond to their outreach. On the other side, mothers fear

that responding to the teachers’ concerns or raising their

own, risks getting their children in trouble. The unfortu-

nate result, if this bridge is not strengthened, is that both

sides remain silent and struggling children fall through the

cracks, potentially into the hands of recruiters. As a result,

in order to effectively embed resilience within communities

to radical influences, there needs to be a shared commit-

ment to guiding children safely through their development,

as well as confidence and trust on both sides that concerns

can be addressed together. Because of the need for an

integrated approach, the Mothers Schools model, imple-

mented by local community leaders and designed to be

spread and replicated many times, engages not only the

mothers, but also other community members who have a

stake in protecting youth and building a barrier against

violent extremism.

In conclusion, a Mothers School movement will provide

a way forward to embed defence mechanisms within civil

society. The rising incidence of violence strongly indicates

that we cannot eliminate extremist influences; so our strong-

est response as an international community is to confront this

threat from the ground up. In building the capacity of mothers,

Mothers Schools start at the centre of the home, targeting the

individual level and growing outward, with the support of other

key actors who parallel these preventative efforts in other social

spheres, with the goal to institutionalize resiliency. Eventually,

the aim of this integrated approach is to enable and engage

enough individuals to effectively safeguard children throughout

their development, so that extremist ideologies eventually lose

their lure. The global Mothers School movement works to build

a united front against the manipulation and use of our children

for violent means that threatens all levels of our social fabric.

“Don’t be silent. Talk about it. Express it. Face them. Challenge

them. Tell them what they are doing is not Islam. There is no place

in Islam for what they are doing. Their only excuse is that they are

Muslims, so the Islamic religion says it’s right. But no, we are all

Islam, and we know what our religion says. So don’t be silent. That

is the biggest challenge. We have to tell them they are wrong. That

there is no place in the family for that and families together is the

community. We are all in this together.”

– Amina Mussa Wehelie, peace activist from Luton, UK

Spreading the word: the author with a journalist supporting SAVE in Palestine

Image: Women without Borders/SAVE

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