Multi-Stakeholder Models for Local Prevention: Technical Evaluation and Learnings from Kumanovo, North Macedonia

Authors: Katharina Merkel and Tim Hulse
Published: 20 April 2022

The Community Action Team (CAT), a local multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder entity, was launched in September 2019 as part of the Strong Cities Network (SCN) programme funded by the US Department of State (DoS). The CAT aims to strengthen community resilience to violent extremism (VE) in Kumanovo, North Macedonia, through enhanced multi-agency collaboration and programming at the municipal level. In September 2021, the SCN contracted an external consultant to conduct an evaluation of its support to the Kumanovo CAT. 

The SCN commissioned this evaluation to capture achievements, challenges and lessons learned to date, and provide recommendations to relevant government and non-government stakeholders regarding possible future project strategies and approaches. Primary data was collected through a representative community-wide survey, focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KIIs). The community survey mirrors an earlier baseline survey conducted in February 2020- the results of which can be found in the SCN Community Resilience Study– and was designed to be statistically representative of Kumanovo’s population. Both the baseline and the endline survey gathered information on community resilience to VE, drawing on the Building Resilience Against Violent Extremism (BRAVE-14) scale and a set of bespoke survey questions developed by the SCN Management Unit. Secondary data collection involved a review of project documentation and other external publications.