 There's a lot of talk and a lot of work around countering violent extremism. Focus of this particular project has been upstream. How do we actually prevent this type of violent extremism in societies, in communities? Women and women's organizations are taking up the challenge in preventing violent extremism. My exposure to violent extremism started with the Mumbai terror attack. Innocent people in the hospitals with thousands of pellets in their bodies. I saw what terror does. It was a raw experience. They were young boys who did it. About five years ago, the conflict in my city just took a different dimension. Women and children became targets of extremist violence. I visited the village after the massacre of over 500 women and children, some as young as two months old. And that was a turning point. Whatever I had to do to not let that ever happen again, I was going to do my best. And I hope to learn... I'm a Muslim. We are wondering how come there are so many people joining extremism. You see the speakable things they do in the name of Islam. And this is what has driven me into try and stem the recruitment of impressionable young men and women into extremism. As they were frustrated, they had no say. There were no mediums to speak out. I have never seen peace. In my living memory, I have always seen violence. From the last three summers, which we also call summers of discontent, we saw youngsters, mostly teenagers and women, coming on the forefront, pelting stones against security forces. Hundreds got killed. That whenever there is a conflict, the woman knows it, but she doesn't have the heart to speak out and say, don't do this or what you're doing is wrong. Our activists are leaders from the countries which are targeted by violent extremism in their daily lives and we work together to respond in the preventive arena. After 9-11, what I sensed is that one building block in a solid, sustainable security architecture is missing. It's the women. Those who are targeted, those who are affected, they don't have a voice. They are not part of the strategic set-ups. And I think this is reflected in the current policies. I realized that religion was a major tool that was used to perpetrate the continual violence. We formed an organization called Women Without Walls. We've come together to say we are women. We have one voice and we want peace. And we're not going to fold our hands and let this crime continue. We live in a society where women are not supposed to be heard. Coming out to make your voice heard and to really do make an impact means you have to cross so many hurdles. The young people we work with, we're dialoguing, we're engaging them and they're ready to listen to us. But we have to give them something else as an alternative. And that is really a challenge considering the high level of poverty and unemployment. When we are talking about terrorism or extremism at the broader level, we haven't seen participation of women. We haven't seen them proactively involved in it. Every time there's a male in forefront, we strongly believe that a mother has a role to play. The hardest thing is having to get people to talk about it. It's so much in their hearts, but yet nobody wants to speak up. To talk about it in private, but not in an open discussion. Then the environment sort of elevates what is already inside. We eat the feeling of marginalization. They feel they are not part of something. They find avenues to express themselves, but not necessarily in what would be perceived as a positive expression. The biggest challenge I face in my country is this denial mode. It's not me, it's somebody else. And I think that is a major hurdle in the entire process. There's always a lot of engagement at the community level. So how do we empower the same movement so that they can effect change? I believe there is no one way that fits everything. What works is appreciating youth and what they understand as what is right and what is wrong. And then engaging with them to understand your point of view as well. At the same time, you're looking at how do I empower this young person to have better critical thinking? Sometimes being extremist does not necessarily mean you're violent. If we build a relationship between the states and the community that will improve intelligence, policing, that will improve information sharing. People would want to talk to the police and police would begin to go from reactive policing into proactive policing because information is really key. I engage with young people of both gender. Some of the work I do is directly related also with policy, supporting, for instance, governments to build trust between law enforcement and community. A simple football match can bring people together and then they can start building mutual understanding. For a long time, the law enforcers and the women have not been partners. Even if you have an issue within the community, the women do not have the confidence to go and talk to the law enforcers. So we've had dialogue forums where we've brought the two parties on the table. We've discussed and we've agreed that everybody has something to do. And we've created such a good network that we can now be talking to each other. Mothers who have lost their son, they gain confidence, they're now talking about it, and they want to use them as role models to encourage the other women to come up and talk. Sisters without borders are coming up together and bringing the voice of women out so that we can talk and say, my son has joined, my son is changing, I am sensing some danger in my house. Now they have realized that the men were taking sides, so they know that women have no borders. The government has a lot of trust in us. We work hand in hand with the government. The community also, if they have information about terrorists wanting to attack somewhere, we informed the government and we actually prevented that attack from happening. A mother is best placed to handle these situations because not a single mother would want to lose her child. To be able to say, oh, it's my problem, I think, that is what was, I would say, the success part. In terms of making mothers aware that they are part of identifying in the families about radical behavior, the idea of including fathers is a good one as well. So we have to basically include mothers and fathers together. They have a role to play in preventing radicalism in their children. I believe in sharing and learning and the solutions also come from within. A problem, you are not going to look at the government for every solution. I run a community radio station. We are hoping that this talking results in affirmative action. I work very intensely, intimately with communities. I look at all issues. Dialogue has been amazing. I remember some of the volatile communities we went into and we met young people that are prone to violence and we sat down and talked with them. They said this was the first time anybody ever bothered to find out how they felt. Small developmental projects into these communities are major entry points. It can open up the whole community to you. So just engaging them and talking with them I think is the most powerful thing that has worked for us. No one actor, no one stream of activity in and of itself will be enough to keep a family whole and peaceful or to keep a community healthy. Gender offers some opportunities for people in different roles to play unique, to be unique influences in preventing violent extremism. And helping those who see themselves as intermediaries for difficult and challenging situations for resolving conflict. Those are all ways in our daily life that we as citizens can help create an environment in which people can work out differences peacefully and not resort to violent extremism. So we approach preventing violent extremism in the same vein that it really takes a whole community. We can't solve problems. Women in a silo, men in a silo. At some point we have to come together and see how we work together to make a difference.