The multi-agency approach focuses on creating Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) infrastructures that ensure people at risk are provided with early-stage support from different authorities and organisations across multiple levels. This coordinated effort is referred to as multi-agency, as it involves support from different sectors across the public and private domains, both at national and local level.
Governments cannot counter radicalisation on their own. In some cases, violent extremism could have been prevented had practitioners worked together and shared information across hierarchies, agencies and sectors. What is needed is a multi-partner approach in which relevant players have the ability, the knowledge and the capacity to identify and support individuals at risk. Practitioners working in organisations where individuals at risk could be identified should get to know each other, be able to share concerns and information, and develop a combined approach to support individuals at risk.
In short, a multi-agency approach is a system in which information can be shared, which is crucial for identifying and dealing with vulnerable, at-risk individuals. These multiagency structures and working processes provide for more effective identification of vulnerable individuals at-risk, improved information-sharing, joint decision-making and coordinated interventions.
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