ALPS Resilience is a Mozambican, South African and Somalian registered non-profit that implements and manages resilience building and education-based projects in South Africa. We are also registered inKenya and the UK and have offices in Cape Town, Pemba, Palma and London. Our Approach:
Community resilience is a measure of the sustainability of the community to utilize available resources to respo
nd to, withstand and recover from adverse situations. This includes the capability of people, groups and communities to rebut and reject proponents of extremism and radicalism and the ideology they promote. ALPS Resilience works with community-based organizations to promote resilience by designing custom interventions that focus on the root causes of vulnerability. Using an education model developed from risk education, our projects result not only in the improved knowledge of our participants and the strengthened resilience of their community, but also the increased capacity of our community-based partners. Our Work:
In July 2016, ALPS Resilience launched its Building Resilient Communities Project in partnership with the Somali Association of South Africa (SASA) Western Cape. The project aims to facilitate integration amongst Somali refugees in Bellville, ultimately strengthening the community’s resilience against unemployment, poverty, illness, discrimination and xenophobia. Between July 2016 and December 2016, ALPS and SASA delivered English language, computer skills and life skills workshops to 45 Somali refugees. The project resulted not only in improved English language and computer skills; it also resulted in increased understanding of how to access constitutional rights and the job market. Based on our results, ALPS Resilience and SASA have partnered again to conduct the Building Resilient Communities Project with another 50 Somali refugees between February 2017 and July 2017. Our Programs:
INTEGRATING REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS
While the government offers refugees and asylum seekers safe-haven in this country, it does not have the resources to assist them in integrating into South African society. Without an understanding of the local language, the job market and their constitutional rights to health and education, refugees and asylum seekers are vulnerable to unemployment, poverty, illness, discrimination and xenophobia. ALPS Resilience aims to facilitate the integration of refugees and asylum seekers by implementing projects that address their greatest barriers to integration. We partner with community-based organizations, who have a better understanding of their community’s needs and have greater access to the most vulnerable populations. Components of our custom interventions include but are not limited to English language, skills development, human rights education and civic education. PREVENTING VIOLENT EXTREMISM
South Africans are vulnerable to a variety of adversities, including extremism. South Africa is in the fortunate position to be preventing violent extremism, as opposed to countries like Somalia where extremism is pervasive. Addressing extremism immediately avoids a more complex situation in the future. There is ongoing research being conducted about PVE in Africa and even South Africa, but few organizations are attempting to implement PVE projects on the ground. ALPS Resilience is primarily an implementing organization that can conduct community-based PVE projects. However, PVE is an extremely sensitive topic and must be approached with incredible care. Community buy-in is critical for any successful PVE intervention, and it is imperative that communities do not feel targeted or stigmatized. PVE projects must understand how to offer psycho-social support to troubled individuals and foster resilience amongst vulnerable communities without concurrently making those communities more vulnerable to harassment or discrimination. ALPS Resilience advocates a non-coercive development approach to preventing extremism that addresses the root causes of vulnerability. We focus on prevention through education and the building of practical skills instead of relying solely on surveillance and criminal justice. We work with community-based organizations and focus on issues that increase the entire community’s vulnerability to extremism and radicalization, for example unemployment or marginalization, while providing those communities access to a trained and experienced counsellor who can offer individuals the psycho-social support they need to reject extremist ideology and rejoin society.
