Report on

4th Professional Certificate Course on PVE (Preventing Violent Extremism) at CGS, DU

Submitted by:

Ishtiaq Ahmed

Assistant Commissioner of Police, CTTC, DMP

This report has been submitted for the successful completion of the 4 th Professional
Certificate Course on PVE (Preventing Violent Extremism) at Centre for Genocide Studies, DU.
The report is divided into two parts. The first part of the report contains a brief analytical
overview about the course followed by an overview on BPO (Bangladesh Peace Observatory) in
the second part of the report.

An Analytical overview of the course: The 4th Professional Certificate Course on PVE
(Preventing Violent Extremism) was held on 22-26 February 2020, arranged by Centre for
Genocide Studies, DU. It was a real privilege to be a part of this certificate course. The course
was designed in a comprehensive way that covers almost all the aspects of PVE starts from
understanding Violent Extremism (VE); History of VE; role of media in VE cases; UN role in
PVE; Suicide Terrorism; Human rights and VE; legal, military and economic aspect of VE;
Cyber Security and VE; Intelligence and VE, De-radicalization issue and so on. The most
fascinating part of the course was selection of the speakers because those who have given
lectures on different issues were really focused to their discussion and their expertise enlightened
all the participants in a significant way. The number of participants was another crucial factor.
Though earlier it was assumed that a good number of participants from different government
agencies (Police, Military, Foreign Ministry, Judicial Service) would be there but later on there
were participants only from CTTC and MOFA. Participants from different backgrounds could
add more value to the course through added information and knowledge sharing. Nevertheless,
small number of participants created a good opportunity because it allowed and ensured every
participant to be involved actively in the interactions and open discussion sessions. Another
positive thing done by CGS team was choosing the schedule of the course. Everyday there were

Page | 1
03 sessions where each session was not more than 60 minutes. The best part in this regard was
having no session after the lunch which allowed not to make the lectures monotonous and tiring.

An Overview on BPO (Bangladesh Peace Observatory): On the very first day of the
course the participants were briefed about the BPO platform which is basically a database and it
keeps track of different type of violent activities throughout Bangladesh. It is the first of its kind
in Bangladesh which does not only serve as a good platform of data collection for the researchers
and practitioner, but also it serves as an effective tool in terms of mapping the trends and patterns
of violent activities in Bangladesh. The online platform of BPO is holistic in nature because it
does not limit its activity only in giving the data, rather it provides a summary of every violent
incident happening everyday. On a different note, the BPO platform also gives an overview
about the total population and poverty rate in Bangladesh referencing the National Population
Census 2011. One small observation in this regard is, BPO can follow the data published by
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) which was last published in 2019. This may make the
BPO online platform more updated.

As the concluding note, it is vital to mention that every aspect of the course was well
mannered and properly planned starting from the training materials to delicious foods. Thank
you team CGS for making the course vibrant and enjoyable.

Page | 2