How can evaluations do justice to the interaction of different actors (so-called “Multi-agency Settings”) in extremism prevention? In order to obtain clues for a targeted evaluation, the authors of the new PRIF Report from the PrEval Project conducted interviews with staff members of four providers of disassociation and deradicalization work in Hesse.
Deradicalization and disassociation work often focuses on young people with multiple problems. This is why the cooperation of numerous actors and institutions is needed here: Specialized providers cooperate with institutions such as the Youth Welfare Office and attempt to both stabilize clients and distance them from extremist groups and ideologies.
However, the landscape of German extremism prevention is organized on the whole with a strong division of labor, and its assistance and intervention systems are highly specialized. To date, evaluations of disassociation and deradicalization work have taken insufficient account of these complex structures. As a rule, they have only focused on a single project or support program and not on the complex networks and Multi-agency Settings in which the clients are involved.
This report addresses the question of how evaluations can be designed to capture such network-based bundles of activities on the one hand and to do justice to their significance in the context of effectiveness assessments on the other. Based on the results, the authors formulate recommendations for funders, evaluators and practitioners.
Further information on the project “PrEval – Evaluation Designs for Prevention Measures” at preval.hsfk.de (in German).