In Kenya, preventing and countering violent extremism is often discussed in the language of security, intelligence, and formal policy. But research carried out in Kenya points to a different reality. Prevention often begins much earlier: in homes, neighbourhoods, women’s groups, prayer circles, and youth spaces, where tensions are first felt and trust still exists. The research shows that women religious actors are already doing crucial prevention work in Kenya, yet policy and funding frameworks still too often keep them informal, under-recognised, and under-resourced. These insights point to a clear gap between what happens in practice and how prevention is currently approached in policy.
This gap is the starting point of a new policy brief. It builds on 29 in-depth interviews with women religious actors in Nairobi, Nakuru, Garissa, Kwale, Kilifi, and Mombasa, alongside a review of more than 50 academic and policy sources. It was written primarily by Kenyan scholars Maureen Nyarangi and Sam Oando, in collaboration with researchers from Utrecht University (Simon Polinder and Beatrice de Graaf) and Mensen met een Missie, as part of JISRA’s broader knowledge and learning agenda.
More than a security issue
The research argues that violent extremism cannot be understood only as a matter of ideology, surveillance, or armed response. Women interviewed in Kenya described a much wider reality. They connected violent extremism to youth gangs, domestic and social violence, unemployment, family breakdown, trauma, and the erosion of social cohesion.
That matters, because it changes what prevention looks like.
If violence grows in the fractures of daily life, then prevention does not start only when security services intervene. It also starts when a family conflict is mediated before it escalates, when harmful distortions of religion are challenged by someone the community already trusts, and when exclusion, idleness, and hopelessness are addressed before they become entry points for manipulation.
The research also challenges a simplified view of women in relation to violent extremism. Women are often framed only as victims, or sometimes as perpetrators. But the reality is more complex. Women can play multiple roles in violent extremist environments. At the same time, women religious actors are key figures in prevention, de-radicalisation, and peacebuilding.
What prevention looks like on the ground
Across the interviews, one message comes back again and again: women religious actors are already doing the work. Their contribution is practical, relational, and embedded in everyday community life.
They are:
- mediating disputes within families and neighbourhoods;
- identifying early warning signs that formal structures may miss;
- offering moral and religious guidance that can counter extremist narratives;
- addressing drivers such as domestic violence, trauma, unemployment, and economic marginalisation.
This work is often described as everyday peacebuilding. It happens in trusted, informal settings that formal security actors often cannot access. The research also shows that many women do not describe PCVE in narrow security terms at all. They describe it through care, dignity, reconciliation, welfare, and community harmony. In that view, youth projects, livelihood support, psychosocial care, and safer homes are not side issues. They are part of prevention itself.
Where current policy falls short
The research is not saying that Kenya lacks policy frameworks. It points instead to a gap between policy language and daily practice. Kenya has national and county-level frameworks that speak the language of inclusion, but women religious actors still remain too often at the margins.
Their participation is frequently limited to short-term consultations or training sessions, with little influence over agenda-setting, resource allocation, or programme design. In some cases, they are treated as informal extensions of the security system, expected to pass on information without the protection, authority, or safeguards that such a role would require.
The research highlights several consequences of this gap between policy and practice:
- early warning signs are more easily missed, because the people closest to households and community dynamics are not fully included;
- community trust can be undermined when prevention is experienced mainly through a security lens;
- funding does not always reach the local actors addressing root causes;
- long-term support for reintegration and mentoring remains fragile.
It also points to a broader tension: while women’s participation is often promoted in policy, in practice it can remain limited or instrumental. Participation may take place, but without real influence over decisions.
From instrumentalisation to partnership
The conclusion of the research is direct: sustainable PCVE in Kenya requires a shift from instrumentalisation to partnership. That means recognising women religious actors as actors in their own right, not as informal extensions of security systems. It also means creating space for their knowledge and experience to shape policy, rather than only asking them to implement it.
In practice, this includes:
- meaningful representation in national and county PCVE structures;
- clear roles in early warning, mediation, and prevention efforts;
- accessible and sustained funding for women-led initiatives;
- safeguards that clearly separate prevention work from intelligence-gathering and enforcement.
For donors and development partners, the message is similar. Supporting prevention means investing in long-term, locally led work, rather than short-term, externally defined interventions.
What needs to change
At its core, this research shows that prevention cannot be built only from the top down. It also has to grow from the places where people still speak openly, where changes are noticed early, and where trust has not yet broken down. In Kenya, women religious actors are already working in those spaces. The question is whether policy and funding structures are ready to connect to that reality.
These findings are grounded in research carried out in Kenya and in the experiences of women working on the frontlines of prevention and peacebuilding. Want to know more?
Download the full policy brief for the full findings and recommendations
This policy brief is part of JISRA’s broader effort to connect research and practice. It reflects a collaboration between local researchers, international academics, and community-based organisations, combining lived experience with academic analysis to better understand how prevention works in practice.
