Samet Shabani is a political scientist and  chief executive at Horizon Civitas, an association for civic activism and encouraging social responsibility in North Macedonia. His expertise includes countering violent extremism (CVE), interfaith dialogue, and foreign influenced religious populism in North Macedonia and the Balkans. Samet has worked for a number of domestic and international organizations as a researcher and consultant. His former fellowships include: School of Public Policy by Council of Europe, School for Politics by Presidency of North Macedonia, and Sustainable Public Management at Malmö University. Samet is fluent in six languages.

IVLP Impact Award Project: For Dialogue, Against Extremism!

The project created digital campaign initiatives to counter violent extremism by bringing future religious workers and theologists together and teaching them how to use interfaith dialogue as a tool to prevent radicalization. Through workshops and dialogue sessions, this project strengthened the capacities of 20 religious workers/theologians of five religious communities on countering violent extremism. Stakeholders were mobilized and reached out to about 20,000 people on social media regarding the project efforts to raise awareness on countering extremism. The four dialogue sessions encouraged discussions about topics related to countering extremism, engaging about 600 people and increasing the community's overall knowledge on the topic.

“For me, this workshop was a mindset-changing one. I've never believed that one day I would sit down with persons from other religions and try to concept dialogue initiatives for the good of community.” - Workshop participant

IVLP Exchange Experience 

Samet participated in the IVLP Project Countering Violent Extremism and Racially and Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremism – Community Strategies organized by the U.S. Department of State and Institute of International Education in partnership Global Ties Alabama, Global Minnesota and World Affairs Council - Seattle.

Samet's exchange experience led to the development of his IVLP Impact Award Project: "If extremism promotes violence against the diverse, we have to promote dialogue together with the diverse."

U.S. Communities Visited

Montgomery, AL; Washington, DC; Minneapolis, MN; Seattle, WA

Country: North Macedonia

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