Research and Evaluation
Connected Communities is committed to furthering the evidence base on strengthening social cohesion and democracy and overcoming hate and extremism, by commissioning of leading research and fostering a culture of continuous learning through evaluation.
Research
Connected Communities commissions leading research to support the continuous evolution of the NSW Government approach to strengthening social cohesion and overcoming hate and extremism, ensuring that we continue to reflect global best practice and evolve to meet emerging threats.
Mapping Networks and Narratives of Online Right-Wing Extremists in New South Wales (PDF 13.51MB)
The project Mapping Networks and Narratives of Online Right-Wing Extremists in New South Wales (NSW) used the systematic mining and analysis of online data to generate evidence-based insights into online right-wing extremism (RWE) across the state. The project was conducted between July 2019 and February 2020 with data collection occurring from August to November 2019.
The project addressed three key areas:
- What is the nature of the online RWE environment in NSW?
- How are themes and narratives framed in different online contexts in order to mobilise support?
- What level of risk does the online RWE environment pose?
The research areas were framed as broad questions to facilitate wide exploratory research into the online Right-Wing Extremists movement in NSW, a milieu that has been little studied. This breadth of scope was considered pertinent in the wake of the March 2019 mass casualty terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, by an attacker originating from NSW.
Academics from Macquarie University and Victoria University partnered to deliver this research. Expertise was provided by All Together Now. Funding was provided by the Department of Communities and Justice Countering Violent Extremism Program (CVE).
Online Far Right Extremist and Conspiratorial Narratives During the COVID-19 Pandemic (PDF 3.83MB)
The COVID-19 pandemic presented a national and global crisis. Government public health responses have impacted the social and behavioural norms that shape daily interactions in Australia. The pandemic has been accompanied by the global spread of false and misleading information, including conspiratorial narratives, resulting in an online environment described as an ‘infodemic’. The situation has presented far right extremists with a unique opportunity to capitalise on societal anxieties and align their narratives with wider public discourse to recruit and mobilise.
To better understand the impact of COVID-19 on Australian far right extremists, this report addressed three key questions.
- The creeping threat posed by far-right extremist narratives in online Australian sentiment across a two-year time period from 8 January 2019 to 8 January 2021.
- How the COVID-19 pandemic and public health responses have been appropriated by far right extremists in Australia for purposes of recruitment, engagement, and mobilisation.
- The impact and effectiveness of social media moderation strategies on the presence and growth of far-right extremists and conspiratorial narratives in the online environment.
Following a competitive, merit-based assessment, the University of Queensland was commissioned to undertake research that identifies strategies and approaches that are effective in assisting and rehabilitating youth who have been imprisoned for terrorist offences, or identified as at risk of radicalisation, and any issues and challenges that need to be considered in the design, implementation and evaluation of programs aimed at preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) amongst youth.
Strengthening Young People’s Resilience to Extremism in NSW (PDF 1.58MB)
An independent evaluation of the NSW Countering Violent Extremism Program in 2019 identified a program gap in relation to whole of school approaches to CVE including support for citizenship and social cohesion outcomes. Connected Communities, in collaboration with the NSW Department of Education, undertook research on opportunities to strengthen the resilience of young people to violent extremism with a specific focus on global citizenship and digital intelligence.
Key findings:
- The resilience of young people is key to P/CVE efforts.
- Young people have reported gaps in education for P/CVE efforts.
- Education must be aligned to the needs of young people.
Opportunities:
The range of opportunities identified to strengthen resilience of young people to violent extremism through the education sector are summarised below by following areas of emphasis:
- Teacher capability – improving ability to deliver against the content of the curriculum
- Student capability – strengthening the knowledge, skills and attitudes of young people
- School culture – building the capacity of schools to develop pro-social environments
- Curriculum – strengthening the NSW syllabuses through the NSW Curriculum Reform
- Evaluation – ensuring efforts are appropriately targeted and evidence-informed.
Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance
Building Democratic Resilience 2022 (PDF 13.94MB)
Following a competitive, merit-based assessment, this Canberra University-led research was commissioned by the NSW Government to better understand how to build democratic resilience to maintain social cohesion and minimise violent extremist recruitment. The Report outlines seven key factors that matter for building and maintaining a democratically resilient public sphere, and offers practical suggestions for building democratic resilience in New South Wales, as part of the state’s wider Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) efforts.
Evaluation
Evaluation of the NSW CVE program aims to generate evidence to assess the extent which the program has achieved its anticipated outcome and ensured value for money and accountability.
As a foundational activity of the CVE program, our approach to evaluations is underpinned by collaborative co-designing and national and international good practices, which support continuous improvement of the CVE program and services, and help building the evidence base for future programming.
NSW Countering Violent Extremism Program Evaluation (PDF 2.16MB)
In November 2015, the NSW Government committed $47 million for a suite of measures to respond to the rise of violent extremism, referred to as the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Program. The CVE Program aims to ensure that violent extremists are disengaged from violent extremism, at-risk individuals are diverted from violent extremism, and community resilience in NSW in prevention of and response to violent extremism is improved.
In 2018, the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) commissioned ACIL Allen Consulting to conduct a systemic evaluation of the suite of projects initiated under the CVE Program. The purpose of the evaluation was to examine the collective impact of the CVE Program.
The final report presents findings at the whole-of-program level, including outputs and outcomes across funded projects. It draws on the project-level evaluations, project summaries, and interviews with line agencies.
Available since 2019, the CVE Evaluation Tool website was designed to increase capability across the sector to design, implement and evaluate CVE policies and programs and support CVE practitioners to align programs with both the Australian and NSW CVE outcomes frameworks.
The COMPACT Program is a Multicultural NSW program that aims to “safeguard Australia’s peaceful and harmonious way of life” by adopting a community resilience-building approach to countering hate, violence, fear and division in society. This is achieved by providing grants funding to 12 locally-based projects – to the value of $8 million from 2016 – focused on engaging with young people.
Between 2016 and 2018, COMPACT reached over 20,000 young people across 12 projects, involving over 130 schools as well as youth and community centres. Participants were culturally and linguistically diverse, with seven in ten speaking a language other than English at home (only slightly higher than the proportion in the areas where COMPACT is delivered), and the majority reported living in Western and Southwestern Sydney (participant post-survey).
Organisations funded to deliver the projects form part of the COMPACT Alliance, a group which meets regularly with a small number of additional stakeholders, to share learnings and deepen organisational relationships. The aim of the COMPACT Alliance is to build a sustainable network of community resilience- building practitioners to develop best practice in community resilience-building initiatives.
Urbis was commissioned by the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet to undertake a midway evaluation of the COMPACT Program in 2018. The aims of the evaluation were to inform the ongoing and future management of the Program and to assist with future funding decisions.
Youth Justice NSW has a practitioner-lead countering violent extremism (CVE) unit that is designed to provide support to staff, and direct services to youth offenders that are engaged in extremism. The operating model implemented by the Youth Justice NSW CVE Unit has been evaluated by an external consultant.
This includes exploring the effectiveness of its consultation and support, capacity building and training, and comprehensive assessment and case management approach. The Youth Justice NSW CVE Evaluation provides recommendations and key points for consideration in relation to the development and implementation of practice and policy framework for working with at-risk and radicalised youth.
In January 2023, an independent evaluation was undertaken of the Unit, which sought to:
- provide accountability for the implementation of the CVE Unit within YJ NSW
- identify areas for potential improvement
- contribute data to enable whole-of-government evaluation of CVE policy investments
- inform future funding decisions, and
- contribute to the evidence base on what works in CVE for young people.