Foundation for a Path Forward Participates in Strong Cities Regional Workshop in Marrakech

From May 14 to 15, 2025, the Foundation for a Path Forward proudly joined mayors, municipal leaders, civil society actors, and national officials from across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for the Strong Cities Regional Workshop on Advancing City-Led Strategies to Prevent Hate, Extremism, and Polarisation. Hosted at the Kenzi Rose Garden Farah Hotel in Marrakech, Morocco, the two-day workshop was organized by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue’s Strong Cities Network and supported by the European Union through the STRIVE Cities Initiative.

The Foundation’s presence in Marrakech underscored its growing international engagement and its commitment to community-based solutions for preventing hate and extremism. Represented by Founder Tariq Tyab, the Foundation contributed to a global exchange of strategies and insights grounded in lived experience, community partnership, and digital resilience.

The workshop opened with remarks from Mohamed El Idrissi, Deputy Mayor of Marrakech, and Eric Rosand, Executive Director of Strong Cities. Their welcome set the tone for a series of interactive, multilingual sessions held in Arabic, French, and English, designed to foster collaboration across borders and cultures.

One of the event’s key strengths was its structure—blending high-level plenary panels with case studies, breakout discussions, and strategy-building sessions. Early sessions spotlighted the regional threat landscape, with mayors and local officials from Libya, Iraq, and Tunisia discussing city-level responses to challenges such as digital radicalization, climate-driven displacement, and political unrest. These conversations emphasized the importance of embedding prevention work within local governance, rather than treating it solely as a security issue.

Another highlight was the session on national-local cooperation (NLC), where speakers explored how cities and national governments can collaborate on prevention efforts. Guided by a six-pillar framework—trust, inclusivity, coordination, communication, capacity, and sustainability—this discussion laid the groundwork for practical and scalable collaboration across jurisdictions.

The Foundation for a Path Forward was featured prominently in Plenary Session 4: Enhancing Digital Resilience at the City Level. In this session, Tariq Tyab presented Canada’s local response to digital hate and online harms, drawing on the Foundation’s work in combating misinformation, promoting digital literacy, and empowering racialized communities. Alongside officials from Rabat and Libya, Tyab offered real-world insights into the role of municipalities in mitigating online threats before they spill into offline violence.

Sessions throughout the two days covered a wide spectrum of prevention strategies. A plenary on youth engagement spotlighted Strong Cities’ Young Cities initiative and examples such as Fes’ adoption of a Youth Council, while a subsequent panel on urban planning highlighted how inclusive city design can protect public spaces and counter hate-driven violence. A powerful session on empowering women local leaders offered space for dialogue on gender-based threats, representation, and the unique contributions of women to peacebuilding and resilience.

Participants also worked together in breakout sessions, including case studies on crisis management and early warning mechanisms. These exercises allowed municipalities to exchange tested practices and develop new recommendations tailored to their local contexts. The workshop closed with a forward-looking plenary in which participants reflected on learnings and outlined next steps, solidifying a shared commitment to building safer, more inclusive cities.

Throughout the event, the Foundation for a Path Forward shared lessons from its Canadian context—particularly around online hate, youth resilience, and community trust-building—while learning from peers across the MENA region. The conversations and partnerships forged in Marrakech reaffirmed the global relevance of local leadership in preventing polarization.

As Strong Cities continues to convene and connect cities around the world, the Foundation looks forward to deepening its contributions to this international network. The workshop was not only an opportunity to share strategies, but also a reminder that community safety is inseparable from equity, inclusion, and collaborative governance—values the Foundation remains committed to advancing, both at home and abroad.