Turning Points is a podcast series by GCERF - the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund, the only global fund dedicated exclusively to preventing violent extremism. We bring you the human stories, the hard evidence, and the frontline voices that are leading the fight against violent extremism. Turning Points is for policymakers, practitioners, students, and anyone who believes that lasting security is built through people, communities, resilience, and hope.
The Role of Faith Leaders and Youth in Deradicalisation and Prevention
Faith leaders can be among the most trusted people in a community.
But what happens when that trust is brought into the work of rehabilitation and reintegration?
In this episode of Turning Points, host Samhita Ayaluri explores how faith leaders and youth actors can contribute to preventing violent extremism, and building stronger, more resilient communities.
She is joined by Tajyka, leader of the Foundation for Tolerance International (FTI), and Ilkham, Coordinator at Search for Common Ground. Together, they look at the potential - and the limits - of working with faith leaders: from challenging extremist narratives and engaging young people to ensuring the right training, safeguards, and accountability are in place.
Drawing on their experience in Kyrgyzstan, they also unpack what meaningful community engagement looks like in practice, including initiatives supporting women returnees and approaches that place trust, inclusion, and local ownership at the centre of prevention and reintegration.
At the heart of the conversation is a simple idea: Prevention is not something that happens to communities. It has to happen with them.
Turning Points is a podcast series by GCERF — the only global fund dedicated exclusively to preventing violent extremism. New episodes monthly at gcerf.org.
15 Jul 2026
The Legal Path Home: International Law and the Challenges of Repatriation
Before rehabilitation and reintegration can begin, there is a fundamental question: who has the right to return?
In this episode of Turning Points, host Basile Ema Ebede, GCERF’s Regional Manager, examines the legal challenges surrounding the repatriation of ‘foreign terrorist fighters’ and their families from Northeast Syria — exploring the role of international law, citizenship, and state responsibility.
He is joined by Aoife Devlin, a law and politics graduate from University College Dublin and a legal practitioner specialising in immigration and human rights law. Aoife’s work and research focus on the intersection of law, migration, and human rights, and she is currently pursuing Migration Studies at the University of Oxford.
Together, they explore some of the most difficult legal questions surrounding return: whether international law creates an obligation for states to repatriate their nationals, how citizenship and statelessness shape people’s ability to return, and why legal recognition is a critical foundation for rehabilitation and reintegration.
This episode builds on GCERF’s publication Legal Frameworks on Returning ‘Foreign Terrorist Fighters’: International and Domestic Perspectives (July 2026), which examines these questions through comparative perspectives from Iraq, Indonesia, and North Macedonia. The publication is available on GCERF’s website. (https://www.gcerf.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/foreign-terrorist-fighters-legal-frameworks.pdf)
Turning Points is a podcast series by GCERF — the only global fund dedicated exclusively to preventing violent extremism. New episodes monthly at gcerf.org.
24 Jun 2026
The Journey to Healing: Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Rehabilitation and Reintegration
Mental health and psychosocial support is one of the most important aspects of rehabilitation and reintegration.
In this episode of Turning Points, host Isabela Ottoni is joined by three guests who bring very different perspectives.
Mario Nascimento from the UN Peacebuilding Support Office brings the global and policy view. Dr. Oscar Githua, a forensic psychologist with over twenty-five years of experience in Kenya, brings the clinical and frontline perspective. And Hadeel Mohammed from UIMS in Iraq brings the civil society reality — what this work looks like on the ground, with real families, under real constraints.
Together they explore why trust is the foundation of everything and why some of the most important mental health work is done not by psychologists alone but also by teachers, faith leaders, and neighbours.
This episode builds on GCERF's recent global community of practice on MHPSS in rehabilitation and reintegration — bringing the conversation to a wider audience.
Turning Points is a podcast series by GCERF — the only global fund dedicated exclusively to preventing violent extremism. New episodes monthly at gcerf.org.
15 May 2026
The Journey Before the Journey
In this episode, GCERF’s Mona El-Wali is joined by Mr. Kim Saadou, GCERF's National Advisor for Syria, and Mrs. Jeyana Ahmad, Programme Manager at Salam for Hope Foundation, GCERF’s implementing civil society partner in Syria to a critical, often unseen moment in the rehabilitation and reintegration process: the time before a family leaves a camp in northeast Syria.
They explore:
- What “pre-departure preparation” really means in practice
- The psychological, legal, and practical steps that must happen before return
Check our webpage to learn more about our R&R work.
15 Apr 2026
First, Let's Understand!
In Episode One of Turning Points, GCERF's Lilla Schumicky-Logan sits down with Hatem Shatnawi and Tariq Hassan to set the scene. The camps in northeast Syria. The families left behind. The evidence that shows this works. And the question that runs through everything: can we afford not to act?
A podcast by GCERF on preventing violent extremism. New episodes monthly. Find us at www.gcerf.org.
10 Apr 2026
Trailer-Turning Points
This is the trailer of Turning Points-GCERF's first podcast series. Listen to know what the podcast is all about.
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