ABSTRACT
This chapter compiles lessons from across the book into policy recommendations, beginning with the need to close “say-do” gaps between policy and practice. Due to a historically gender-blind security field and the expectations of state security frameworks, there exists a divide between preventative policy’s purpose and goals. However, with the immense impact of transnational counter-terrorism policy on lives globally over the last two decades, this fundamental challenge to designing programming with gender-sensitive human security goals must be overcome. Institutional commitment to ensuring realignment of security framework expectations is necessary, including ensuring comprehensive coverage of programming according to policy goals. Gender perspective is a necessary element of this approach. Thus, a gender analysis framework has been built up across the chapters, including multiple recommendations on recognizing and accounting for the complex and multidimensional nature of gender. Analysis of four case studies with this gender analysis framework provides recommendations on how to improve countering violent extremism program design, implementation, and evaluation. Finally, the book recommends a more accessible and co-creative approach to feminist knowledge building between academic and practitioner researchers, so that necessary radical changes and practical challenges can both be accounted for within transformative gender mainstreaming strategies.
