Nyeri has been advised to simplify the complex language used in sensitising residents on matters of Prevention and Countering of Violent Extremism to make it easy for them to understand.
This is aimed at helping residents to understand and also take part in prevention of terrorism.
Officials from Youth, Arts Development and Entrepreneurship Network (Yaden) East Africa said the complex topic is conducted in complex terminologies and lectures, making it difficult for a majority of residents to understand or relate with.
The organisation runs different programmes on youth empowerment and engagement in the East Africa region with one of the topics being P/CVE.
They ensure grassroots people, especially the youth, are engaged in P/CVE work and understand the topic.
The Yaden officials Sami Gathii and the organisation's programme coordinator Lucy Waithaka spoke in Nyeri Friday during an inception forum for In Solidarity project.
The two urged members of the Nyeri County Engagement Forum on P/CVE to use the knowledge imparted to them by the National Counter Terrorism Centre and Foundation for Dialogue to find ways of simplifying the knowledge and disseminate it to the public in a way that they can easily resonate with.
"This has been a big issue. Even if you go to counties where P/CVE has been taught for years, you will find that people do not understand the concept," Gathii said.
Instead of lectures, he said, it is good to use illustrations and games to demonstrate so that people can translate and understand the complex terminologies like radicalisation, recruitment and ideologies, among others, into a language they can relate with in their everyday life.
Steps should also be taken to demonstrate how the concepts affect them and what actions they can take within their day to day engagement. They can, as a result, translate the terminologies in their own languages.
Lack of proper understanding, he said, prevents people from reporting issues pertaining to terrorism as they do not understand what it is all about.
The other challenge, he said, include lack of understanding of Prevention of Terrorism Act laws.
Others include protecting suspected terrorists which makes one a terrorist sympathiser or advancing messages either online or through short message services, making them unknowingly participate in recruitment and radicalisation on secondary basis and failure to declare source of money that may be linked to terrorism.
"Some people are yet to understand the implications and impact of terrorism because they do not understand the POTA law," he said.
"There are so many intricacies within the law that people don't understand and they find themselves as part of terrorism ring. So it is not only important to be aware of terrorism but it's also important to understand POTA."
