This situational brief provides a short outline of the conflict context in Mozambique, an overview of women and violent extremism, and perceptions of the drivers of, and recruitment for, violent extremism in the north of Mozambique. The brief also highlights the integration of women peacekeepers and gender programming in the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM), the Rwanda Defence Force and the European Union Training Mission (EUTM) in Mozambique. It concludes by highlighting some of the ways to strengthen a gender perspective in preventing violent extremism in Northern Mozambique. These insights can be utilised to produce more innovative approaches to preventing violent extremism.

The brief argues that efforts in countering and preventing violent extremism and peacebuilding undertaken by international and national actors in Mozambique continue to view women through the one-dimensional prism of victims of conflict and thus negate their agency in conflict management. The continued stereotyping of violent extremists as male, or of only consisting of women who are “mothers, monsters and whores”, also limits our understanding of women’s role in radicalisation, recruitment, perpetrating violence, and in sustaining and reproducing violent extremist groups. This in turn impacts the development of comprehensive and inclusive responses concerning the countering and prevention of violent extremism.