Violence Prevention: Experiences from South Africa.

As a response to South Africa’s alarming rates of violence and crime, the national government has formulated a holistic national strategy for reducing crime and violence under the highly prioritized government objective of „all people in South Africa are and feel safe“ in 1996. Several strategies and whitepapers have since paved the path to a more systematic approach to violence prevention. However, despite significant achievements in the past decade South Africa is still on the top ranks of international statistics on violence and crime and a general lack of perceived and actual security is commonly regarded as a major challenge for sustainable development of the Republic of South Africa.
Based on the results of the 2008 South African – German intergovernmental negotiations and on the sector strategy of the focal area of “governance”, the project “violence prevention” implemented by GIZ on behalf of the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development aims at supporting “improved delivery of public services in underserved areas and the involvement of the poor population groups” by fostering an inclusive and systemic approach to violence and crime prevention designed to increase citizens’ safety in urban areas through collaborative action.
After outlining the project’s approach, the presentation will therefore provide a platform for various South African practitioners from the public sector as well as civil society and research organisations and showcase innovative, cutting-edge approaches for the prevention of crime and violence within a community context.