A Guide to Designing Integrated Violence Prevention Interventions

Introduction

This Guide and the accompanying Case Study booklet grew out of the idea that the collective knowledge about violence prevention in the technical and financial cooperation within the South African-German Development Cooperation should be shared. That way the institutionalisation, upscaling, adaptation and fostering of synergies amongst actors in the sector could be facilitated. The developed knowledge products provide government and practitioners with a guide to Designing Integrated Violence Prevention Intervention at community and area-based level.

The tree stresses the importance of a whole-of-governance and whole-of-society approach in violence prevention, as is reflected in the emerging knowledge products. This process of sharing knowledge through exchanges, workshops and interviews, as illustrated by the roots of the tree of 14 case studies, branches off into six “leaves,” which are the six strategies laid out in the Guide to Designing Integrated Violence Prevention Interventions.

These booklets share the stories of practitioners and government officials, unfolding the lessons they have learned through implementing violence prevention interventions. Hence, the evidence collected in this project is based on experiential knowledge.  The stories and lessons learnt aim to capture wisdom and qualitative data which are valuable to future violence prevention interventions. Their reflections are intended to complement more quantitative forms of monitoring and evaluation. This Guide is process-oriented; but it is not a recipe for guaranteed success. It offers considerations for those designing interventions within South Africa’s violence prevention landscape. The collection and analysis of the data informing the guide was framed by the themes of the 2016 White Paper on Safety and Security.

Who is the guide for?

This Guide speaks mainly to stakeholders from various sectors who are working together on area-based interventions. We refer to such stakeholder groups as “integrated teams.” The guide is also meant for other politicians, government officials and practitioners interested in violence and crime prevention. The lessons in each of the booklets are mainly informed by the experiences of municipal officials and other implementers; but their intended audience stretches to role-players involved in violence prevention from other spheres of government and civil society. Government officials, policy-makers and elected leaders at municipal, provincial and national levels may be especially interested in these findings.

Sections of the guide

The strategies correspond with six booklets, which are accompanied by an Overview booklet in each of the strategies. The booklets were specifically developed so that their order could be shuffled according to the needs of the reader and to avoid creating an artificial hierarchy or chronology of "first to last" chapters. Together, the six booklets detail an interwoven set of strategies that are crucial to effective, integrated, area-based violence prevention. To understand how each of these strategies is linked with the others, and to most effectively act upon the lessons they hold, all of the booklets ought to be read. The Case Study Booklet can be referred to at any time for more information about the interventions explored in this knowledge management process. The six strategies are:

For more information

The guides were launched on the 10th of December 2021 under the umbrella of the World Forum on Cities and Territories of Peace, currently hosted by the Government of Ciudad de México. Please view the recording here. 

If you'd like to receive more information, please contact:

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

Inclusive Violence and Crime Prevention Programme (VCP) 

Contact: Terence Smith

Violence Prevention Through Urban Upgrading NPC

Contact: Michael Krause and Gianna Maita