Systemic Prevention of Youth Violence – a handbook to design and plan violence prevention measures – Resources

Poverty, the lack of future prospects and social, economical and political marginalization shape the daily lives of many young people and are important structural causes for violence. Overall, young people’s frustration too often results in a propensity for violence and unsafe behavior. As a consequence children and young people become not only victims but also perpetrators of violence. However, young people are also key agents for peace, security and sustainable development and the frame-conditions for their inclusion are created through the development of capacities of state and non-state actors.

Youth violence is a complex phenomenon that cannot be addressed and sustainably prevented from a singular perspective. Effective strategies have to follow a systemic approach. This entails to think and act in networks and bring together stakeholders from diverse sectors and administrative levels with the aim to address the context-specific causes of youth violence.

The handbook supports the planning, implementation and monitoring of systemic measures to prevent youth violence. Thus, it supports the inclusion of actors from the relevant sectors on all administrative levels. The young individual is perceived as being in the centre of a complex system of actors, who all impact on his/her behavior. Thus, the actors influencing the environment of young people – parents, teachers, the police and social workers, staff of municipal authorities and national ministries – are activated as partners and target groups of the planned violence prevention measure.

By systematically utilizing the handbook, a systemic approach to preventing youth violence can be designed and the positive potential of young people be enhanced.