Scaling violence prevention in South Africa

This policy brief examines what it takes to implement violence-prevention programmes at scale.

This policy brief shows that interventions can prevent and reduce violence in South Africa. There are however challenges to delivering these programmes at scale. These include limited capacity for implementation, adapting for context, and balancing the need for programmes to be evidence-based while also being responsive to communities’ needs. South Africa’s policymakers and researchers need to find solutions to these challenges.

About the authors

Matodzi M Amisi is a Senior Research Consultant at the Institute for Security Studies in the Justice and Violence Prevention Programme.

Gwen Dereymaeker is a Deputy Director in the Policy and Strategy Unit at the Department of the Premier, Western Cape Government.

Jody van der Heyde is a Research Consultant at the Institute for Security Studies in the Justice and Violence Prevention Programme.

Nicolette Roman is the South African Research Chair in the Development of Human Capabilities and Social Cohesion through the Family in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Children, Families and Society at the University of the Western Cape.