VIOLENCE IN THE CITY
Understanding and Supporting Community Responses
to Urban Violence
Alys Willman, PhD
Social Cohesion & Violence Prevention Team, World Bank
Perspectives from the Community
• How are people coping every day
with violence?
• What can we do to support positive
coping strategies?
Social
Development
Department
VIOLENCE IN THE CITY
Social Development Department
Violence affects everyone, but in different
ways
Victimization rates (past year) ranged from 21% (Dili);
33% (Port-au-Prince); 39% (Fortaleza); 44% (Nairobi);
49% (Johannesburg)
Youth (between 15-35 years old) accounted for 40-75
percent of victims in the five sites.
Males were only slightly more likely to be victimized
than females (Haiti was an exception), but more
likely to be perpetrators everywhere.
VIOLENCE IN THE CITY
Social
Development
Social
Department
Development
Department
Social Development Department
Robbery and assault were the most common forms of
victimization in all sites (except Port-au-Prince)
Experiences of sexual violence were alarmingly
high in some
communities,
and often
occurred in
public spaces.
Different forms of
violence are
inter-related.
Many coping mechanisms further
isolate residents, and erode trust
“This is part of our lives… We don’t do
anything… There was a day when a 10 yearold girl was murdered in broad daylight as if it
were as normal as fetching a bucket of water,
you understand? What do you think we said
when the police came…?” (young male,
Fortaleza)
VIOLENCE IN THE CITY
Social Development Department
Particularly troubling is a tendency to
rely on extra-legal sources of security
“Let me tell you about a situation… They caught
someone, and he was lynched. This man had
killed a man, but a brave seven year-old boy
hit him in the back with a rock, enabling the
community to catch him. The police drove by
and looked at the scene.” (Male, Cite Soleil, Haiti)
VIOLENCE IN THE CITY
Social Development Department
The Built Environment Affects Mobility,
Security and Trust
-Poor infrastructure encourages situational
crime
- Lack of services increases vulnerability, feeds
sense of social exclusion
-People need safe spaces to come together,
exert social control over violent behavior
Recommendations
Rebuilding Trust:
• Send clear signals that the situation will
change
• Address the trend toward private security
Addressing Relationships Between different
forms of Violence
• Prevent domestic violence; take a life-cycle
approach
VIOLENCE IN THE CITY
Social Development Department
Recommendations
Supporting Community Capacities for Action
• Upgrading infrastructure as a catalyzing force
• Improving data collection and sharing to
empower collective action
Improving Coordination of Policies and Programs
• Connecting national, state, municipal
initiatives
• Supporting government-civil society
coordination
VIOLENCE IN THE CITY
Social Development Department
http://www.worldbank.org/socialdevelopment