Global Campaign for Violence Prevention
Cape Town, 7 September 2011
One way to judge the value of violence prevention is to look at the alternative - an after-the-fact,
get-tough, over- reliance on the criminal justice system. The United States is perhaps the most
extreme example of the consequences of that alternative approach. With about 5% of the world’s
population, the USA has at any one time 2,292,133 in its prisons and jails. China with a full 20%
of the world’s population has 1,650,000 prisoners. The incarceration rate in the United States is
743 in prison for every 100,000 people. Russia’s rate is 316. The average rate in Europe is
roughly 100. One fourth of all of the prisoners in the entire world are in the United States.
In recent years there has been growing attention to prevention in the United States with
exceptional leadership from the Centers for Disease Control, the Fetzer Institute, the California
Wellness Foundation, and others. And there are really exciting innovations in policing in the
states. Yet, so far, all that has been around the edges. In spite of significant over all reductions in
crime in recent years American rates of violence remain higher than those in most other
industrialized countries.
As we all know, it doesn’t have to be that way. Finland has one of the world’s highest rates of
gun ownership and a very serious problem with alcohol abuse. Yet stranger to stranger violence
is extremely rare in Finland. With a population of 5,400,000, at this moment Finland has only
three teenage young men incarcerated in the entire country. I don’t have the figures, but I bet that
the Finns don’t spend more than the Americans. It’s just that they spend their limited public
funds more wisely.
Our provinces are called states. During the 1990s the American state of Mississippi built 16 new
prisons. It has built no new colleges or universities during the past 50 years. In California during
that time it was one new college and 21 new prisons. In the United States 13 of our states each
spend each year more than $1 billion on prison costs alone. The State of California spends over
$8 billion annually on its prisons.
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About three years ago, several of us at Open Society who mostly focused on criminal justice
reform realized that a different approach was needed. One of the first people I asked for advice
was Alex Butchart who said that there is an urgent need for more demonstrations that violence
prevention can actually work on the ground. It turned out that was also the view of the president
of our organization. He suggested that we focus on a few target areas. So that is what we are
doing.
Currently we are focusing our work in Kenya, Mozambique and Namibia. We hope that early
next year we will be able to increase our work in Central America – another of our targets.
Of course we are not the first to develop targeted interventions. There are a number of
interventions in Latin America that have significantly reduced violence. Here in Cape Town the
Cape Town government with the assistance of the Germans developed a very successful
Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading program in the Cape flats township of
Khayelitsha.
In our program in Kenya, Namibia, and soon in Mozambique, those stakeholders are coming
together to plan multi-sectorial interventions in target communities. In close consultation with
community representatives and local government officials in target communities, comprehensive
safety audits will be conducted. Then a localized, integrated safety plan for each pilot community
will be developed based on the problems and priorities identified in the safety audits. In each
community a violence prevention forum will be established with the active participation of
community leaders, local elected officials and representatives of regional and national
government.
The development of our program has been based on a number of assumptions. First - our
program will be able to learn from previous community-based interventions and build upon
their experience.
Secondly - because of the limited capacity and resources of civil society in most developing
countries, over time violence prevention programs must be supported by government. Early
involvement of local and national government officials in the development of interventions in
targeted communities is essential.
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Thirdly - our program can support initial audits and assist community organizations and local
officials develop comprehensive long term strategies to address crime and violence in targeted
communities. And we can also provide some support to particular programs that are
implemented as part of that strategy. However with our limited resources, we cannot support full
implementation. The involvement of other donors will be critical to successful implementation of
comprehensive violence prevention strategies.
Finally - while the role of police in a comprehensive strategy to address violent crime is limited,
support for prevention minded interventions from law enforcement and more effective policing
is critically important. We assumed that police will be supportive of a comprehensive violence
prevention approach.
Thus far these assumptions have shown to be largely correct. As you heard earlier today, over the
past three years, our own South African foundation developed and supported targeted
interventions in three communities here in South Africa. The work done in South Africa in a
number of programs has been particularly helpful in the development of our programs in other
African countries.
Interest among key government officials has been high. In Kenya the government’s public
management development facility, Kenya Institute of Administration is cosponsoring with a
prominent Kenyan university a year-long symposium series on violence prevention that was
launched last month by senior government officials. In Mozambique, the Institute of Security
Studies is working closely with the Ministry of Justice which is currently drafting the country’s
new crime combatting strategy. ISS input is aimed at ensuring that the strategy focuses on a
multi-sectorial front end prevention approach. In Namibia the nation’s two local government
associations are working closely with the lead civil society organization that is developing
prevention programs in three target communities. That program is strongly supported by key
national ministries, by national and local police, and by local and regional government in the
three target areas.
The real test of collaboration with other donors will come later on as comprehensive safety plans
developed in target communities begin to be implemented. However early signs of interest from
other donors is very encouraging. In Kenya two international development assistance agencies
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have expressed interest in having some of their violence prevention work focused in the four
target communities. In Namibia several embassies have indicated that they have funding that can
be used to help implement elements of comprehensive programs in target Namibian
communities. The National Planning Commission in Namibia wants to assist with the
coordination of other donor funding for this work. There is interested in Mozambique among
other donors in possible collaborations in areas such as school violence where their work
intersects with that of the program.
Police in all three African target countries are very interested in front end violence prevention.
That is the case with senior national police leadership as well as with police who focus on
prevention, community policing, and violence against women. That interest led to the
symposium on “Policing and Violence Prevention” held here in Cape Town on Monday and
attended by police from 15 African countries.
As we know from the growth of the Violence Prevention Alliance, interest in violence
prevention is increasing. Terrific research in recent years points the way to interventions that can
have a real impact. And interest in violence prevention is deepening. Everyone seems to
recognize the value of more comprehensive and integrated approaches.
So - because of the growing international interest in violence prevention and the interest we have
seen in the areas where we are beginning to work – I am very optimistic that working together all
of us can eventually – step by step – change the way the world addresses violence. We are very
interest in collaborative efforts in our target countries and welcome any advice you may have
about our work. I want to conclude by thanking Etienne Krug, Alex Butchart, and Chris Mikton
for the leadership of the World Health Organization on this issue. It is terrific work and of such
help to us all.
Gene Guerrero
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