Scaling violence prevention in South Africa

This policy brief examines the implementation and scaling of violence prevention interventions in South Africa, drawing on mapping projects by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and the Western Cape Government (WCG). It identifies a tension between the need for evidence-based fidelity and the necessity of adapting programmes to local community contexts. The document highlights challenges in staff training, participant recruitment—particularly for fathers—and the lack of technical monitoring and evaluation (M&E) capacity within NGOs.

• An analysis of 44 identified violence prevention interventions revealed that 75% were intensive programmes, which typically require between four and 21 sessions and last from two to 15 months. These intensive programmes generally reach fewer participants per cycle (e.g., around 15), whereas light-touch interventions like awareness campaigns have a wider reach, sometimes exceeding 2,000 participants.
• Effective violence prevention requires adapting interventions to local contexts, including economic conditions, substance use, and trauma. This adaptation occurs both formally (with researchers) and through informal 'bottom-up' processes to remain responsive to community needs, though this creates a tension with the desire for 'fidelity' (implementing a programme exactly as designed).
• NGOs frequently employ community members as 'change agents' to recruit and deliver programmes, which provides local employment primarily for women. However, there is a significant gap in standardised training, supervision, and psychosocial support for these implementers, who often face high levels of vicarious trauma from participants.
• Recruiting and retaining participants is a major challenge for intensive programmes. Specific barriers include the stigma that parenting programmes are only for 'bad parents', a gendered view of parenting that makes it difficult to recruit fathers and male caregivers, and attrition caused by participants finding employment.
• While many NGOs are willing to improve their monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities to move beyond simple compliance, they often lack the technical skills and partnerships with researchers necessary to implement qualitative or evidence-informed M&E processes.
• The document recommends that the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities conduct a national baseline mapping of community-based interventions. This is intended to determine the capacity to implement the Comprehensive National Prevention Strategy of the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide.

APA

Amisi, M. M., Dereymaeker, G., van der Heyde, J., & Roman, N. (2023). Scaling violence prevention in South Africa. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pb-179.pdf

Chicago

Amisi, Matodzi M, Gwen Dereymaeker, Jody van der Heyde, and Nicolette Roman. Scaling violence prevention in South Africa. Institute for Security Studies, 2023. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pb-179.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Amisi |first1=Matodzi M |last2=Dereymaeker |first2=Gwen |last3=van der Heyde |first3=Jody |last4=Roman |first4=Nicolette |title=Scaling violence prevention in South Africa |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=2023 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pb-179.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{amisi2023scaling, author = {Amisi, Matodzi M and Dereymaeker, Gwen and van der Heyde, Jody and Roman, Nicolette}, title = {{Scaling violence prevention in South Africa}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2023}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pb-179.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }