Preventing violence in South Africa

The Violence Prevention Forum (VPF), convened by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), serves as a multisectoral platform to bridge gaps between researchers, government, and NGOs to implement evidence-informed violence prevention in South Africa. An evaluation of the forum from 2015 to 2020 found that its non-membership, fluid structure and value-driven facilitation created a safe space for dialogue, leading to increased inter-sectoral trust and specific policy influences. Key achievements include informing the National Strategic Plan for Gender-Based Violence and Femicide and contributing to a 2018 budget increase for the Department of Social Development. Despite these successes, the forum faces challenges regarding uneven provincial representation and the need for stronger formal links to government decision-making structures.

• The Violence Prevention Forum (VPF) operates as a multisectoral platform that avoids a formal membership format to remain adaptive and responsive. Between 2015 and 2020, it consistently engaged 10 government departments, 16 research institutes, 14 NGOs, and two development partners.
• The VPF has successfully influenced national and provincial policy and practice in South Africa. Specifically, forum participants helped draft the National Strategic Plan for Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NSP), informed a provincial safety policy, and contributed to the National Treasury's 2018 decision to increase the budget for the Department of Social Development (DSD) for prevention interventions.
• The forum's success is attributed to a combination of four critical elements: empathetic and capable leadership from the ISS, mindful and value-driven facilitation, strategic decision-making by a multi-stakeholder driver group, and support from a responsive secretariat and communications team.
• The VPF utilizes specific facilitation methods—such as seating participants in a circle, limiting technology, and using 'deep democracy' principles—to lower knowledge hierarchies and create a safe space for difficult conversations and healing from trauma.
• The forum has produced tangible knowledge outputs to translate research into practice, including four policy briefs, an evidence map, and a report that served as the basis for South Africa's country report as a pathfinder country, all completed by 2019.
• The VPF faces ongoing challenges with uneven provincial representation and a lack of formal integration into government and political structures, which sometimes leads it to be perceived as a 'parallel' process.

APA

Amisi, M. (n.d.). Preventing violence in South Africa. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pb-149.pdf

Chicago

Amisi, Matodzi. Preventing violence in South Africa. Institute for Security Studies, n.d. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pb-149.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Amisi |first1=Matodzi |title=Preventing violence in South Africa |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pb-149.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{amisindpreventing, author = {Amisi, Matodzi}, title = {{Preventing violence in South Africa}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/pb-149.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }