Urban violence is an urgent and growing problem in many cities across the world. It comes in a multitude of forms such as gender-based violence, gangs and drug-related violence, police violence, religious riots, vigilante groups, and others. This briefing focuses on gender-based violence in Cape Town, South Africa, and juvenile crime in Mumbai, India, to explore how those living with this violence may be enabled to address it themselves. Those living in poverty find a variety of responses to violence and this briefing shares evidence of how citizens can contribute both independently and through collective action to building safer communities.UK Department for International Developmen

Gupte, Jaideep

Shahrokh, Thea

Wheeler, Joanna

English

IDS OpenDocs

www.ids.ac.uk
Po
lic
y B
R
IE
FI
N
G
 
ISSUE 71 • AUGUST 2014
Urban violence is an urgent and growing problem in many cities across the 
world. It comes in a multitude of forms such as gender-based violence, gangs 
and drug-related violence, police violence, religious riots, vigilante groups, and 
others. This briefing focuses on gender-based violence in Cape Town, South 
Africa, and juvenile crime in Mumbai, India, to explore how those living with this 
violence may be enabled to address it themselves. Those living in poverty find a 
variety of responses to violence and this briefing shares evidence of how citizens 
can contribute both independently and through collective action to building 
safer communities.
“Recognising 
that those 
involved in 
violence are 
individuals with 
relationships 
and aspirations 
improves an 
understanding 
of how and 
why violence 
has become a 
part of their 
lives.”
Tackling Urban Violence in 
 Mumbai and Cape Town 
through Citizen Engagement 
 and Community Action
Urban violence in Cape Town, 
South Africa, and Mumbai, India
Juvenile crime in India is on the increase. 
One of the most dramatic rises has been 
in Mumbai, where it has risen by over 30 
per cent in the last year. Crime records 
show that juvenile crime is committed 
predominantly by school drop-outs or 
illiterate boys aged between 16–18 years, 
and there has been a 19 per cent rise in 
cases involving 12–16-year-olds. State-
sponsored efforts to curb these trends 
are severely limited by a lack of resources 
and capacity, while programmes that 
support juvenile offenders in reintegrating 
into society after incarceration are 
inadequate.
South Africa is regularly reported as 
having some of the world’s worst 
rates of murder, violent crime and 
gender-based violence including intimate 
partner violence. In Cape Town the 
perpetration of sexual violence by men 
against intimate partners in the past ten 
years was over 15 per cent. Cape Town is 
recognised as the murder capital of the 
country, with serious violence linked to 
gangs dealing in drugs and xenophobic 
attacks. In addition to its social, sexual 
and criminal forms, violence is also 
central to political life in South Africa, 
especially in poor, urban settlements. 
Recent research on popular protest, 
usually around the right to settle in the 
city and access to services, has revealed 
significant growth in the number of 
violent protests.
Both sides of the equation: 
victims and perpetrators, citizens 
and the state 
Situating victims and perpetrators as 
opposing categories within violence 
prevention and mitigation is not helpful. 
This is because victims may often 
perpetrate violence, and perpetrators 
of violence are frequently a victim of 
it. Recognising that those involved 
in violence are individuals with 
relationships and aspirations improves 
an understanding of how and why 
violence has become a part of their 
lives. This approach shows clearly 
what enables people to take action 
against violence within their homes, 
communities, and cities. It requires seeing 
those living in contexts of violence as citizens, 
who are able to claim their rights to security 
and demand greater accountability, as well as 
act directly to mitigate violence.
Learning from a pilot evaluation in Cape 
Town and Mumbai shows that informal 
groups are just as likely to provide security, 
and therefore enjoy popular support, as 
police and security agencies. In Cape Town, 
local democratic activism to prevent and 
reduce gender-based violence empowered 
people to assist the police and hold them 
accountable for working more effectively 
when responding to sensitive incidents. 
Locally-led responses to urban violence show 
that the police cannot solve the problem 
of violence alone, and neither can citizens. 
Acute problems of urban violence can be 
addressed through cooperation between the 
state and citizens, and in recognising what is 
needed for both to act effectively together to 
reduce violence.
What motivates people to intervene
Opportunities for democratic local-level 
responses to violence are central to understanding 
how transformative change is possible, and 
how violence can be mitigated and prevented 
through the actions of those living with it.
The pilot evaluation focused on what 
motivates, inspires and encourages the action 
of local activists and community workers 
in response to violence. Empathy, personal 
relationships and sense of commitment were 
major contributing factors. However, activists 
in Cape Town described their struggle to 
maintain efforts in the absence of livelihood 
opportunities, and a lack of recognition of 
their role by official government agencies 
and their communities: ‘We are doing the 
jobs of doctors, nurses, social workers, teachers, 
and the police and nobody sees it.’ (woman, 
community activist, informal settlement in 
Cape Town).
Local activists connect to wider issues through 
their efforts to address gender-based violence, 
such as why the police fail to respond in certain 
situations, and why local leaders do not address 
their problems. As a result, they are now asking 
why politicians and government representatives 
are not more responsive and accountable.
In Mumbai, marginalised youth, for example 
those who have dropped out of school and 
those that face arrest by city police, seemed 
unaware of their options for pursuing a 
livelihood with dignity. While many of these 
youth were only part of vocational training 
intervention programmes for three to 
four months, the potential for long-term 
mentor–mentee relationships was a major 
motivator for programme staff; gaining respect 
and an identity in the community was also an 
important motivating factor.
Two models of community-level 
violence prevention and mitigation 
strategies 
In Cape Town, the Prevention in Action 
(PIA) programme trained and organised 
both men and women who are local, 
community-based activists on the issue of 
gender-based violence. Local activists then 
developed strategies for responding to 
violence, including working with influential 
community members to mobilise their 
friends and family into action-oriented 
groups. While action mainly addressed male 
violence against female partners, and sexual 
violence, activists also addressed female to 
male partner violence, inter-generational 
violence, and other physical violence in 
their communities. A significant number of 
incidents that activists engaged with led to 
police involvement or other legal processes. 
In the majority of cases, activists used 
personal engagement to create dialogue 
with those involved. 
In Mumbai, while several government-
sponsored schemes exist, in reality, support 
IDS POLICY BRIEFING TACKLING URBAN VIOLENCE IN MUMBAI AND CAPE TOWN THROUGH CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT AND COMMUNITY ACTION ISSUE 71 • AUGUST 2014 www.ids.ac.uk
“What makes them change the attitude, because we go to them to the police 
station, and train them what prevention is all about, we want to educate them, 
because the abuse is falling under them. They have to work with abuse so we are 
helping them try to stop violence. So if they want this violence to go away or be 
better than this they must work with us, we just involve them.”
(Woman, community activist, informal settlement in Cape Town)
“Acute problems of 
urban violence can 
be addressed 
through cooperation 
between the state 
and citizens, and in 
recognising what 
is needed for both 
to act effectively 
together to 
reduce violence.”
IDS POLICY BRIEFING TACKLING URBAN VIOLENCE IN MUMBAI AND CAPE TOWN THROUGH CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT AND COMMUNITY ACTION ISSUE 71 • AUGUST 2014 www.ids.ac.uk
“I realised that I was actually a victim, but that I can do something about it, 
and I can engage people and open up to other people about my own 
circumstances and try to show other people that you don’t have to stay in 
a physically abusive relationship, being sworn at and you know being made 
to feel small.”
(Woman, community activist, informal settlement in Cape Town)
for young offenders is largely provided by 
non-governmental organisations (NGOs). 
YUVA Parivartan’s (Youth Betterment) Prison 
Project is one of the few non-governmental 
vocational- and training-based support 
programmes directed at young offenders 
inside and outside prison who have already 
been arrested for violent offences. The 
programme engages youth within their 
community and includes daily sessions to help 
bring about changes in attitude, on stress and 
anger management, and on career choices. 
The goal is to prevent repeat offending by 
reaching out to first time offenders who 
suffer from destructive and negative thought 
patterns and the psychological impact of being 
in prison for the first time. 
Despite the differences in approach there 
are strong parallels between the PIA 
and YUVA models and contexts which 
show that engaged, active citizens and 
communities are central to building and 
restoring socially just relationships, norms 
and institutions in contexts of urban 
violence. In both contexts, successful 
interventions operate along delicately 
crafted relationships between programme 
participants and relevant community 
structures and state agencies, including: 
the police, prison personnel and NGO 
sector partners, service providers and 
community leadership committees. 
Programme functioning involves day-to-day 
negotiations over access into prisons, use 
of state resources, police engagement 
in incidents of intimate as well as public 
violence, referrals to support services 
for survivors of violence and so on. This 
engagement of both state and non-state 
actors reflects the importance of working 
in partnership to support the evolution of 
democratic outcomes when addressing 
urban violence.
Knowledge exchange between grass roots 
change makers
To deepen the exploration of innovative community-led responses to violence 
mitigation, an e-dialogue was arranged between community engagers and influencers 
from Cape Town and social workers running support programmes for young offenders 
with YUVA in Mumbai. The dialogue was designed to allow those implementing these 
programmes to learn from one another’s involvement in community-level violence 
prevention and mitigation strategies. The question of addressing harmful attitudes and 
norms that act as barriers to self-esteem and confidence was central to the discussion. 
Community workers from both countries saw working with young offenders and 
survivors of violence to build their own aspirations for change as critical to personal 
and social transformation. Working within the community to engage people on 
their own terms, in their own environment and to build trust through the sharing of 
personal experiences of violence and violence prevention was seen as a crucial part of 
this process.
“This engagement 
of both state and 
non-state actors 
reflects the 
importance of 
working in 
partnership to 
support the 
evolution of 
democratic 
outcomes when 
addressing urban 
violence.”
IDS POLICY BRIEFING ISSUE 71 • AUGUST 2014 www.ids.ac.uk
IDS_Master Logo
IDS Policy Briefings are published by the Institute of Development Studies and aim to provide high quality 
analysis and practical recommendations for policymakers on important development issues. 
To subscribe: www.ids.ac.uk/idspolicybriefings
Institute of Development Studies, Brighton BN1 9RE UK
T +44 (0) 1273 606261  F + 44 (0) 1273 621202  E ids@ids.ac.uk  W www.ids.ac.uk
     twitter.com/IDS_UK #idspolicy       facebook.com/idsuk
Further reading
Shahrokh, T. and Wheeler, J. 
(2014) Agency and Citizenship in a 
Context of Gender-Based 
Violence, IDS Evidence Report 
73, Brighton: IDS 
Credits
This IDS Policy Briefing was 
written by Jaideep Gupte, 
Thea Shahrokh and Joanna 
Wheeler with contributions 
from Laurence Piper and 
Uma Sundararaman. It is 
based on evidence generated 
through collaboration with 
the Sustainable Livelihoods 
Foundation, the University of 
the Western Cape and the 
Western Cape Network on 
Violence Against Women in 
South Africa, and the Kherwadi 
Social Welfare Association and 
YUVA Parivartan in Mumbai, 
India. Special acknowledgement 
goes to the community 
engagers and influencers from 
Khayelitsha, Cape Town, for 
their contributions. 
The briefing was produced as 
part of the Addressing and 
Mitigating Violence Programme, 
funded by UK aid from the UK 
Department for International 
Development. 
The opinions expressed are 
those of the authors and do not 
necessarily reflect the views of 
IDS or the UK government’s 
official policies.
Readers are encouraged to 
quote and reproduce material 
from the IDS Policy Briefing 
series. In return, IDS requests 
due acknowledgement and 
quotes referenced as above.
AG Level 2 Output ID: 41
© Institute of Development Studies, 2014 
ISSN 1479-974X
Policy recommendations
These initiatives provide important insights into how policies can support interventions 
that strengthen community engagement in violence prevention and mitigation. 
Central to this is the significance of the link between the role of active citizens 
in violence prevention and mitigation, and the claiming of democratic rights and 
responsibilities both individually and collectively.
 • Violence prevention and mitigation strategies need to see citizens as partners 
who can contribute independently and meaningfully to the common project of 
building safer communities. This is in contrast to being seen as either populations 
to be educated, sources of information for external decision-making, or 
individuals who should take more responsibility for themselves.
 • Community engagement strategies can generate local knowledge and solutions 
that help ensure violence mitigation interventions will both engage with and 
challenge sociocultural and power dynamics that would otherwise impede their 
uptake and effectiveness. Community engagement is also important for 
relationship-building within communities where violence has eroded trust and 
isolated individuals, restricting active citizenship.
 • Police responsiveness and accountability on issues of violence within intimate, 
community and institutional spaces is critical for rebuilding trusting relationships 
with citizens and in catalysing wider citizen action. Activists in Cape Town 
emphasised the importance of full cooperation from the police, including more 
transparency on the status of particular cases of violence, and increased 
responsiveness of the police to gender-based violence.
 • Policies addressing violence prevention and mitigation should make links between 
local, provincial and national levels. Learning needs to take place between each level 
to ensure that policies are responsive to the grass-roots reality of how positive social 
change happens in contexts of urban violence, and that national policy supports this.
 • NGOs need to take a longer-term and joined-up outlook, both in terms of the 
change they are trying to achieve and in their relationship with activists and 
residents in urban slums. In India, youth are reluctant to engage in state programmes 
to support young offenders largely due to a deep-rooted mistrust of prison 
personnel. YUVA’s social workers therefore have to rely on their ability to personally 
connect with individual young offenders, and ‘draw them out of their cell’. As 
important as these personal relationships are, they are nevertheless formed under 
the duress of high-pressure environments inside prison. More effective change 
can happen over a longer time frame that allows these relationships to be built.
 • Interventions need to include learning and skills building with official recognition, in 
order to enhance sustainable livelihoods and employment opportunities. In the case 
of Cape Town, this includes formal recognition for the experiences and skills of 
activists, and the work they are doing. Similarly in India, this includes creating 
platforms that officially recognise the training, resource and capacity needs of social 
workers in engaging with young offenders inside prison as well as upon release.


Tackling Urban Violence in Mumbai and Cape Town through Citizen Engagement and Community Action

https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/20.500.12413/4279/AD_ID41_PB%2371_UrbanViolence_Online.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Tackling Urban Violence in Mumbai and Cape Town through Citizen Engagement and Community Action

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

IDS OpenDocs