The South African National Development Plan (NDP) promotes the creation of spaces that are liveable, equitable, sustainable, resilient and efficient, and that support economic opportunities and social cohesion. Area-based violence prevention interventions (ABVPI) offer both a set of protocols and methodologies (i.e. a codified practice) and an approach to spatial development that takes safety and resilience as the intended outcomes and so aligns with this vision. Taking this process forward, questions are raised about how partnerships can be developed, frameworks adapted and resources allocated in order to enable ABVPI. The brief includes the topics of integrating ABVPI into informal settlement upgrading; funding ABVPI using public funds, specifically conditional grants; and reflections on the importance of partnership in ABVPI.

This Practice Brief draws on the presentations and discussion at the webinar 'Building Safer Neighbourhoods Together', held on 05 August 2021. The webinar, which brought together representatives from national, provincial and local government and civil society organisations, was convened by Isandla Institute as an implementation partner of the Safer Places: Resilient Institutions and Neighbourhoods Together (SPRINT) project.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent extended lockdown has been more than the health and wellbeing of those in living South Africa; with many in positions of increased vulnerability such as through the loss of income and livelihoods. The dual impact of deepening risk factors which contribute to violence and crime and the reduction or removal of protective factors means that more people in South Africa might be experiencing and/or perpetuating violence and crime. Despite this, the pandemic has also reinvigorated a sense of solidarity and empathy, which is evident in the stronger emphasis on communities, clearer focus on key issues like gender-based violence (GBV) and the efforts to capacitate those leading engagements and change. The effects of COVID-19 and the lockdown are unknown and likely long lasting. In the unprecedented context of COVID-19 and as we look forward, area-based violence prevention interventions offer a unique resource for violence prevention and building safer cities.

This Practice Brief draws on the presentations and discussion at the webinar 'Area-Based Violence Prevention in a time of COVID-19', held on 24 March 2021. The webinar, which brought together representatives from national, provincial and local government and civil society organisations, was convened by Isandla Institute as an implementation partner of the Safer Places: Resilient Institutions and Neighbourhoods Together (SPRINT) project.

This advocacy piece is produced by Isandla Institute under the Safer Places: Resilient Institutions and Neighbourhoods Together (SPRINT) Project. It is aimed at providing key information and recommendations to local government and civil society organisations to shift their approach toward VPIs and for provincial and national government, who guide municipalities and contract service providers, to provide an enabling environment for this shift to take place.

The advocacy output ‘Activation: Creating inclusive, sustainable safe places’  highlights that public spaces in South Africa have the potential to be both sites of increased exposure to violence and crime as well as catalysts for social cohesion. Activation of public spaces enables and encourages the creation and utilisation of quality, vibrant, safe and sustainable spaces. Key recommendations include that activated public spaces need to be accessible, inclusive and equitable for all and that  municipalities should enable and lead multi-stakeholder engagement in public space activation.

This advocacy piece was produced by Isandla Institute under the Safer Places: Resilient Institutions and Neighbourhoods Together (SPRINT) Project. It is aimed at providing key information and recommendations to local government and organisations working with local government (CSOs, private sector etc) to shift their approach toward ABVPI and for provincial and national government, who guide municipalities and contract service providers, to provide an enabling
environment for this shift to take place.

The advocacy piece 'Funding Area-Based Violence Prevention Interventions: An Examination of the Conditional Grant System' examines the opportunities for funding area-based violence prevention intervention (ABVPI) work with public funds, specifically conditional grants. The document lays out key principles, activities and role-players in ABVPI and highlights the roles and responsibilities of local government in safety and violence prevention. The document argues that ABVPI is strongly aligned to the existing responsibilities of local government and as such, public funding can and should be leveraged to pursue ABVPI.

This advocacy piece was produced by Isandla Institute under the Safer Places: Resilient Institutions and Neighbourhoods Together (SPRINT) Project. It is aimed at providing key information and recommendations to local government to shift their approach toward VPIs and for provincial and national government, who guide municipalities and contract service providers, to provide an enabling environment for this shift to take place.

'Embedding Area-Based Violence Prevention Initiatives (ABVPI) in Informal Settlement Upgrading in South Africa' highlights the imperative to embed ABVPI in urban planning and development, specifically informal settlement upgrading (ISU). The document highlights the need for a strategic and programmatic approach to building on the alignment between ABVPI and ISU. Recommendations include that municipalities embrace different approaches to engaging with residents and upgrading settlements and that there is more emphasis on livelihoods, urban safety and wellbeing outcomes in projects that utilise ISU funding.

One of the largest barriers to service provision to backyard residents living on private land is the long-held belief that the Municipal Financial Management Act (MFMA) renders it is illegal to spend public money on private properties. To test this belief, Isandla Institute commissioned a legal opinion from a Senior Counsel on the power, authority, and obligations of local governments to provide services to backyard residents living on private land. The opinion compellingly argues that local governments do indeed have the power, authority, and obligation to provide these services. While complex questions remain about how these services will be rolled out and who they will target, the opinion shifts the conversation and opens space for new approaches.

This is the seventh brief in a series of learning briefs produced by Isandla Institute under the Safer Places: Resilient Institutions and Neighbourhoods Together (SPRINT) Project. The Learning Brief is produced from the discussions at the fourth Learning Network session, hosted by Isandla Institute on 20 May 2021, focusing on ‘Partnerships in ABVPIs’.

The brief emphasises the importance of partnerships during the COVID-19 pandemic and reflects on lessons learnt by Learning Network participants about success factors and challenges in effective partnerships. The brief highlights the legislative mandate for government to work in partnerships with CSOs and communities in all elements of an intervention, including inception, planning, implementation and monitoring & evaluation. A key message of the brief is that partnerships can take different forms and be adapted according to need.

This is the sixth in a series of Learning Briefs produced by Isandla Institute under the Safer Places: Resilient Institutions and Neighbourhoods Together (SPRINT) Project. The Learning Briefs is produced from the discussions at the fourth Learning Network session, hosted by Isandla Institute on 22 April 2021, focusing on ‘ABVPI in municipal planning’.

The brief emphasises the urgent need for area-based violence prevention interventions (ABVPIs) in an increasingly difficult environment. Key to the implementation of ABVPIs is the role of local government in planning and coordinating ABVPIs and aligning complementary initiatives and budgets.
The brief argues that a multi-stakeholder approach is vital to address the complex factors that contribute to violence and crime, and that local government is well-placed to enable joint and active participation from a wide range of stakeholders, including different parts of government, communities and CSOs.

This is the fifth in a series of Learning Briefs produced by Isandla Institute under the Safer Places: Resilient Institutions and Neighbourhoods Together (SPRINT) Project. The `Learning Brief is produced from the discussions at the fourth Learning Network session, hosted by Isandla Institute on 18 March 2021, focusing on ‘Understanding Power’.

The brief unpacks the benefits of using power analysis in area-based violence prevention interventions (ABVPIs) and introduces various power analysis tools such as the power cube and power mapping. One of the key messages of the brief is that there is a lack of understanding of power and the relevance of power in all aspects of work, relationships, interpersonal interactions and so forth. It goes on to argue that CSOs can play a key role in capacity building and understanding power by expanding existing stakeholder mapping and analysis to include power analysis.

This is the fourth Learning Brief in a series of Learning Briefs produced by Isandla Institute under the Safer Places: Resilient Institutions and Neighbourhoods Together (SPRINT) Project. The Learning Brief is produced from the discussions at the fourth Learning Network session, hosted by Isandla Institute on 18 February 2021, and the focus of this brief is Gender, safety and VPIs. The brief introduces a definition of gender that is broad and inclusive. Defining gender-based violence (GBV), and identifying the various types of GBV enables a greater understanding of how GBV manifests. The brief also draws on the reflections of participating CSOs to examine responses to GBV. This includes utilising the socio-ecological model as a key tool to better understand the factors that contribute to GBV allows for more targeted violence prevention interventions (VPIs) that respond to these. One of the key messages of the brief is Placing gender at the centre of VPIs should be prioritised, particularly in light of the significant impact of COVID-19.

This is the third Learning Brief in a series of Learning Briefs produced by Isandla Institute under the Safer Places: Resilient Institutions and Neighbourhoods Together (SPRINT) Project. The Learning Brief is produced from the discussions at the third Learning Network session, hosted on 21 January 2021, focusing on Working with communities.
This brief highlights the significant role played by CSOs in society, including playing various roles of ‘watchdog’, advocate, facilitator, as well as directly implementing interventions in working with communities. These roles have had to adapt under the new and increased pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic with CSOs playing a critical part in the response to the pandemic. One of the key messages of the brief is that community led processes are the key to sustainable development and that fostering positive, mutually beneficial relationships with communities that are built on trust should be a priority of the work, as this sets the foundation for the journey together. Another key message is the pivotal role that government, especially local government, can play in creating change when working with communities.

Informal backyard rental housing has remained largely invisible to public policy and urban programmes despite the sector’s size and growth. Isandla Institute’s latest position paper identifies a range of potential interventions in the sector and explains which sphere of government is responsible for implementing each one. It also outlines a set of general principles that should apply to any interventions in the sector, as well as identifies a range of risks. The interventions contained in the position paper are not presented as being exhaustive, and are rather meant to stimulate discussion and move policy debates closer to the realm of implementation.

This is the second Learning Brief in a series of Learning Briefs produced by Isandla Institute under the Safer Places: Resilient Institutions and Neighbourhoods Together (SPRINT) Project. The Learning Brief is produced from the discussions at the second Learning Network session, hosted on 03 December 2020, focusing on What is integrated area-based violence prevention interventions (VPI) and examples of VPI practices. The brief is an introduction to integrated area-based violence prevention interventions (ABVPI), including the socio-ecological model and the principles of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). The brief outlines key policy frameworks that guide VPI work, including the National Development Plan, the White Paper on Safety and Security and the National Strategic Plan on Gender-based Violence and Femicide. The brief also outlines key challenges in VPI, including a lack of common understanding of what violence prevention is, the importance of addressing underlying root causes in VPI and the need for multi-sectoral approaches between stakeholders.

This Learning Brief is part of a series of Learning Briefs produced by Isandla Institute under the Safer Places: Resilient Institutions and Neighbourhoods Together (SPRINT) Project. The Learning Brief is produced from discussions at the first Learning Network session, hosted on 05 November 2020, focusing on The impact of COVID-19 on safety, wellbeing, and vulnerability to crime and violence. The brief includes an overview of the SPRINT project, the nature of violence and crime in South Africa, and some reflections and lessons on the impact of, and response to, COVID-19 by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). The COVID-19 pandemic has placed further strain on several strained services. One of the key messages of the brief is the importance of social cohesion and solidarity in addressing underlying causes for violence and crime, especially in the current context of anxiety, stress and uncertainty.

This paper synthesises key findings from primary research conducted in 8 Cape Town neighbourhoods (Eerste River, Freedom Park, Ilitha Park, Kensington, Lost City, Lotus Park, Maitland Garden Village and Manenberg) aimed at understanding the informal backyard housing sector better. The research was conducted as part of the Backyard Matters Project, a partnership initiative between the Development Action Group (DAG), Isandla Institute and Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU), funded by Comic Relief.

A key finding of the fieldwork is that the informal backyard rental market is highly contextual and that social factors can be very important aspects of its functioning – in fact, in some instances, social factors are primary drivers of this market. This certainly differs across neighbourhoods, but it offers an important critique of a more conventional perspective on the backyard rental market as operating purely on a financial logic.

While context matters a great deal in understanding the informal backyard rental sector, this is not to suggest that there are no common themes and opportunities for intervention – be it from the state, the finance sector or other stakeholders. The paper distils 10 key take-away points from the primary data, including some common themes. The paper concludes that interventions and policy considerations aimed at the informal backyard rental market need to be nuanced in responding to relevant contextual factors and opportunities.

This paper elaborates on the important role the backyard housing sector plays in providing (often inadequate) housing solutions. It seeks to provide some insight into the dynamics and contextual nuances that inform local backyard realities and backyard rental markets and the lack of clear policy guidance on how to support and regulate this housing sub-sector. The paper further argues that the Covid-19 pandemic has made existing housing vulnerabilities all the more pertinent, not least because of its anticipated long-lasting socio-economic impacts, and that this creates an even greater sense of urgency to consider programmatic approaches to the backyard rental sector.

This Practice Brief provides a reflection on the land occupations that occurred during the national lockdown in 2020. It argues that these land occupations evidence a genuine housing need in the context of increasing economic insecurity brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. Noting the impact increased housing insecurity has on the informal rental market, and on backyarding more particularly, the practice brief provides recommendations on supporting the backyard sector, as well as preventing and responding to land occupations.

This practice brief explores case studies of state interventions in backyarding to understand the limitations and potential in the sector and suggests what more supportive interventions for backyard dwellers could look like. It draws on a model that distinguishes areas of intervention based on the status of land ownership and the intention of the intervention. In so doing, the practice brief offers a reflection on the complexities of responding adequately to the unique needs and challenges that rise in the backyard housing sector, with particular attention given to backyard rental accommodation

This graphic poster appeals to our imagination about how an incrementally developing neighbourhood could look like. It is a visual depiction and interpretation of in-situ upgrading policy as it unfolds in practice over time. NGOs, municipal officials and community development practitioners can creatively use this resource in community engagements and to advocate for community needs and aspirations in an upgrading project. This product was jointly developed by Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC), Development Action Group (DAG), Habitat for Humanity South Africa, Isandla Institute, People’s Environmental Planning (PEP), Ubuhle Bakha Ubuhle (UBU) and Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU).

Available in English/Afrikaans and English/isiXhosa.”

This graphic novel appeals to our imagination about how an incrementally developing neighbourhood could look like. It is a visual depiction and interpretation of in-situ upgrading policy as it unfolds in practice over time. NGOs, municipal officials and community development practitioners can creatively use this resource in community engagements and to advocate for community needs and aspirations in an upgrading project. This product was jointly developed by Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC), Development Action Group (DAG), Habitat for Humanity South Africa, Isandla Institute, People’s Environmental Planning (PEP), Ubuhle Bakha Ubuhle (UBU) and Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU).

Available in English/Afrikaans and English/isiXhosa.”

This submission was developed to inform the post-Breaking New Ground (BNG) human settlements policy and legislative. It has been prepared by the Cape Town NGO Collaborative Initiative, a collective of urban sector organisations with a wide range of expertise and experience in progressive practice around participatory and incremental informal settlement upgrading, and human settlements development more broadly, in South Africa. These organisations are: Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC), Development Action Group (DAG), Habitat for Humanity South Africa, Isandla Institute, People’s Environmental Planning (PEP), Ubuhle Bakha Ubuhle (UBU) and Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU).

This policy brief was developed in the context of the Informal Settlements Data Project, a partnership project between the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU), the Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC) and Isandla Institute, with support from Comic Relief. It draws together lessons emerging from the project, and the broader practice of the partner organisations. 

This booklet intends to support NGOs and the communities they work with to understand the institutions involved in upgrading projects and better navigate related governance processes. It is adapted from an institutional mapping exercise of the informal settlement upgrading sub-sector of human settlements development.

This practice brief moves beyond a concept of conflict management towards a notion of conflict transformation in communities to suggest that strategies for addressing conflict can be constructive in bringing about a change. We unpack the generative potential of contestation and conflict while, at the same time, acknowledging that it can become unproductive in instances where it escalates into violence or where it is used as a deliberate strategy to stall or undermine the process.

A resource for informal settlement upgrading practitioners and community leaders. This poster is an accompaniment to the the guide for municipalities, "Advancing a Co-Production Approach to Upgrading Informal Settlements in South Africa". It promotes communities and municipalities working together to plan, implement and monitor upgrading of informal settlements towards liveable neighbourhoods. 

This guide navigates the various moments in the upgrading process that present opportunities for greater community participation and co-production. It identifies possibilities for co-production and the relationships between all actors in an upgrading project. The guide responds to the realities and constraints facing municipalities, and seeks to assist officials in creating the space and shifting the mind-set across all three spheres of government towards co-production in informal settlement upgrading.

In this practice brief we advance practices that shape and foster more balanced power between men and women, such that they are enabled to participate equally and meaningfully not only in upgrading projects but also in broader society.

In this practice brief, we describe the case of the 2017/2018 Cape Town water crisis and the conditions of water insecurity, which should propel a move towards more sustainable water resources. The practice brief also explores the principles of good water governance and suggests the water service sector can incorporate these principles in to a framework to support future resilience.

In this practice brief, we explore land use management challenges experienced in informal settlement upgrading and how SPLUMA can be leveraged to address these challenges, whilst drawing on experiences and lessons from practice that will help move towards more progressive land use management framework and systems.

This practice brief examines the manifestations of incrementalism as well as the potential and limitations of incremental informal settlement upgrading. The practice brief offers a reflection on the realities of implementing an incremental, co-productive and progressive approach with regards to informal settlement upgrading across South Africa, and concludes with lessons learnt from the Cape Town-based community of practice.

In this practice brief we explore the ways in which informal settlement upgrading interventions can enable residents to move along a continuum from lesser to greater tenure security without privileging individual ownership as the only desirable end-point. It offers some practical recommendations intended to guide the work of informal settlement upgrading practitioners.

Upgrading informal settlements in South Africa: A partnership-based approach (UCT Press) 2016 – ISBN: 9781775820833

This practice brief considers the potential for upgrading interventions to support the livelihood strategies of residents living in informal settlements. Using the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF), it considers the multiple interrelated factors that affect the sustainability of livelihoods, and explores methods that can be used to make sense of local realities.

This practice brief suggests that community capability is a complex concept that consists of multiple dimensions, including skills and competencies, information, assets and values and orientations. These dimensions are interdependent, and may be either constraining or enabling. We consider both the benefits and challenges of enhancing community capability for informal settlement upgrading.

The practice suggests that multi-sectoral partnerships are valuable in processes of informal settlement upgrading as it allows for the combination of approaches aimed at meeting the immediate needs of the urban poor, and those that seek to ensure democratic decision making through participatory local governance. It acknowledges that while partnerships hold both normative and practical benefits, they are by no means easy. Drawing on the experiences of Cape Town-based practitioners the document offers some recommendations for how to mitigate challenges related to multi-sectoral partnerships, and for ensuring meaningful collaboration between diverse stakeholders.

This practice brief provides an overview of upgrading as an approach to development. This serves not only to highlight the merits of upgrading, as well as key principles such as participation and incrementalism, but also to draw out some of the potential limitations to the successful large-scale implementation of upgrading interventions in South Africa.

This practice brief argues that inclusive cities can only be built through processes that draw on the experiences and expertise of local communities. It shows that community-based planning offers key principles and methods that are useful for formulating upgrading interventions that are grounded in community participation and that promote the co-construction of inclusive, just and sustainable urban living environments.

This practice brief argues that actors who are able to hold the space between key stakeholders in the process of informal settlement upgrading have a significant role to play in strengthening development practice in South Africa. Given the complexity of informal settlement upgrading – an approach that requires the involvement of multiple actors with often divergent interests – the practice brief suggests that intermediation is critical to the success of this approach

Consolidating Developmental Local Government: Lessons from the South African Experience (Juta Press) 2008 - ISBN: 9781919895048