A recipe for preventing violence in the Western Cape

This article is written by Gwen Dereymaeker, Diketso Mufamadi-Mathebula and Lorenzo Andrews, Department of the Premier, Western Cape government and Chandré Gould, Institute for Security Studies

• The problem: Tight budgets coupled with often difficult relationships between academics, NGOs and government sectors result in siloed responses to violence prevention.
• Why it matters: Increasing levels of violence undermine the ability of citizens and families to reach their full potential in society.
• The solution: Cross-sectoral relationship building can strengthen violence prevention responses and ensure that families who need these interventions the most have access to them. This will result in a decrease in levels of violence and an increase in the wellbeing of citizens.

Evidence-led parenting programmes support parents to build warm, supportive relationships with their children, establish house rules and use positive discipline techniques instead of corporal punishment. These kinds of programmes have been shown to reduce child maltreatment and abuse and improve children's and parents’ mental health. In this way, they contribute to breaking cycles of violence.  

The evidence for the impact of parenting programmes was generated nationally and internationally. The INSPIRE and RESPECT frameworks for the prevention of violence against children and women emphasise the importance of supporting parents to reduce child and adolescent abuse – and show how. Studies assessing the implementation of parenting programmes in the Western Cape provided additional evidence that child and parenting outcomes can be improved through well-designed and -implemented programmes. These studies led to the co-design of guidelines on improving the quality and impact of parenting programmes and dedicated government funding to evidence-led parenting programmes.

Moving forward

This year’s State of the Province Address by Western Cape Premier Alan Winde heralded an important step forward for support to parents and families, and to prevent violence in the province. Winde announced that 3,000 more families would have access to parenting programmes annually. In her budget speech, Social Development MEC Sharna Fernandez indicated that this would entail the allocation of 45 million South African rand over the next three years to pilot the implementation of evidence-informed parenting programmes. The funding will be allocated to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and to Department of Social Development (DSD) social workers who agree to uphold guidelines for quality and responsive parenting programmes. These guidelines were co-designed by NGOs, government officials and researchers.  

It is not easy for government officials to trust NGOs, or for NGOs to trust government officials.

None of this was easy or quick to achieve. It required a unique process through which a receptive governmental environment combined with civil society innovation has enabled something groundbreaking for the province, and hopefully also the country. It is not easy for government officials to trust NGOs, or for NGOs to trust government officials. The relationships across these two sectors are often strained, not least by the power imbalance that results from the state being the holder of funds and NGOs often, being desperate for funds to provide services in communities.  

The foundation for trusting relationships was built through the Violence Prevention Forum (VPF). This forum has brought together policymakers, researchers, NGOs, international organisations and development partners since 2015, with the long-term goal of ensuring the scale-up of evidence-informed interventions to prevent violence. Relationships and networks built through this process enabled committed provincial policymakers to access and understand the knowledge and evidence generated through research.

Building partnerships

The recipe for this extraordinary outcome, given the extremely tight fiscal environment, may seem deceptively simple: Take a strong foundation of trusting relationships between researchers, NGOs and government officials responsible for the delivery of services to families. Combine that with an appreciation by policymakers and politicians of the value and importance of using the best knowledge and evidence to inform the implementation of policy priorities.  

Add good-quality local and international evidence; a tool for determining how much it would cost to implement the programmes, and willingness of officials and NGOs to work together across departments and sectors. Finally, create a network of those same officials, NGOs and researchers who are open to changing how they design, deliver and measure the impact of their services.  

Good relationships across and within sectors and good evidence are vital ingredients, but alone they are not enough. Policymakers and politicians need to believe in the value of evidence and be courageous enough to reach outside of government for support. The Western Cape Safety Plan 2020-2025 and the subsequent Recovery Plan set a vision for safety in the province, and emphasise the importance of evidence, and of relationships to prevent violence and improve safety. 

A costing tool enabled policymakers to accurately work out how much it would cost to scale up evidence-informed programmes. The willingness of economists and officials to work closely together to refine and improve the tool and bring it in line with provincial plans was testimony to the commitment that results from caring, respectful relationships between different sectors. 

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