Schools-based violence prevention initiatives : lessons for programme design

In 2002, the MRC-UNISA Crime, Violence and Injury Lead Programme initiated a project that aimed to collate information on the practices of international and national schools-based violence prevention initiatives by means of reviewing existing literature and surveying selected South African programmes. The results of this project were presented in the form of a report that identifies some of the possibilities and potential pitfalls of developing, implementing and sustaining schools-based violence prevention programmes. A consolidated manual was also developed to provide practical guidelines for programme practitioners. This article describes how the conceptual framework and findings of the report were adapted to formulate a sequence of essential domains to be considered when devising a holistic schools-based violence prevention strategy, namely: content; planning; implementation and service delivery practicalities; evaluation; sustainability; diffusion; and replication. The stages of these domains are discussed and an overview is provided of the broad challenges and lessons learnt from local programmes are intended to assist both practitioners engaged in schools-based violence prevention, as well as those involved in psychosocial and development programmes more broadly.