Why we do it
The South African Context
In South Africa, the need for collaboration to achieve evidence informed violence prevention is further complicated and necessitated by five important factors: the structure of government; the centrality of NGOs in violence prevention; the influence of development partners, donors and multinational organisations in the sector; and the high cost of violence.

Structure of Government
The post-1994 political system created governments at national, provincial and local levels. The three spheres of government are independent of each other and work together through cooperative governance with no operational hierarchy.
Some government functions are the exclusive constitutional mandate of either national, provincial or local government or are shared in cases such as health, social development, education and agriculture.
Preventing violence requires interventions at national, provincial and community level. Eleven national departments and their provincial counterparts have legal and institutional responsibilities to prevent and respond to violence against women and children.
Scaling up violence prevention interventions requires cooperation of departments both vertically (between spheres of government) and horizontally (in spheres of government).
The Centrality of NGOs in Violence Prevention
NGOs are crucial in violence prevention, addressing the service deficit from decades of government neglect of social welfare for apartheid-defined communities. In 2022, there were more than 250 000 registered NGOs in South Africa, with a large percentage providing social services. In the violence against women and children (VAWC) sector, NGOs provide victim services, advocacy, and primary prevention, contributing to over 90% of social welfare services. Effective prevention efforts require government collaboration with NGOs and inter-NGO cooperation.
Influence of development partners, donors and multinational organizations
Development partner, donors and multinational organizations like UNICEF, the EU, and GIZ significantly influence the sector, particularly as key funding sources for NGOs. The National Treasury’s analysis shows a funding gap of up to 71% for social welfare services. NGOs heavily depend on funding and support from philanthropies and multilateral agencies, which also support government policy initiatives, such as the National Strategic Plan on Gender-based Violence and Femicide. However, their mandates have tended to lead to fragmented and uncoordinated funding of interventions.
The High Cost of Violence
In 2015, the loss in human capital due to childhood experiences of violence was estimated at R238 billion, nearly double the annual budget for the criminal justice system. South African children face high levels of toxic stress from chronic poverty, systemic inequality, endemic violence, and widespread unemployment, impacting brain development
