Public Health Approach (PHA)

The PHA is a good starting point for violence prevention because it focuses on before-the-act and is intended to integrate efforts to identify and address root causes and risk factors that may produce violence. Also, it helps to develop a focus on the characteristics that decrease the likelihood of a person becoming victim or a perpetrator of violence.

The approach is evidence-based as it produces evidence on what works in violence prevention, based on data. The PHA builds on knowledge about risk and protective factors associated with violence. The model explores the relationship between individual, relational, social, cultural and environmental factors and thus considers interpersonal violence as the outcome of multiple influences on behaviour. It comprises four steps:

1. What is the problem? – It defines the violence problem through systematic data collection;
2. What are the causes? – It explores causes by identifying risk and protective factors and researching who it affects;
3. What works and for whom? – It designs, tests and evaluates prevention interventions to establish what works and for whom;
4. Ensures widespread adoption by scaling up the most effective and promising interventions, while at the same time assessing impact and cost-effectiveness¹.

Other benefits of the PHA is the development of a learn-as-you-go approach so that acquired knowledge can be built upon, which corresponds to the complexity leadership theory. Also, the approach encourages early interventions and inclusive working relationships with affected communities. Finally, the approach has proven to be useful when changing public attitudes and beliefs related to unsafe lifestyles².

Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA)

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights describes the Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA) as follows:

“A Human Rights-Based Approach is a conceptual framework for the process of human development that is normatively based on international human rights standards and operationally directed to promoting and protecting human rights. It seeks to analyze inequalities which lie at the heart of development problems and redress discriminatory practices and unjust distributions of power that impede development progress”

In violence prevention, the HRBA identifies at-risk groups as rights-holders and national authorities as duty bearers³. The approach works in parallel tracks:

“Towards strengthening capacities of right holders to make their claims and toward building the capacities of duty bearers to meet their obligations” (Kjaerulf & Barahona 2010: 386).

The HRBA stresses a need to create strategies to bridge the gap between the actors by facilitating meetings at the middle ground. It focuses on promoting human dignity through the development of claims and social and political accountability. It stresses active, free, and meaningful participation of relevant stakeholders in society, and by building on non-discrimination,

“It seeks to empower excluded and vulnerable groups in its quest to create socially guaranteed improvements in policy, including but not limited to legal frameworks” (Kjaerulf & Barahona 2010: 386).

Concretely, the HRBA provides international standards and norms, identifies citizens entitlements and state obligations explicitly, and can improve capacity building and mobilization in national prevention programs and policies. To prevent violence, any committed stakeholder must enter into legitimate dialogues with governments on the rights conferred by international conventions, such as freedom from torture, the right to life, and the right to physical and mental health, when governments have undertaken the obligations to respect these rights⁴.

Human Security Approach (HSA)

The HSA prioritizes the security of people. The approach directs attention to individuals rather than the state, as the state is often perceived as threatening rather than protecting its own population. There is a focus on safety from repression and protection from violence. HSA builds on human rights and democratic principles that enable people to participate in governance and require the strengthening of democratic institutions to establish the rule of law.

The HSA “entry point for violence prevention is prioritizing and addressing insecurities produced by violence to attain a higher degree of protection and empowerment of populations facing risks and dangers” (Kjaerulf & Barahona 2010: 387).

Human security means protecting people from critical and pervasive threats and situations, building on their strengths and aspirations. It creates systems that give people the building blocks of survival, dignity and livelihood. It offers two mutually reinforcing strategies: a top-down protection strategy and a bottom-up empowerment strategy.

“Protection shields people from danger, and human security helps identify gaps in the infrastructure of protection and ways to strengthen or improve it. Empowerment enables people to develop their potential and become full participants in decision making” (Kjaerulf & Barahona 2010: 388).

IUVP specifically applies a Human Security approach at dialogues workshops and meetings where duty bearers and right holders are invited. The approach seeks to strengthen bottom-up participation driven strategies by including civil society and the private sector in local governance to ensure that the initiatives respond to local needs. At the same time, the approach is top-down protection-driven when strengthening the state’s protection infrastructure, norms, processes and institutions. In such way, law enforcement and local government work together to protect citizens against insecurities and reduce the gap between partially dysfunctional state institutions and international human rights standards⁵.

Evidence-based Guiding principles for IUVP - The seven World Bank principles

IUVP interventions rely on the World Bank’s seven main findings that provide the basic conditions for urban violence prevention⁶:

1. There is a need to create the basic conditions for collective action: A minimum of security must be provided, while the underlying drivers of violence must be addressed.
2. There is a critical need to rebuild community trust: This must be done by sending clear signals that the current situation will change and ensuring a minimum of basic security. This allows people to work collectively and will create a social environment in which people feel it is worthwhile to trust one another and work together. It is vital to address the issues that people in communities perceive to be driving the problem, most often the lack of viable livelihoods and employment opportunities, especially for youth.
3. There should be a focus on building better relationships between state institutions, especially police, and the communities they serve. Among affected communities there is generally a desire for a kind of policing embedded in trust and coordination with the community.
4. This creates a foundation for addressing the trend toward extra-legal, private security solutions.
5. The World Bank study furthermore indicates the need to address the relationship among different forms of violence. This is particularly directed towards domestic violence and more public expressions of violence.
6. Furthermore, the study recommends orientations for supporting community capacities for preventions. This includes improving the built environment, which is essential for creating the necessary conditions for collective action in affected communities.
7. Finally, there is a need for improving the data collection and mechanisms. This can provide communities with accurate information on violence to empower community actions.

Evidence-based conditions - The five conditions for collective action

The focus of IUVP is to bring sectors together to achieve collective impact. Collective impact has gained tremendous momentum as a disciplined, cross-sector approach to solving social and environmental problems. Collective impact is the commitment of a group of important actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem. The complex problems cannot be solved by any single organization or sector alone. Cross-sector perspectives can improve collective understanding of the problem and create a sense of mutual accountability. The five conditions of collective impact, developed and described by John Kania and Mark Kramer in 2011⁷, are echoed in the IUVP program as factors that contribute to more successful urban violence prevention and help resolve conflicts more cooperatively.