Local Approaches to Violence Prevention

While responding to conflict may be viewed as the traditional domain of the police and security services, there is often a need for alternative or complementary approaches, especially in communities where governance is weak and security forces are ineffective or absent.

by Daniel Frey
Violence Prevention
A community workshop aimed at preventing violence in the Karamoja-Pokot-Turkana area on the Kenya-Uganda border. Photo: Acted.

Community-based early warning and early response systems arise out of the conviction that members of the community are uniquely positioned to understand subtle changes – the warning signs, or indicators – before local-level conflicts turn violent. They draw on the fact that community members, as those most likely to suffer directly from the effects of violence, have the greatest motivation to collaborate in creative ways to prevent violent conflict.

This publication offers an accessible overview of the current knowledge and learning about community-based EWER systems, including how they are established and how they function. It should be of interest to anyone interested in local approaches to violence prevention and conflict transformation.

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