Social exclusion and violence:
Education for social cohesion

The 40 Schools Project

Soweto, South Africa

The 40 Schools Project is a teacher training and violence prevention programme designed and directed by the Youth department of the Centre for Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) a multidisciplinary South African non-gonvernment organisation. It aims at mobilizing the learners in the involvement in a Safe schools Campaigns.

By a fully-fledged « Safe Schools » initiative, the programme seeks to evolve the school-community relationship and to use the schools to build greater community participation in community safety issues. A pilot training programme on « Alternatives to Violence » was undertaken to help guide young people at risk in relation to isues of crime and violence. Learners are sent to be trained on peer counseling and mediation during the holidays. The Youth department also developed and ran an anti-crime holiday programme during the vacation period which was a highly successful innovation and attracted the attention of many parents.
Many others activities and initiatives have been undertaken to mobilize the learners such as cleaning the schools, collecting books, doing affirmation activities or light and lively exercices.

The programme aims to build a wider community and organisation participation via the schools infrastructure, to make peaceful and fundamental transformation in South Africa. Futhermore, through providing recreational facilities to kids who are often otherwise idle and prone to criminal involvment during holiday periods, the programme also initiated an embrionic involement in comminuty-based crime prevention during the school holidays.

Yvette Geyer
Senior Educationalist
CSVR
4th floor, Braamfontein Centre,
23 Jorissen street, Braamfontein,
Johannesburg, South Africa
PO Box 30778, braamfontein, JHB, 2017
Tel : +27(11) 403-5650
e-mail : ygeyer@csvr.org.za

Institutional Partners
Independent Mediation Services of South Africa (IMSSA)
Departments of Education and Safety and Security

Financial Partners
CSVR

The project was lauched in September 1999

Intern evaluations