Youth violence prevention and peace education programmes in South Africa: a preliminary investigation of programme design and evaluation practices

In South Africa the scale of violence amounts to a national public health crisis, and there is an urgent need for effective preventive intervention. Exposure to violence has significant consequences for child development. The effects may be evident in two principle domains: emotional functioning and socialization. When the exposure is of a more on-going, everyday nature, socialization effects and anti-social conduct. Unless alternatives are presented to the young person, aggressive behavior can become a normative strategy for the resolution of conflict. These realities lend urgency to the need to prevent the sources of violence and to address its consequences.