ABOUT US

About Violence Prevention Agency • Our Story • Vision & Mission • Stakeholders • Beneficiaries & Sectors

About Violence Prevention Agency

The Violence Prevention Agency is a non-profit company which seeks to make a contribution to violence prevention through advocacy, capacity building and psychosocial support. Violence prevention is framed through the lens of critical emancipatory learning which advocates for humans to become agents of change. It views violence prevention as a responsibility of all people firstly in their individual capacity and then collectively. Consequently, the VPA embraces partnerships to fulfil its vision and mission. It acknowledges the principle of social cohesion and the reality that the VPA cannot independently prevent violence. The organisation was founded and registered with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission in 2020 in terms of the Companies Act 71 of 2008.

Our Story

In 2019, the Trauma Centre for Survivors of Violence and Torture and 17 peer organisations released the People’s Commission of Inquiry into Child Safety in the Western Cape. The People’s Commission was established after the 18 organisations failed to persuade the Western Cape cabinet in 2018, that a judicial commission of inquiry was needed as a starting point to deal with child-based violence prevention. In July 2018, at the Trauma Centre’s Annual Nelson Mandela Dialogue, the children’s leg of the People’s Commission was initiated followed by adult stakeholders testifying in November 2018.

One of the focal areas of the People’s Commission was to capture the views of children regarding their lived experiences of violence through an art-based methodology using postcards. They were asked to draw life in their homes and communities and on the flip side of the postcard to write keywords of what they no longer wanted to see in their communities. A group of eighty children lobbied amongst their peers resulting in a collection of 2000 postcards.

Their testimonies summarised in the Final Report (Trauma Centre, 2019) provided a clear mandate for peace in the home, school, community and their surrounds. We believe that our children are advocating for social justice to prevent violence. The children’s strong views that adults must assume responsibility for the violence that children are experiencing hit a cord with the former executive director and founder of Violence Prevention Agency when they called upon all adults to change the status quo. Their mandate inspired the foundation of VPA which is centred on human agency to prevent violence.

Vision & Mission

Our Vision

The Violence Prevention Agency seeks to harness human agency to build just and equitable societies committed to preventing violence.

Our Mission

To encourage and support multiple strategies to prevent violence on a continuous basis.

Our Values

The VPA promotes values which will contribute towards the realisation of its vision and mission:

  1. We believe that human agency requires individual and collective commitment to violence prevention.
  2. We acknowledge and affirm human agency as central to violence prevention.
  3. We advocate respect for human rights in the pursuance of a social justice agenda.
  4. We promote a multidisciplinary, intersectoral approach to violence prevention.
  5. We affirm a holistic, inclusive approach to disrupting violence.

Our Stakeholders

  • Government agencies
  • Community-based organisations
  • Non-governmental organisations
  • Faith-based organisations
  • Business

Beneficiaries & Sectors

Our Sectoral Collaboration

  • Gender-based violence
  • Hate Crimes
  • Torture prevention
  • Organised Crime
  • People with disabilities
  • Mental health
  • Transitional Justice
  • Survivors of Torture

Our Beneficiaries

  • Women and children
  • People with disabilities
  • People with psychosocial disabilities
  • LGBTQI+ community
  • Survivors of hate crime
  • Survivors of Torture