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Project

Safe and Inclusive Cities: Research to Reduce Urban Violence, Poverty, and Inequalities
 

South America
South Asia
West Indies
Project ID
107246
Total Funding
CAD 1,811,136.00
IDRC Officer
Markus Gottsbacher
Project Status
Completed
End Date
Duration
55 months

Programs and partnerships

Governance and Justice
Safe and Inclusive Cities

Summary

The world became predominantly urban in 2007. Urbanization brings with it possibilities of improved access to jobs, goods, and services for poor people in developing countries.Read more

The world became predominantly urban in 2007. Urbanization brings with it possibilities of improved access to jobs, goods, and services for poor people in developing countries. However, a number of development challenges have emerged given that most urban growth is occurring in larger cities and slums in developing countries. There has been a sharp increase in the incidence and severity of violence. This has a number of implications for sustainable and equitable development.

This research project will provide operational support to develop and manage the Safe and Inclusive Cities (SAIC) program. This research initiative, developed by IDRC and the United Kingdom's Department for International Development, represents a joint investment of $4 million over four years. The program will build an evidence base on the connections between urban violence, poverty, and inequalities. It also seeks to identify the most effective strategies to address these challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.

The initiative aims to:

-clarify the relationship between urban violence, poverty, and inequalities
-identify the most effective strategies for tackling these challenges
-contribute to shaping the frameworks and methodologies that will guide future research on these issues
-help developing country researchers enhance their skills to design and execute innovative, policy-relevant, rigorous, and gender-sensitive research projects in cities affected by violence
-influence policy and practice by disseminating research results locally, regionally, and internationally.

Research outputs

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Book
Language:

English

Summary

Investing in research from the ground up, based on local realities and local understandings, the chapters in this book reflect research undertaken in dozens of cities in Latin America, Sub- Saharan Africa, and South Asia. Northern theories on their own are inadequate to explain everyday, structural, and sporadic forms of interpersonal and criminal violence in the cities assessed. At the core of this book is the ethos that lasting solutions to urban violence and inequality are best developed locally. This is the first of two books which map inter- linkages between social, political, and economic forms of inequality, exclusion, and violence.

Evaluation
Language:

English

Summary

The evaluation assesses the relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of the programme (including its overall value-for-money), as well as the quality of the research. It covers program-level activities, outputs and outcomes, while also drawing on information from all 15 Safe and Inclusive Cities (SAIC) funded projects. This evaluation serves an accountability purpose, validating the extent to which SAIC has achieved its objectives, while also providing learning for potential future programming on urban violence. From a policy-oriented and pragmatic perspective, the research is considered a valuable source of new data shedding light on key issues of urban violence. Recommendations are included.

Author(s)
Abitbol, Eric
Evaluation
Language:

English

Summary

Overall, the SAIC Program was found to be highly relevant to both DFID and IDRC, embodying and advancing their distinct and shared global, institutional and regional priorities. This past decade, the world’s urban population has increased to more than half of the global population. Responding to the 2011 World Development Report, which identified urban violence in the Global South as a key area of global concern, the Program was designed to closely align with global priorities and discourses that situate such violence as a development issue.

Author(s)
Abitbol, Eric
Book
Language:

English

Summary

Reducing Urban Violence in the Global South seeks to identify the drivers of urban violence in the cities of the Global South and how they relate to and interact with poverty and inequalities. Drawing on the findings of an ambitious five-year, 15-project research program supported by Canada’s International Development Research Centre and the UK’s Department for International Development, the book explores what works, and what doesn’t, to prevent and reduce violence in urban centres.

Cities in developing countries are often seen as key drivers of economic growth, but they are often also the sites of extreme violence, poverty, and inequality. The research in this book was developed and conducted by researchers from the Global South, who work and live in the countries studied, and challenges many of the assumptions from the Global North of how poverty, violence, and inequalities interact in urban spaces. In so doing, the book demonstrates that accepted understandings of the causes of and solutions to urban violence developed in the Global North should not be imported into the Global South without careful consideration of local dynamics and contexts. The book concludes by considering the broader implications for policy and practice, offering recommendations for improving interventions to make cities safer and more inclusive.

The fresh perspectives and insights offered by this book will be useful to scholars and students of development and urban violence, as well as to practitioners and policymakers working on urban violence reduction programs.

Brief
Language:

English

Summary

This annex summarises methods used in the mid-term evaluation process. Methods were diverse in order to develop a multi-dimensional understanding of the Safe and Inclusive Cities (SAIC) program. The analysis process triangulated between different perspectives and data sources to support recommendations. Based on gaps and inconsistencies identified in the document review process, interview schedules were designed specific to each respondent, based on their role and engagement with the program. Policy relevant outputs are provided along with survey results.

Author(s)
Wheeler, Joanna
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