The South African Cities Network (SACN) promotes good governance and management in South African cities. The SACN responds to strategic challenges facing South African cities through research, peer learning and knowledge generation. The Network further promotes shared-learning partnerships between different spheres of government in order to support and strengthen the management of South African cities.

The Urban Safety Reference Group (USRG) is one of the thematic reference groups within the SACN. The USRG facilitates advocacy and peer-to-peer learning on the subject of urban safety and is convened by the SACN with the technical support of the Inclusive Violence and Crime Prevention (VCP) Programme. The VCP Programme is a joint development programme between the governments of South Africa and Germany. It is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and co-financed by Global Affairs Canada (GAC).

One of the USRG’s core themes is evidence-informed decision-making for safety. This theme prioritises gender-centred and community-oriented approaches to violence prevention.

In September 2023 the SACN issued terms of reference for a project entitled “Designing and Applying Precinct-Based Safety Interventions”. This project required community engagement and the co-design of a precinct-based safety plan that would shape a holistic safety intervention within the precinct of the Hammanskraal CBD. The project aimed to provide the City of Tshwane and its area-based management interventions with an integrated and holistic crime/ violence prevention plan and set of interventions that could be integrated into a precinct plan.

In October 2023, a service provider partnership of Mbumba Development Services and Planact was appointed to implement the project over a period of approximately 11 months. The key outputs of the project involved five key phases, namely:

1. The analysis of the existing safety status quo in the Hammanskraal CBD;

2. An extensive engagement with key stakeholder groups;

3. The establishment of a community-based reference group;

4. The participatory development of the safety plan/safety interventions and

5. The public launch, in partnership with the Tshwane Metro Police Department, of the plan

The full set of outputs and milestones is described in the main body of this report.

This package of reports and other resources documents the process and provides learning tools for other cities and public entities that may wish to undertake a similar precinct-based safety planning exercise. The package is structured to provide a clear overview of the entire process but also allow users to ‘dip into’ and select individual resources for their own use.