| Invitation to Workshop on Making Communities Safer |
|
| Posted by Marlan Padayachee | |
| Monday, 04 May 2009 | |
|
Imagine Durban will host a half-day workshop to discuss how to make communities safer through building networks and partnerships in Durban on Saturday, 23 May. The upcoming workshop, taking place from 9am to midday at a venue to be announced, is part of a broader Imagine Durban demonstration project, Making Durban Safer Project, which is supported financially by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The Making Durban Safer Project is being led Dr Monique Marks, Associate Professor and lecturer in sociology at the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN). Her co-researchers are Dr Debby Bonnin, sociologist and Head of the School of Sociology and Social Science at UKZN and city development consultant, Richard Dobson. The focus of the project has been on surveying community safety forums in Durban to see what is effective (from the bottom-up) in promoting safety. As part of the project the researchers sampled three diverse neighbourhoods with varying demographics and with different community organizations. These areas include Warwick Avenue Triangle, the city’s busiest trading hub and commuter corridor; the Palm Ridge area in Berea, a previously white middle-class suburb; and Newlands East, an apartheid-created township. Information about crime trends and incidences and, more importantly, about community initiatives in the fight against crime, has been monitored and collated in this research based project. The key goal of the project is to uncover information about how communities are responding to crime, and to formulate a model for organising and collaborating with other agencies in creating safer spaces. The aim of the workshop to be held on the 23rd of May is to bring together safety stakeholders to discuss ways of making our local neighbourhoods safer places to live. In particular, the workshop will focus on what local communities can do by coming together, getting to know each other, and trying to solve local problems. The workshop will also focus on what the police (and the private security industry) can and should be doing in making communities safer and in promoting community initiatives. The workshop will form the basis of a manual which will be produced by project to be used by local community groupings whose aim is to imagine a safer Durban. Seats are limited on a first-come, first served protocol. Representatives of police, safety organization, safety forums or similar structures within local communities should contact to Zamah Ndlovu by email: ndlovuzc@durban.gov.za or on 031 311 3422 to get registration details.
DATE: Saturday, 23rd May, 2009
Bookmark
Hits: 413 Comments (0)
 |
