Safety Governance Approach for Safe, Inclusive, and
Resilient Cities:
A Practical Guide for conducting Safety Governance
Assessments in urban environments
The Safety Governance Assessment Guide was developed in the context of the project
entitled “Safety Governance Approach in Urban Environments for Safe, Inclusive and Resilient
Communities”, implemented by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and
funded through the United Nations Development Account. This project constitutes the
foundational basis for UNODC’s new Global Programme entitled “Safety Governance
Approach in Urban Environments for Safe, Inclusive and Resilient Cities” (GLOUB1).
This publication aims to provide general and practical guidance on conducting Safety
Governance Assessments in urban areas. It outlines the Safety Governance Approach, the
purpose of Safety Governance Assessments, provides a step-by-step guide for the entire
assessment process, and outlines guiding principles and key considerations to be kept in mind
throughout the process. While the guide is a general reference for conducting Safety
Governance Assessments at the urban level, it is understood that it will need to be tailored to
suit specific local requirements and conditions.
Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1
URBAN SAFETY GOVERNANCE APPROACH 5
A. SAFETY GOVERNANCE IN THE URBAN CONTEXT: AN INTRODUCTION 5
B. URBAN SAFETY GOVERNANCE APPROACH 7
C. RISK AND RESILIENCE FACTORS 10
SAFETY GOVERNANCE ASSESSMENTS 12
A. SAFETY AUDITS – GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLES 13
B. FROM SAFETY AUDITS TO THE SAFETY GOVERNANCE ASSESSMENT 13
C. GUIDING PRINCIPLES 16
D. KEY CONSIDERATIONS 16
SAFETY GOVERNANCE ASSESSMENT PROCESS 21
A. PLANNING 21
B. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 31
I. DATA COLLECTION METHODS 31
II. IMPORTANT ADVICE FOR COLLECTING PRIMARY DATA 35
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS PROCESS 40
C. PRESENTATION AND VALIDATION OF RESULTS 55
I. BUILDING CONSENSUS ON LOCAL PRIORITIES AND DEVELOPING RECOMMENDATIONS 56
II. WRITING THE REPORT 56
D. STRATEGIES AND POLICIES 57
APPENDICES 59
APPENDIX I: SAMPLE CONSENT FORM FOR PARTICIPATION IN SAFETY GOVERNANCE
ASSESSMENT 59
APPENDIX II: LIST OF POTENTIAL INDICATORS FOR THE DATA ANALYSIS: 60
APPENDIX III: LINES OF INQUIRY FOR INITIAL ASSESSMENT 64
APPENDIX IV: LINES OF INQUIRY BY THEMATIC ISSUE 65
APPENDIX V: RISK AND RESILIENCE FACTORS FOR VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS 91
APPENDIX VI: SAFETY GOVERNANCE ASSESSMENT REPORT TEMPLATE 93
APPENDIX VII: ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 97
1
Executive Summary
Urbanisation is closely linked with increases in economic and social development. Yet,
alongside all the growth and advancement taking place, cities across the globe are
undermined by chronic insecurity, violence and corruption, including those resulting from
crime challenges originating beyond urban or national boundaries. The security challenges of
individual cities are increasingly a result of the intersection of individual vulnerabilities, local
risks and illicit flows from across national borders.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable recognises that reducing conflict, crime, violence,
discrimination, and ensuring the rule of law, inclusion, and good governance are key elements
of people’s well-being and essential for securing sustainable development. The 2030 Agenda
also explicitly highlights the promotion of safe, inclusive and resilient cities (SDG 11).
In 2016, UNODC identified the need for more effective and evidence-based interventions at
the urban level to strengthen resilience of communities to crime and violence, as well as to
reduce their vulnerabilities to transnational illicit flows (like trafficking of persons, drugs, illicit
financial flows, firearms and counterfeit goods). With two-thirds of the world population
expected to reside in cities by 2050, these challenges will only continue to become more acute
in urban settlements world over.
1
UNODC’s Response to Urbanisation and Risk
1
World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision, ECOSOC
2
In order to respond to urban challenges, it is essential to develop more holistic, integrated
strategies and interventions. UNODC, in close coordination with UN partners and non-state
actors, is well placed to assist Member States to diagnose priority areas of concern and then
develop sound evidence-based interventions that seek to promote healthy, safe, inclusive and
resilient cities. UNODC understands the value in engaging with local stakeholders, alongside
national actors, and empowering them with relevant tools and services as part of this process.
At community level, UNODC, with the complementary expertise of UN agencies, has strong
experience in preventing substance abuse, preventing juvenile delinquency, promoting
education for justice and peace, preventing and responding to gender-based violence, and
violence against children. Over the last five years, UNODC has assisted local governments
through Safety Audits in cities in Colombia, Mexico, Kyrgyzstan, collecting and analysing data,
conducting participatory crime diagnosis to inform prevention policies and programmes linked
to crime and victimisation.
What is the Urban Safety Governance Approach?
Following recent independent evaluation recommendations, UNODC’s envisioned
intervention aims to build on the past work on Safety Audits, through the Urban Safety
Governance Approach. This approach emphasises the need for an in-depth understanding of
how a wider set of localised risk factors interact with illicit external flows to give rise to safety
challenges. It highlights the need for context-specific responses which seek to reverse risk
factors to re-establish legitimate governance, reduce inequality and promote inclusion and
individual and community resilience. The approach provides policymakers a framework within
which to address an intersection of global threats and local dynamics in order to seek out what
builds resilience.
3
It is expected that the Urban Safety Governance Approach will lead to four main outcomes:
1) Identification of local challenges and priority areas of intervention;
2) Integrated strategy and policy development;
3) Enhanced capacity of officials and institutions at the local and national level;
and
4) Greater coordination and partnerships between all stakeholders.
The first step of the Urban Safety Governance Approach is the Urban Safety Governance
Assessment. The Safety Governance Assessment broadens the scope of the traditional safety
audit to examine not only issues related to crime and victimisation but also a wide range of
other issues including but not limited to corruption, illicit transnational flows, preventing violent
extremism, and health-centred drug prevention, treatment and care. Thematic areas covered
by the analysis would vary according to the specific city context and the priorities identified by
the local partners. Using an integrated and participatory approach, the Safety Governance
Assessments will support local governments, and other relevant authorities, in identifying
priority issues and developing strategies to prevent and address risks to urban safety and
good governance.
Implementation of the Urban Safety Governance Assessment
The Assessment process consists of four key phases: (1) Planning; (2) Data Collection and
Analysis; (3) Presentation and Validation of Results; and (4) Strategies and Policies.
4
During the Data Collection and Analysis phase, available secondary data is combined with
primary data gathered through surveys, key informant interviews, focus group discussions,
and other participatory methods. The assessment aims to understand the local context,
including socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics, crime incidence, drug use
and dependence, and local governance and policing and judicial mechanisms among others
in order to identify priority issues for urban safety and governance. Once priority issues are
determined, the research focuses on the views of the local community, civil society, and local
government and other relevant authorities, in order to understand the specific nature of local
challenges, risk factors, actors involved, assess relevant policies and programmes and
institutional capacities, and determine community assets to build resilience.
The results from the Urban Safety Governance Assessment should be used to create
evidence-based policy recommendations to improve the safety and well-being of urban
dwellers. Emphasis will be placed on both working with Member States and their relevant local
governments to identify priority areas, as well as on establishing realistic outcomes with
measures and milestones against which to gauge progress.
The approach then foresees the design and adoption of public policies at the local level, with
corresponding budgetary allocations, to ensure sustainability and local ownership of the
process in the short and medium-term. UNODC, in cooperation with key partners, would
provide capacity building and technical support for the implementation of key activities
identified through the assessment and included in the public policy and action plan. Local
counterparts would thus have the means available to measure progress and the capacity to
implement preventive and transformative actions to enhance urban safety and good
governance.
5
Urban Safety Governance Approach
A. Safety Governance in the urban context: an introduction
The majority of the world’s population currently reside in cities. This is expected to rise to two-
thirds of the population, or an estimated six billion, by 2050
2
. Cities and towns undergo rapid
transformations as a result of the economic, social, cultural, and communication shifts brought
on by urbanisation. Closely linked with increases in economic and social development, urban
areas are associated with anywhere between 55 and 85 percent of national GDP
3
, providing
a space for innovation and growth.
However, alongside all the growth and advancement taking place in urban areas, some cities
across the globe are undermined by chronic insecurity, violence and corruption, which are
often connected to crime challenges originating beyond urban boundaries. Many urban areas
have higher rates of homicide (a useful proxy for levels of violence more generally)
4
than the
national average, in part because urban areas host many enablers of violent behaviour,
including high levels of income inequality, large groups of unemployed youth, the potential for
anonymity within a dense population, and the existence of gangs and other organised criminal
groups.
There is an increased recognition that inclusive, safe and resilient societies are a crucial factor
of sustainable development, as reflected in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
5
Recently, high level meetings of Member States have called for innovative approaches to
address crime in a consultative and participatory manner (e.g. the Doha Declaration adopted
by the 13th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, 2015
6
), and
stressed the need for measures on crime prevention and public safety in cities, including by
engaging relevant local communities and non-governmental actors (e.g. the New Urban
Agenda and its implementation plan, adopted by the United Nations Conference on Housing
and Sustainable Urban Development, 2016
7
). The New Urban Agenda provides the roadmap
for sustainable urbanisation in the years to come, stressing the importance of crime prevention
and safety for the future of cities. In line with the UN Guidelines on Crime Prevention, the New
Urban Agenda stresses the importance of engaging not only the police, but various levels and
sectors of government.
While local governments are on the frontline when it comes to managing security, and
providing responses to the inhabitants of a city, the security challenges of individual cities are
increasingly a result of the intersection between local vulnerabilities and illicit flows from
across national borders. In 2016, research conducted by UNODC across ten cities identified
2
See UN DESA, Population Division, World Urbanisation Prospects 2018 Revision.
(https://population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-KeyFacts.pdf)
3
UN Habitat, World Cities Report 2016, (Nairobi: UN Habitat, 2016).
4
UNODC, Global Study on Homicide 2013, (Vienna: UNODC, 2013); UNODC, Global Study on Homicide
2011, (Vienna: UNODC, 2011);
5
UN General Assembly Resolution 70/1, ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development’.
6
UN General Assembly resolution 70/174, ‘Thirteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and
Criminal Justice’, para. 10.
7
UN General Assembly resolution 71/256, ‘New Urban Agenda’, annex, and the Quito implementation
plan for the New Urban Agenda, A/CONF.226/4* of 29 September 2016, para. 103.
6
several key illicit flows (like trafficking in persons and drugs, illicit financial flows, firearms and
counterfeit goods) as having a direct link to city safety. These illicit flows intersect with
individual vulnerabilities and local socio-economic conditions, and give rise to complex
security challenges, that local governments are often unable to fully understand and address.
Aside from having an impact on the resilience of cities themselves, public institutions and
states as a whole are also affected by the destabilising effects of these flows of illicit
commodities and the associated challenges of organised crime, corruption, and terrorism.
Modern cities now serve as the primary nodes in the fundamental systems that structure the
global political-economy – ranging from, amongst others, financial systems, government
platforms and transportation routes. They are not only hubs of economic productivity but are
at the intersection of cross-border flows of people, goods and ideas. Urban security is thus
increasingly a concern for a wide range of policymakers ranging from international to the local
level. It is key to take advantage of urbanisation as an engine of sustained and inclusive
economic growth and social development, for which safety and security provide an important
base.
As the 2030 Agenda attests, there is an increasing recognition of the linkages between a range
of risk factors and the fragility of cities. Risks generally act in combination – in that sense they
are cumulative, a series of interdependent risks that can impact on each other. It is crucial
therefore to understand fragility not simply as a result of one or more factors, but as
accumulating at their intersections. The risks faced in urban complexities, or in parts of them,
are related to the economic situation and the way a city is governed and manages to promote
social cohesion. In addition, cities face internal and external risks that have an impact on safety
and security at the local level.
Acting together, these factors greatly increase levels of vulnerability in urban concentrations;
given this, they must be analysed and monitored together and not in isolation. These
vulnerabilities may manifest as sudden shocks or longer-term underlying stressors, such that
cities can shift quite rapidly along a continuum between fragility and resilience.
8
Importantly,
these factors should not be regarded only as the results of endogenous local “incapacities”,
as they are often embedded in broader political, economic, social or ecological dynamics at
the national, regional and international level.
9
Negative forces of globalisation, weak or distorted forms of local governance and a set of
conditions conducive to violence have created situations of extreme human insecurity. These
are interrelated; however, most research and policy work concentrate not on the intersections,
but on each of the factors in isolation. While each is important in its own right, the reality of
the emerging safety challenge is to understand more effectively how these dynamics interact
with each other, how, in effect, the overall effect is more than the sum of its parts – and what
conditions will maximise safety and development opportunities for citizens.
These phenomena are undercutting good governance and the rule of law, and threatening
security, development and peoples’ life chances. For instance, corruption is a critical systemic
8
World Economic Forum, Strengthening Resilience in Fragile Cities, (Geneva: WEF, 2015).
9
Independent Commission on Multilateralism, Fragile States and Fragile Cities, (New
York: International Peace Institute, 2015).
7
obstacle in building resilient, strong and efficient institutions that could be trusted and
supported by citizens. At the urban level, corruption results in not just ineffectiveness but also
enables criminal gangs and organised crime networks to operate in cities. These trends, while
not entirely in the control of the local governments, affect the integrity of local institutions and
often deem the implementation of local level crime prevention programmes inadequate to
address the problems holistically.
In order to address this challenge to sustainable development, growth and well-being,
concerted efforts by local authorities, governments, civil society, and international
organisations are needed to implement holistic and integrated strategies rooted in evidence-
based, gender, age participatory and culture-sensitive approaches, particularly in at-risk urban
areas. There is also a need to harness new technologies to gather, analyse, centralise, and
communicate data, map perceptions of crime and fear in public spaces, improve access to
services and justice, and develop innovative responses to assist governments in making cities
safer, more inclusive, and resilient.
B. Urban Safety Governance Approach
The Urban Safety Governance Approach
10
emphasises the need to adopt a strategic
approach to safety and good governance based on an in-depth understanding of how a wider
set of localised risk factors, including weak urban planning, environmental degradation, and
antisocial behaviour, interact with external threats such as illicit flows to create conditions of
insecurity, including different forms of ‘criminal governance’ that seek to subvert city and state
governance.
10
For a detailed treatment of the Safety Governance Approach, see UNODC, Governing Safer Cities:
Strategies for a Globalised World, (Vienna: UNODC, 2016).
What is meant by ‘safety’?
Safety can be thought of as physical protection, but it can also be used in the wider sense,
speaking to the ability of people to make the choices they consider necessary for their own
well-being. Safety is a necessary condition for providing life choices to individual people. Life
choices are dramatically reduced in contexts of violence, crime, fear and uncertainty, but
equally when social services such as education and health are poor, missing or difficult to
access. Indeed, lower levels of physical safety are almost always present when varied forms
of opportunity and service delivery are absent. That is no coincidence. Safety in an urban
context then encompasses much more than simply protecting people. It means the
development of educational and health structures, recreational venues, the harnessing of local
skills, and the facilitation of community-building activities, all whilst taking a gender responsive
approach, recognising the needs and views of women and girls and men and boys focused on
their diversity (looking across a broad spectrum of factors such as age, race, ethnicity, income,
(dis)abilities, etc.). When viewed from this perspective, safety has everything to do with
inclusive development, and thus needs to be strategically integrated in the deployment of
resources and interventions.
8
This approach has the potential to bolster local governance and law enforcement institutions,
while at the same time, improve coordination between national and local government policies
and practices to address safety risks linked to corruption, terrorism, substance abuse, crime
and violence as a multi-causal, and many times, common-vulnerability-factor phenomenon.
This Safety Governance Approach is key to providing sustainable results on the ground.
The Urban Safety Governance Approach encapsulates a number of elements:
Regulation: City governments have multiple regulatory powers related to crime prevention
and control, but also to a range of other resource distribution and executive powers that can
also be used as levers to reinforce security and address root causes enabling insecurity.
Enforcement: Law enforcement must involve local communities and support the systematic
use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques to pro-actively address conditions that
give rise to public safety issues and fear of crime. Upholding human rights and the rule of law
are key for enhancing safety in cities.
Engagement: Engagement and communication remain among the most important tools that
city officials may have in fostering inclusive, resilient and law-abiding societies. Local
governments are best placed to promote civil education and a sense of belonging. They often
have extensive programmes of activities with the community at neighbourhood level and are
able to reach their population directly. Using the right strategies and ensuring a gender
responsive approach, they can produce more rapid change by empowering community
agents of change and address the needs of marginalised and vulnerable groups.
Resilience: There is a range of activities that reduce vulnerability and reinforce community
resilience. These may require thinking innovatively about who may be able to contribute to
community resilience and bolstering the intervention capacities of communities themselves,
including drawing on the resilience of groups that are often excluded, such as women and
the youth.
What is an illicit ‘flow’?
The Urban Safety Governance Approach uses a relatively broad definition of ‘flows’,
encompassing resource streams that move into or through urban environments. Such flows
therefore include a wide variety of commodities, including people, money, arms and drugs.
While some flows are by their nature legal, the illegality arises from how they are managed
and/or the extent to which violence, or the threat of violence, is associated with them.
Resources can be extracted from such flows in two ways:
1. Through their movement (trafficking) and sale; and
2. Through the extraction of protection payments by local powerholders.
Source: Governing Safer Cities: Strategies for a Globalised World (2016)
9
The approach highlights the need for socio-economic development and inclusion, with
strengthened institutions, including enhanced spatial planning, housing, the provision of
services, and a constant process of engagement with all those involved. The result must be
that all can benefit from the advantages that cities have to offer in terms of economic and
social development, eliminating many of the risk factors for crime and violence, and placing
particular emphasis on communities, families, children and youth at risk. Human rights and
the rule of law must be respected in all aspects of safety and security policies and
programmes, and a culture of lawfulness should be actively promoted.
By collectively identifying the needs, vulnerabilities and capacities of people, communities and
local governments, and by advancing solutions that are comprehensive and integrated, the
safety governance approach can be instrumental in emphasising the critical significance of
assessing, planning and implementing preventive and corrective actions from a holistic, cross-
sectoral perspective.
Figure 2: The Urban Safety Governance Approach
10
C. Risk and resilience factors
Risk and resilience factors are not direct causal links but rather are factors that correlate with
higher or lower levels of crime and/or violence. Risk factors for crime and violence can emerge
from multiple levels, including individual-related factors such as sensation-seeking behaviour,
early aggressiveness, substance use, witnessing or experiencing abuse as a child; family-
related factors, or peer, school, and community-related factors, e.g. friends who are gang
members, easy availability of firearms/drugs, poor school performance, and little social
cohesion. In addition, larger national or global structural factors may lead to more crime,
including unregulated urbanisation, illicit flows and structural as well as socio-economic risks
such as high levels of income and social inequality and associated concentrations of poverty,
and risks associated with weak governance and social cohesion, including poor access to
security and justice services and low levels of state legitimacy.
Figure 3: Risk factors
Similarly, resilience factors can emerge from these multiple levels. Resilience is defined as an
acquired capacity amongst people (as individuals or groups) to be able to resist external illicit
influences or more effectively manage the costs that these influences may cause.
11
Factors
such as parental support and involvement, positive educational climate, micro-economic
11
See A. Zolli & A.M. Healy, Resilience: why things bounce back, (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2012).
11
security and social protection, strong social cohesion, and inclusive access to security and
justice services can help to improve resilience. Factors that enable resilience are often specific
to the local context, and thus the Urban Safety Governance Approach highlights that pre-
identifying universal resilience factors could lead to important context-specific factors being
overlooked. Nonetheless, when identifying specific resilience factors, it is important to bear in
mind that best practices in community resilience
12
tend to:
o Be based on a common purpose and local identity;
o Use the cultural resources of the community (including history, beliefs, values,
traditions etc.) to reinforce positive identity and social cohesion;
o Gather the community around local projects intended to improve the quality of life of
all residents (including projects related to infrastructure, public services, and public
spaces, among others);
o Enable collaboration and trust within the local community and between the community,
local government institutions, and policing and judicial agencies;
o Enhance peaceful resolution of conflicts and mediation in neighbourhoods;
o Promote the visibility of positive role models for youth and children;
o Adopt mixed land uses (residential, commercial, cultural);
o Reorganise spaces through safe urban design, urban renewal, slum upgrading;
o Use participatory urban design techniques, i.e. involve the community, including
experts and community actors, in defining their own vision for the neighbourhood,
contributing to developing proposals, providing feedback on safety design,
accessibility and inclusiveness, and monitor progress and maintenance.
12
UNODC & UN Habitat, A guide for participatory safety audits, (Vienna & Nairobi: UNODC & UN Habitat,
2018).
12
Figure 4: Threats to urban communities
Safety Governance Assessments
13
Figure 5: The Urban Safety Governance Assessment
A. Safety Audits – Good Practice Examples
Safety audits can be defined as “a systematic analysis undertaken to gain an understanding
of the crime and victimization-related problems in a city to identify assets and resources for
preventive activity, to enable priorities to be identified; and to help shape a strategy that will
enable these problems to be tackled.”
13
UNODC has acquired significant experience in conducting safety audits in the urban context.
Audits have been conducted in various cities, mainly in Colombia, and more recently Mexico,
as well as Kyrgyzstan, to examine issues related to urban safety, focused primarily on crime
and violence prevention. The experiences from audits in Cali (Colombia), Querétaro (Mexico),
and Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) will be used throughout this guide to provide examples of good
practices when conducting Safety Governance Assessments.
B. From Safety Audits to the Safety Governance Assessment
13
European Forum for Urban Security (Efus), Methods and Tools for a Strategic Approach to Urban
Security, (Paris: Efus, 2016), p.17.
14
The Safety Governance Assessment widens the scope of the traditional safety audit to include
a broader spectrum of issues – such as those related to corruption, illicit transnational flows,
preventing violent extremism, and health-centred drug prevention, treatment and care. Based
on the Safety Governance Approach, the assessment is premised on the recognition that
challenges to city safety emerge from a complex interaction of risk factors (at local, national,
and global levels) and that these factors must be examined together and not in isolation given
that, acting together, these risks greatly increase levels of vulnerability in urban areas.
A Safety Governance Assessment can be conducted in a city, or a specific area within a city
(e.g. district, borough, neighbourhood, etc.) depending on its size. It is envisioned that the
assessment process will enable a more comprehensive understanding of the safety and
governance challenges in a city or urban area, by examining a wider range of issues and how
What is meant by ‘governance’?
Governance is often understood as the political structures and processes of the state through
which decisions are taken and implemented, and thus is seen as synonymous to
government. However, while illicit or illegal activities may be illegitimate in the eyes of
governments, local communities and individuals may view them in different ways. For
example, in the absence of governing institutions that meet their needs, local populations
may view criminal enterprises as having legitimacy and inspiring greater loyalty. Across the
globe, there are many examples of organised crime and terror groups delivering other kinds
of services, including social services, livelihoods and some forms of social organisation and
justice. In doing so, they can gain local legitimacy despite their illicit activities. In order to fully
understand safety and governance challenges, it is important to go beyond structures and
processes of the state to consider other sources of authority including non-state actors, as
well as social norms and customs that shape people’s behaviour.
Governance is therefore conceptualised more broadly to go beyond the structures and
processes of a national or local government. It refers to structures and processes of
authority that govern social, political and economic relationships, including both
formal regulatory institutions (such as local and national governments; local and
national legislation, and international legal frameworks, among others) and informal
regulatory institutions (including practices, customs, and social norms that shape
behaviour), as well as private forms of authority.
‘Local governments’ vs. ‘Local authorities’
Oftentimes, the term ‘local authorities’ is used to refer to local governments. However, it is
necessary to distinguish between the two. Local governments refer to a legitimate form of
government with legal powers to provide services, to create policies, and to be accountable
to the citizens it serves. Local authorities, on the other hand, can also include utility firms that
have a public mandate but are privately managed. A Metropolitan transport authority, for
example, is also a local authority (UN Habitat, Glossary Local Governments and
Decentralization).
15
they interact, in order to identify policy recommendations and priorities for intervention,
determine assets and resources for preventive and early action activities, and, shape targeted
technical assistance to strengthen institutional capacity at urban level. The term ‘assessment’
is preferred over ‘audit’, as the term ‘audit’ has the potential to mislead stakeholders on what
the process entails.
The primary aim of the Safety Governance Assessment is to gain a holistic understanding of
the challenges and opportunities in an urban area to develop and implement appropriate
policies for improving urban safety and local governance.
This is achieved by engaging all relevant stakeholders in:
a) the gathering of data and analysis of a wide range of safety and governance issues,
including social and institutional factors; and
b) the development of holistic and integrated strategies to address local safety and
governance.
The Safety Governance Assessment process will enable:
o A holistic understanding of the dynamics surrounding urban safety and governance
issues, including:
o the subjective dimensions of safety and governance, i.e. perceptions of the local
community, specific social groups, local government departments, and other
stakeholders on safety, level of trust in local government departments, police and
other law enforcement agencies, judicial agencies, as well as perceptions on the
effectiveness of these actors;
o the impact of illicit transnational flows on urban safety and how these flows can
permeate local institutions;
o existing legal and regulatory frameworks and institutional capacities to respond to
challenges;
o communication, accountability and coordination mechanisms between various local
institutions, and between government departments or agencies and non-
governmental stakeholders;
o gaps in existing data, and crime or grievance reporting mechanisms, and
weaknesses in data collection methods;
o causes and interdependencies of risk factors;
o assets and resources for building community resilience.
o Identification of local challenges and consensus among relevant stakeholders on priority
areas of intervention.
o Greater coordination and partnerships, between various local institutions, institutions at
local, national and international levels, and government entities and non-government
stakeholders.
o Improved technical and managerial capacities in data collection on urban safety among
local authorities and non-governmental partners for a more effective governance on
safety.
16
o Development of recommendations for appropriate urban policies and an integrated,
inclusive strategy for urban safety and governance.
C. Guiding principles
This section outlines some guiding principles to be kept in mind throughout the entire
assessment process. The core of these principles is that effective urban safety governance
can only be truly achieved through an inclusive process where all stakeholders work together.
• Identify both challenges and opportunities for local safety governance
In addition to identifying the challenges to urban safety and good governance, and
understanding their dynamics, it is also important for the assessment to identify factors in the
system that can promote positive change and/or build community resilience. Positive factors
may lie with individuals, groups (or parts of groups); organisations (and parts of organisations).
• Represent all in the community
The views of women and men, and girls and boys, must be taken into account, from an
intersectional approach. Safe and accessible spaces must be created to engage diverse
participants’ perspectives and ensure that community groups are adequately represented in
the assessment process, especially those groups who may be most at risk of experiencing the
crime or violence challenges being addressed in the assessment. Moreover, engaging
government support at both local and national levels, and involving experts, key decision-
makers is important, not only for the perspectives they provide, but also to ensure that the
concerns and views of the community, especially ‘hard-to-reach’ groups, feed into
policymaking and implementation processes.
• Promote a shared vision for local safety
The assessment should be used as a tool to improve collaboration and trust between the
community, local government, and other relevant actors at both local and national levels, and
in doing so, promote a shared vision for local safety amongst the community.
D. Key considerations
A number of considerations need to be taken into account when planning and conducting a
safety governance assessment.
• Human rights
The promotion of human rights is central to any safety governance assessment and indeed
should guide the entire assessment process, from data collection and analysis to the
presentation and validation of results, as well as the development of any urban policies and
programmes based on the assessment. The assessment should not be used as a means to
encourage or justify vigilantism or retributive action – it is intended to be used as part of a
17
process focused on prevention and early action. It is especially important during the
development of urban policies, based on the results of the safety governance assessment, to
critically examine whether the recommendations offered would have a positive impact on the
enjoyment of human rights.
• Recognising the diversity of perspectives within the community
A city’s population is made up of many groups with different perspectives and priorities for
urban safety. These include, among others, women, youth, religious and ethnic minorities,
indigenous peoples, migrants, refugees or asylum seekers, people with disabilities, older
persons. All these groups have a right to be recognised in the assessment process.
It is therefore important that data is disaggregated by age, gender, race/ethnicity and a range
of other relevant factors in order to specifically examine the experiences and perspectives of
such groups separately. Furthermore, recognising that official data will not always adequately
reflect their experiences and perceptions, proactive steps must be taken to ensure the
inclusion and active participation of marginalised and most vulnerable groups in the
assessment process.
It is important to consider whether the safety of those participating in the assessment will be
compromised as a result of their involvement and identify means to address this, including
confidentiality of information collected from individual participants, location of consultations,
among others.
Gender
Both women and men need to be involved in urban safety governance issues equally, as they
are affected differently by crime, violence and other safety risk factors. For instance, while the
majority of intentional homicide victims are men, the majority of the victims of intimate
partner/family-related homicide are women.
14
Women and girls often experience different
forms of sexual harassment in public spaces by male perpetrators in cities around the world
15
In addition, men and women may experience differences in access to services. The specific
safety needs and sources of safety challenges often vary between men and women and,
therefore, need to be taken into consideration separately.
During the safety governance assessment, gender differentials of crime should be identified
through the collection and analysis of data that is disaggregated by sex. In addition, cultural
norms that tolerate violence against women and girls in private and public spaces, and in the
home, should be detected and preventive action recommended.
To obtain a thorough, gender-sensitive understanding of safety issues, the safety governance
assessment should go beyond understanding the distinct roles of men and women as regards
crime and violence, to examine differences within these groups as well as take into account a
wider spectrum of gender and sexual orientation issues, including the safety of LGBTQIA+
individuals and communities.
14
UNODC, Global Study on Homicide 2018, (Vienna: UNODC, 2018).
15
UN Women, Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces, (New York: UN Women, 2017)
18
Age
In order to conduct a holistic assessment, there needs to be a wide range of feedback from
all ages. CSOs and education centres frequently facilitate programs to target at-risk youth as
a crime prevention strategy, often focusing on substance use prevention and gang prevention
initiatives
16
. These types of youth programs offer a space for youth participation in the safety
governance assessment. Youth and at-risk youth can also be reached through schools and
education centres within an urban area. It is also important to consider how to adapt data
collection methods to suit different youth populations to ensure greater participation in the
assessment.
Although youth are often targeted with crime prevention strategies, elderly people should also
be included within the participatory framework. Older persons can be exposed to higher levels
of violence as the World Health Organization estimates that around 1 in 6 people over the age
of 60 years old experience some form of abuse in community settings
17
. The assessment
should therefore include the perspectives of older persons in a city. Elderly participants can
be reached in neighbourhoods and in retirement centres (if available).
If possible, the assessment should disaggregate data by age to account for safety and
governance issues that affect different ages at different capacities. Therefore, both young and
elderly contributors are vital for a safety governance assessment.
Ethnicity and race
People of different ethnic and racial backgrounds may be affected by discriminatory practices
within an urban context. The assessment’s participants should represent the societal makeup
of the urban area by including individuals of diverse ethnic and racial background who can
provide a broad range of perspectives regarding crime. In cases where there are distinct ethnic
groups within the urban context assessed, it may be necessary to consult these groups
separately if there are underlying tensions and discrimination issues. Where possible, data
disaggregated by race or ethnicity should be used for the assessment.
• Sharing information and data confidentiality
For the assessment to fully utilise all available resources, it is essential for various local
institutions to share relevant information across organisational boundaries. While legitimate
concerns regarding data confidentiality certainly exist, these should not have an impact on the
sharing of aggregated statistical data which cannot be linked to individuals. Furthermore,
these constraints should not prohibit the use of information gained through consultations with
the local community and other stakeholders, as long as individual participants and their
comments are not identified without their informed consent.
• Multi-level governance
16
WHO, UNODC, UNDP Global Status Report on Violence Prevention 2014
https://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/status_report/2014/en/
17
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/elder-abuse
19
While many responsibilities in the areas of justice and security often lie with the national
government, cities have a key role to play in identifying risks of crime and vulnerabilities and
ensuring that policies and programmes are tailored to the local context and implemented in a
sustainable manner. In many countries, decentralised forms of governance have not been
fully developed or adopted, leaving local governments facing increasingly global challenges
in areas where they have no legal authority nor capacity to act. As challenges to city safety
arise from a complex interaction of risk factors (at local, national and global levels), a multi-
level response is needed.
Complementary leadership and improved coordination between state and non-state
authorities at the national and local level can contribute to more effective urban strategies.
Policy recommendations that emerge from the assessment results should therefore be
embedded in national and global frameworks to effectively address risk in a coordinated way.
It is also important for the assessment team to not only engage with local level stakeholders
but also involve national and international actors in the assessment process, particularly in the
validation of results.
• Ownership of the Safety Governance Assessment
Political ownership of the assessment is key to ensuring sustainability of the process and the
ensuing policies. It is therefore important to clearly determine who will lead the assessment
process, garner and formalise support around it, and establish coordination mechanisms
among the relevant actors, at both local and national levels. It is also especially important that
the decision to start a safety governance assessment is taken by local leadership early on in
their electoral mandate to ensure that political support is sustained throughout the audit
process and that the results of the audit will inform local policymaking.
In addition, ownership by civil society organisations and the local community can also play an
important role in ensuring the sustainability of the assessment process. It is therefore essential
that a communication strategy is in place to inform stakeholders, including local community
actors, about the objectives, the process and the outcomes of the safety governance
assessment. An effective communication strategy can serve to keep a wide range of local
actors engaged and mobilised around a common vision of increased safety and well-being in
the community.
20
Figure 6: The Urban Safety Governance Assessment Process
21
Safety Governance Assessment Process
A. Planning
Figure 7: The Planning Process
Choosing a city and gaining political support of local authorities
In many cases, national or local government officials may already have a city or
neighbourhood in mind for the assessment to be conducted. However, in instances, where
there is potential for a city to be selected, it would be beneficial to look out for cities displaying
some or several of these characteristics: high rates of violent crime; high rates of substance
abuse; high volume of informal economy, strategic geographic location (in terms of destination
or transit for illicit trafficking, for example); and political will to engage in the safety governance
assessment.
While this is by no means an exhaustive list of factors to consider, the most crucial aspect is
political will. The process will not be effective without the cooperation and support of local
government. It is also especially important that the decision to start a safety governance
assessment is taken by local leadership early on in their electoral mandate to ensure that
political support is sustained throughout the process and that the results will inform local
policymaking. Depending on the administrative or governance structures of the city, the
Mayor’s office (or a similar entity) should take the lead to ensure the cooperation and
coordination of local government departments. It may be useful to establish a formal
framework of cooperation, such as a Memorandum of Understanding with the Mayor’s office,
to enable mutual understanding of the requirements of the assessment and the responsibilities
of various actors involved in order to facilitate the implementation of the assessment and the
adoption of its recommendations.
Choose a city
and gain
political
support of
local
authorities
Establish a
team and a
work plan
Engage with
the local
community
and other
stakeholders
Assess
availability of
data
Overcome
data
availability
challenges
22
Establishing a team
A safety governance assessment team is required to lead the assessment and carry out the
research. The team should be comprised of experts with a diverse range of complementary
profiles, including, statistics, local crime prevention, transnational organised crime prevention,
violent extremism and terrorism prevention, local governance, corruption, public health,
human rights, gender, youth, and urban planning and design. When selecting individuals, it is
important to consider the impact of each actor’s involvement on the real or perceived neutrality
of the assessment team.
Ideally, the assessment team should combine a range of skills and knowledge to effectively
conduct a safety governance assessment, including:
18
Knowledge:
o Local context - the geographic, economic, cultural, political and demographic
environment;
o Threats to urban safety and governance - an understanding of local crime,
(transnational) organised crime, violent extremism and terrorism, and corruption; an
understanding of the relationship between risk factors at local, national and
transnational levels; research evidence about effective responses, and how
assessments can be used to develop a preventive strategy;
o Key local government departments and agencies - the priorities, policies, cultures and
organisational arrangements of relevant local service providers (both public and
private) and if applicable, national level government departments involved;
o Policing and justice system - agency roles, police organisation, offence and incident
recording practices, strengths and weakness of justice system data;
18
Adapted from European Forum for Urban Security (Efus), Guidance on Local Safety Audits: A
Compendium of International Practice, (Paris: Efus, 2007).
Gaining political support: the case of Querétaro
The INEGI – UNODC Center of Excellence in Statistical Information on Government, Crime, Victimization
and Justice in Mexico received support from UNDESA to conduct the first Local Safety Audit (LSA) in
Mexico. This Audit had an original timeframe of 12 months.
The very first step of this process involved establishing contact with the Ministry of Public Security at the
Municipal level as they are responsible for designing and implement policies on safety and security and
crime prevention.
However, gaining political support also required reaching out to gain support from other relevant
stakeholders such as entrepreneurial associations, academic experts, representatives from civil society
organisations and community leaders. Throughout the process, the LSA team got in touch with all of
them to ensure their participation and eventual support.
A significant challenge for the LSA was an electoral process which caused uncertainty by the government
authorities regarding the feasibility to adopt the recommendations produced by the Local Safety Audit by
the incoming administration. One way that this challenge was overcome was by analysing social and
criminal dynamics and the responses by the authorities beyond one single administration to consider
least during a decade.
23
o Legal and regulatory frameworks - legislation, regulations, and standards and
procedures, relating to urban safety and governance;
o Policymaking - how priorities are determined; design, adoption, and implementation of
policies; and roles of various actors in the policymaking process.
Technical skills:
o Research design - formulation of objectives, selection of methods, specification of
outputs;
o Project management – scheduling of work, allocation of resources, risk management
and quality assurance;
o Stakeholder analysis – identification of all stakeholders, assessment of their stake and
determining how they should be involved;
o Community engagement – use of activities that encourage broad participation,
especially to facilitate the engagement of women, youth and ‘hard-to-reach’ groups;
o Consultative techniques – interviews, meetings and focus groups to elicit information
from various stakeholders; and systematisation of qualitative information;
o Statistical analysis – identifying, collecting and analysing relevant data held by
agencies, using geographical information systems;
o Policy design and implementation – designing and implementing integrated and
inclusive strategies aimed at improving urban safety and promoting good governance;
o Communication – report writing, design and editing, giving presentations, and other
activities to keep stakeholders involved and to get feedback from research findings.
While it is highly encouraged that the assessment team should possess all the above-
mentioned knowledge and skills, this may not be feasible in every situation. In such instances,
the knowledge and skills most relevant and appropriate to the needs of the safety governance
assessment should be aimed for.
It is also essential that the assessment team is balanced in terms of gender. Active efforts
must be made to ensure the inclusion of female experts, officials, etc. in the safety governance
assessment team across all issues, not only those pertaining to gender.
To ensure the assessment is conducted in an inclusive manner, relevant local government
departments and from the local community, as well as other stakeholders from civil society,
academia, and the private sector should be involved in the assessment process. This could
be achieved through a working group consisting of representatives from this various groups
to oversee the assessment process. This would enable the assessment team to not only keep
these various groups informed on the progress of the assessment, but also actively utilise
their knowledge, experience and local networks during the process, all while maintaining some
degree of neutrality. The active involvement of local government departments in the working
group, and the assessment process in general, is essential to ensure follow up activities, such
as the findings of the assessment feeding into the development or revision of policies.
24
Engaging with the local community and other stakeholders
It is crucial to start engaging with the local community and other stakeholders in the preliminary
stages of the assessment, before any data collection even begins. To initiate this, it may be
useful for the assessment team to engage in a simple stakeholder mapping exercise:
brainstorming with all members to identify various stakeholders responsible for and involved
in promoting urban safety and good governance and mapping them organically to reflect their
interactions and agreements on specific issues, and also territorially to build alliances and
make it easier for the assessment team to mobilise support. Once key stakeholders have been
identified, the assessment team must establish relationships and build trust with them to
ensure their active participation and cooperation in the assessment. In most cases, engaging
with a first set of stakeholders will enable the identification of other actors, including ‘hidden’
actors, who may need to be included in the process.
Establishing a team: the cases of Cali and Bishkek
In Cali, Colombia, the UNODC Colombia Country Office (COCOL) and the local government set up a
coordination body for the project composed by the Security and Justice Secretariat, the Security
Observatory, the Peace Secretariat, the Inclusion and Opportunities Territories Deputy Secretariat, the
Peace Observatory and UNODC’s technical team. This committee met several times to conduct a
stakeholder analysis, evaluate partial results of the safety audit and plan further activities.
In Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, a working group was established through a decree signed by the Mayor with
assigned responsibilities of members and time frames for conducting the audit. The working group aimed
to reflect the local society and consisted of: police (community policing and juvenile delinquency
inspectors); representatives from social protection services, educational facilities (school directors,
university deans, academics); health workers; members of the local parliament; representatives of
departments on security and social issues; representatives from the Mayor’s office; and members of local
crime prevention centres.
25
A communication strategy to inform stakeholders about the objective, process and outcomes
of the assessment should also be developed in the planning stage of the process. Two key
considerations to bear in mind are first, that potential participants should feel safe to participate
in the safety governance assessment – the communication strategy should work to reduce
any potential fears with regard to contributing to the process; and second, local government
officials need to perceive the assessment as a tool that will allow them to improve their policies
and practices, and not as an international exercise with the intention of criticising them and
locating improper behaviour.
An effective communication strategy (i.e. one which engages local actors and mobilises them
around a common vision of safety) can be achieved through focusing on short, clear and
positive messages about what the safety governance assessment aims to achieve. As a
means to promote transparency and sustainability of the process, the assessment should
have a dedicated website which outlines the objectives, actors, process of the audit, as well
as data collected, findings and final report. Other channels of communication must also be
used. These should be tailored to the local context and can include council meetings, talks in
Ensuring the active participation of CSOs: the case of Querétaro
In order to map all pertinent CSOs, the LSA team in Querétaro used an online directory by the National
Ministry of Welfare which integrates all existing CSOs in the country, categorised by their areas of work
and their location. During this initial mapping exercise, the team located those CSOs supporting activities
regarding security, crime prevention, gender, youth, among other topics/issues, at the local level. Once
these were identified, the team contacted them to inform them about the Safety Audit and invited them
to engage in the process. CSO mapping was done in two ways: mapping those that have any kind of
coordination with local governments and mapping those without coordination with local government but
that are visible to the local community. A map was produced displaying all CSOs in the territory and was
found to be useful to inform the public, local government and other relevant authorities, and CSOs to
build networks.
Figure 8: Map of CSOs in Querétaro
26
schools and relevant places of work, social media platforms, and local press and media. The
communication strategy should be incorporated into all aspects of the work plan, and
therefore, should also factor in while allocating a budget for the safety governance
assessment.
Figure 9: Website for local safety audit in Querétaro
19
(https://auditoriadeseguridad-cdeunodc.org/)
Assessing availability of data
The assessment must bring together both quantitative and qualitative information in order to
provide a complete picture. Quantitative data enables an understanding of overall trends and
patterns – it can tell us what, and how much is happening, and even where it is happening.
Qualitative data provides further depth and detail and enables an understanding of the
dynamics of how and why something is happening. While numerical data is certainly
important, the assessment goes beyond this by engaging in consultation and discussion to
identify the perceptions, concerns, and priorities of various local actors and understand the
complex dynamics behind urban safety issues.
Before embarking on the assessment process, the team needs to evaluate the availability of
data. This includes developing a catalogue of existing sources, including how often and by
whom data is collected and analysed, and determine their relevance for the assessment.
Government sources of data are a logical starting point for assessing data availability. These
include:
o Statistical office (if existing);
o Policing and judicial agencies;
o Government departments or offices, concerned with services such as:
o Social and family affairs;
o Housing;
o Health;
o Education;
o Employment;
o Infrastructure.
19
See also website for local safety audit conducted in Cali (http://observaseguridadcali.unodc.org.co/)
27
Aside from local government departments or offices that collect and process data, there are a
range of other local actors that could act as valuable sources of information, to act as either a
complement to data collected from government sources or a substitute to government sources
in situations where data is not available:
o Hospitals and health care institutions, including drug dependence treatment and care
facilities;
o Schools, youth institutes, and education centres;
o Social development centres;
o Women’s institutes, and shelters for women and girls;
o Universities and research institutions;
o Private business associations (they may produce surveys and studies on urban
issues);
o Foundations;
o Trade unions;
o Civil society organisations and community groups (including faith- and ethnicity-based
organisations);
o Data observatories producing information related to urban issues
Figure 10: Sources of Government Data
28
Figure 11: Other sources of data
The following guiding questions can help the assessment team to assess what kind of data is
available and who is collecting it.
What kind of data is available?
Who is collecting data?
• What type of data is available
(including: is it quantitative or
qualitative; disaggregated by age,
gender, geographical location)?
• What kinds of crime?
• Do local government departments
generate reports or collect, on a
regular basis, relevant data on crime
incidence, patterns and/or its
geographical concentration in
territories or communities?
• Do local government departments
generate reports or collect, on a
regular basis, relevant data on
29
• Is data collected on victims, offenders
and the context in which crime
occurred?
• Do local government departments (or
any other organisation) monitor crime
trends and risk factors over time and
space? If so, does it use specific
platforms or monitoring systems? How
far back does available data go?
• How is the data collected (including
data collection methods, platforms or
tools used) and how often?
• Which techniques are used for
analysis (i.e. aggregation, comparison,
pattern detection, trends, hotspots,
etc.)?
• Are regular consultations of
participatory exercises conducted with
community groups on urban safety
and governance, or other relevant
surveys conducted?
substance (ab)use occurrence,
patterns and/or its geographical
concentration in territories or
communities?
• Do local government departments
generate reports or collect, on a
regular basis, relevant data on
corruption incidence, patterns and/or
its geographical concentration in
territories or communities?
• What about any other organisations?
• Do local government departments
monitor the state of implementation of
public-private partnerships (PPPs) for
public service delivery? If so, what
kind of instruments are used for
monitoring? How is user satisfaction in
terms of the services provided by
PPPs measured?
Once the sources and kind of data available have been determined, the team should examine
the usefulness of this data to the assessment. The following questions may help to guide this:
How useful is the available data for the assessment?
• Does the data have high quality – i.e. is it collected by a reliable source in a
scientifically sound manner?
• Is the data relevant to assess the status quo, and to inform subsequent decision and
policy making?
• Are the systems/processes of data collection by local government departments user
friendly, i.e. adapted to the capacities of the different municipal areas and public
servants called to feed the system (in terms of human resources and officers’
knowledge and training), and analyse its information on a regular basis?
• Is the data comparable to the information that is or will be collected from different
sources during the safety assessment? If not, does it make sense to still include it
(e.g. data that was generated through a one-time-only survey on a specific topic)?
30
Overcoming data availability challenges
In situations where there is insufficient reliable data at the local level, the assessment team
must assess how best to overcome this challenge. In the short-term, the team can explore
other potential sources of data, including those outlined above, but they may also need to
focus more intensively on primary data collection. The work plan and timeframe, and possibly
the budget, will likely to have to be adapted in such situations.
Ideally, the assessment would not only provide an analysis of the urban safety and governance
situation but would also reinforce and build capacity to generate and analyse data in the future.
The assessment team should, therefore, support local (or even national) authorities by
conducting trainings and capacity building on collecting, analysing and reporting data.
Capacity building measures could include supporting local/national governments and
authorities in:
o Generating and analysing statistical data and geographic information on specific
indicators to assess and monitor developments at the local level, such as through
sharing or supporting the development of tools used during the assessment;
o Creating a logical framework and understanding which data need to be collected and
analysed on a regular basis to adequately assess the impact of their activities, policies
and action plans;
o Deciding which tools or software programmes are suitable – whether they already own
licenses for using tools or need to consider investing in them for the first time;
o Developing capacity for building a team, department or unit, within the municipal
structure that deals with urban safety, and can support future assessment processes,
and the subsequent development or revision of integrated strategies.
Assessing data availability: the case of Querétaro
The first step to assess data availability involved collecting all statistical data available for the last decade
disseminated by the National Statistical Office (INEGI) of Mexico and other official data sources. The
second step was to request data from the local government and other relevant authorities. One of the
criteria used to select quantitative information was its periodical and systematic dissemination. Another
important element to use the data was its representativeness at the national, state and local level. Finally,
the selection of indicators also considered those that were produced using sound methodologies and
international standards. The team also collected geographical information from official sources.
From this data, 102 indicators were compiled, and which were continually updated once new data was
available. While all the indicators were not used for the analysis, this exercise was extremely useful for
understanding the economic, social and criminal dynamics.
31
B. Data collection and analysis
Figure 12: Data collection and analysis process
i. Data collection methods
The assessment process entails collecting quantitative and qualitative data using a number of
sources and methods. The triangulation of information from different sources is essential to
facilitate the validation of data and maximise the objectivity of the assessment.
Figure 13: Primary data vs secondary data
Secondary data
Secondary data that can be useful for the assessment includes policy documents, evaluations,
research studies, victimisation surveys, and reports from a range of sources including local
government agencies, civil society, academia, the private sector, and the media. In addition,
statistics gained from numerical data collected by other organisations prior to the assessment
could also be useful to make comparisons across cities, and depending on availability, at the
sub-urban level. A list of potential quantitative indicators is outlined later in the guide.
32
Primary data
In the assessment process, gathering primary data involves conducting interviews with key
informants, focus group discussions, surveys and participatory mapping with various
community groups. These methods are outlined in further detail below. Of course, depending
on the resources of the assessment team, primary data collection can also include observation
and opinion polls, among other methods. It is recommended to define a set of guiding
questions beforehand in line with the objectives of the assessment and the type of stakeholder
to be interviewed. Such questions should be elaborated and validated by the assessment
team, possibly after a short test phase with some pilot interviews, to ensure that the questions
are easy to understand, tailored to the different stakeholders, and properly allow to collect the
information for which they were designed.
Key informant interviews
Key informant interviews are qualitative, in-depth interviews with individuals with first-hand
knowledge or who are most knowledgeable on the community, an organisation, or a specific
issue. They may also be particularly valuable in terms of interpreting survey results and
statistics.
The interviews can be structured, semi-structured, or free, and they can be individual or in
small groups. In structured interviews, the evaluation questions are carried out in a rigid
manner, while in semi-structured interviews, the questions act as a guide for the issues to be
explored. Experience shows that semi-structured interviews, in addition to facilitating
communication with the informant, can often elicit a greater amount of information (on the
context, other existing initiatives, challenges, practices and other relevant actors) than a
structured interview. Structured interviews, on the other hand, are more effective in extracting
specific information on a particular topic, especially in a uniform and comparable manner.
Key informant interviews can also be useful to map actors. A key informant, with experience
and in-depth knowledge, is likely to have established a network of partners and can provide
information on other actors and, in many cases, a series of contacts for the assessment team
to pursue. In addition, interviews with key informants will serve to mobilise actors. The
participation of individuals considered trustworthy by the community is necessary to
understand the dynamics in the community, avoid potential mistakes from the outset, and to
introduce the assessment team to other stakeholders.
The assessment team must carefully select who to interview – key informants must have an
understanding of the issue, be able to provide insight on the complex nature of the challenge
and suggest ways in which it can be addressed; and be drawn from across the community,
city, and even the state, to include a range of perspectives. When selecting key informants, it
is important to strive for gender balance to ensure that perspectives of all genders are
included.
Sources for key informants include:
o Local government officials who have knowledge of the local context and efficiency of
current policies, programmes, and practices relevant to urban safety and governance;
33
o Security sector in the city consisting of various actors which form the elements of the
state and local security apparatus including city police, national police, Ministry of
Justice, Customs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Ombudsman, as
relevant;
o Non-government and civil society organisations who have first-hand knowledge of
problems affecting communities and awareness of priorities at the local level;
o Anti-corruption bodies at both local and national levels, which are involved in promoting
integrity and combatting corruption;
o Authorities responsible for drug control at national and local level who are involved in
regulation, drug use prevention, treatment and care, and improving public health;
o Statistical offices at national and local levels who engage in data generation, collection,
and analysis.
a. Focus group discussions
Focus groups can be composed of representatives of the entire community or divided into
smaller groups based on common characteristics (for instance, place of residence, age, sex,
ethnicity etc.) to reflect on how a specific urban safety challenges impacts their lives, both
directly and indirectly, and enable further understanding of the complex dynamics of a specific
issue. Through a structured discussion amongst multiple members of a group facilitated by a
moderator, the focus group discussion enables participants to express their opinions and
agree or disagree with each other. This can provide insight into how a specific group feels
about an issue, the range of opinions and ideas within a group, as well as the variations that
exist in terms of their experiences and actions.
Information biases
Key informant interviews are often susceptible to various forms of bias. In terms of selection bias, it can
often happen that informants are selected based on their social and/or economic standing rather than
their knowledge of the situation. For example, interviewing the head of a local government department
involved in delivery of a public service may not elicit the same level of information as compared to officials
on the ground, or users of the public service. It is important to bear this in mind and carefully consider
what kind of information is required and who is best equipped to provide this.
Interviewer bias is also a concern with this type of data collection Interviewers may suffer from a tendency
to focus on information that confirms their beliefs and preconceptions or be drawn towards detailed
narratives over more abstract concepts or ideas. To mitigate this, it is important that interviewers are
trained to avoid these pitfalls or, at the very least, are made aware of the potential biases they may hold.
Finally, while key informants themselves would ideally have no biases, this is highly unlikely in practice.
In order to ensure the validity of the findings and conclusions from key informant interviews, it is important
to interview not only a wide range of informants from across the community but also a large enough
number of informants such that the interviews are as representative as possible of the perspectives held
by various stakeholder groups.
34
A strong moderator is essential to the effectiveness of a focus group discussion. A good
facilitator remains neutral, ensures even participation among the group, and has an ability to
follow up initial guiding questions with relevant additional questions to stimulate reflection and
discussion. The size of the focus group should be big enough that there is a lively exchange
of ideas but not so large that it becomes unmanageable – around 8-15 participants, depending
on the abilities of the moderator.
It is important to adapt the questions and dynamics of the focus group discussion in a way
that will enhance participation in the focus groups. For example, with young people, the focus
groups could be less structured, take place in their usual meeting places, and be adapted to
their forms of expression, and perhaps address issues progressively from most common
problems to more complex ones. Similarly, the guiding questions and the place and format of
the focus group discussions should be tailored to each community group.
At the end of each focus group discussion, while the issues are still fresh in participants’ minds,
it may be valuable for the moderator to conduct a trust and effectiveness mapping exercise.
This involves asking participants to think about and name actors (rather than named
individuals) that they think have or should have a role in contributing to their safety (including
perpetrators, local government agencies, police, justice agencies, school, family, etc.). Next
participants should be asked to rate the stakeholders identified based on how much they trust
them, from very untrustworthy, untrustworthy, to trusted, and very trusted; and based on how
effective they are, from very effective, effective, to ineffective, and very ineffective. Finally,
briefly explore why participants hold these feelings and examine how much contact different
groups have with the identified stakeholders. This simple exercise can be a valuable way to
identify the institutions, groups, and individuals that various community groups see as
responsible for contributing to their safety and assess the level of public confidence in these
institutions, groups, and individuals.
b. Surveys
Surveys can be a valuable way to assess facts, behaviours and perceptions related to urban
safety and governance. The main advantage of surveys is that it allows for standardised
responses which, in turn, enables quick and easy analysis and the opportunity to easily
compare various stakeholder groups. In addition, compared to focus groups and interviews,
surveys can often be less time-consuming which means that many questions can be asked
on a subject providing the assessment team with greater flexibility in their analysis. While they
cannot replace focus groups, surveys can act as a useful complement to the open-ended
responses that focus group discussions elicit. Surveys can be conducted face-to-face, over
the telephone, and can also be self-administered online. The choice of the type of survey
needs to consider the scope of the questions being asked, the time and resources available
for primary data collection, and the target population(s).
A cost-effective way of conducting surveys could be by asking key informants and participants
of focus group discussions to also complete a survey. This would not only yield the benefits
described above but would also provide a means to validate the responses from interviews
and focus group discussions.
35
c. Participatory mapping
Maps are a useful tool to approach safety and governance issues territorially. Participatory
mapping exercises can be done abstractedly on paper or drawn directly from the ground,
through exploratory safety walks. The aim is to identify factors in the neighbourhood, or a
particular urban space (including schools, universities, workplaces, hospitals, markets, public
transport routes, streets and footpaths, among others) that make participants feel safe or
unsafe and identify ways to reduce opportunities for crime and violence and increase urban
safety.
Conducting exploratory safety walks allows for a street-level perspective which can provide
information on dynamic nature of the urban environment by identifying how spaces can
change based on the time of day, week, or specific occasion, and how the same spaces can
be viewed differently by various groups in the community. It is important to harness technology
to effectively locate and map risk factors, assets and resources, through GPS.
Much of the contextual data required to identify specific urban spaces can be gleaned from
already existing data on topography, demography, public transportation, public facilities, and
basic infrastructure. This data, combined with information gained from focus group
discussions, can help to determine specific neighbourhoods or urban spaces to focus on in
the participatory mapping exercises.
While it may be easier to map physical factors, the mental representations of space by the
community, and various subgroups, can provide a great deal of insight into local identities and
local social conflicts. The most obvious representation of it may be the ‘invisible barriers’ that
separate one gang territory from another and that threatens the life of anyone crossing it
without the permission of the auto-proclaimed owners of the territories. Many other invisible
barriers can be mapped such as the ones that divide once community from another, based on
their ethnicity, religion, political preferences etc.
Participatory mapping also offers the possibility of focusing on spaces of social integration and
cohesion. Mapping community space resources such as schools, public spaces, markets,
community centres, or even neighbourhoods or streets filled with a sense of belonging and
local identity is fundamental for the design of community resilience projects. As demonstrated
by international experiences, community prevention projects are more efficient when they
utilise and strengthen a local identity based on shared values. For this reason, the map of
community resources should also include persons (local positive role models, associations
working on issues related to urban safety), traditions, history, beliefs, and local identities to
inform policy design.
ii. Important advice for collecting primary data
a. Ethical guidelines and safety considerations
The safety of participants and researchers in the audit process is paramount. It is important to
remember that human rights obligations apply throughout the audit process. It is essential that
the no action of the safety governance audit detrimentally affects the persons of concern. To
avoid further harm to victims of crime and violence during primary data collection, all
36
researchers should be adequately trained and sensitised on ethical guidelines and safety
considerations.
• Specific groups such as the victims of crime, children, refugees, persons with
disabilities, pregnant women, among others, should have access to special protection
and support measures.
• It is mandatory get informed consent from all respondents for participation in the
assessment and recording (see Appendix I for a sample consent form).
• The assessment team will need to ensure the required levels of anonymity and
confidentiality to protect informants/participants from threats to their life or their
physical integrity and sense of safety.
b. Location
Ideally, interviews and focus group discussions should be conducted in a private location with
no outsiders present and where people feel that their confidentiality is completely protected.
When selecting a location for interviews, be sure to consider local implications of male-female
interactions. Suitable private locations would be facilities at the premises of local institutions
or civil society organisations which ensure absence of bystanders or other people and any
possible interference. Libraries, meeting rooms and similar places are possible good locations.
For interviews, another alternative are locations like a nearby coffee shop, garden or other
public place which is not overcrowded and not too far away from the place where respondents
reside. In prisons, “private locations” would be places that (govern all limitations) ensure
maximum privacy and possibly lack of interference from other people/bystanders. Possible
locations are meeting rooms and prison libraries. The latter is probably the best location (if
absence of other people can be ensured).
c. Conversation management
The relationship between the interviewer/moderator and the respondent(s) begins at first
contact, with the respondents’ first impression of the interviewer/moderator based on a variety
of factors such as the greeting, manner of speaking, clothing, and body language. All of these
should be appropriate for the specific culture and setting and convey respect for the
respondent(s). Phones should be turned off and placed out of view so as not to imply that the
respondent’s testimony is of secondary importance.
The diagram below outlines steps to follow when conducting primary data collection.
Ensure informed consent for interview/discussion/survey etc. and recording.
Before beginning any primary data collection exercise, regardless of whether it is an interview,
discussion or any other type of consultation, it is important to explain:
o the purpose of the exercise;
o the actors involved in the assessment process;
o the interviewer/moderator’s role in the assessment process;
o how the informant/participants will contribute to the assessment process;
o how the collected information will be used.
37
In doing so, it is important to be truthful and straightforward and not create false expectations to
obtain cooperation of respondents. In addition, it is crucial to emphasise the voluntary nature of the
interview. Respondents should be informed that they are under no obligation to respond to any
question. The researcher should emphasise that while they would like for respondent to discuss all
questions as fully and honestly as possible, they should do so only to the extent that they feel
comfortable.
If the interview is being recorded, the researcher should offer to stop recording on request, and be
very clear that recording is not a precondition to participation in the exercise. Indicate that the recorder
is there to ensure that information is accurately reported. Never record without permission, since aside
from being unethical, it is often illegal to record an interview without permission.
↓
Reassure the respondent of the anonymity and confidentiality of information.
Assuring respondents that what they say will be kept in confidence is important for earning their trust
and thus for eliciting information that is of use to the safety governance assessment. The researcher
should also show how you will protect confidentiality by stating that you will not reveal anything they
learn to third parties. The researcher should refrain from making comments about other people they
have interviewed, as this may suggest that they are prone to divulging information.
↓
Establish rapport.
This includes the ability to quickly create researcher/respondent dynamics that are positive, relaxed,
and mutually respectful. This is important because respondents would talk freely, openly, and honestly
about the research topic only if they feel comfortable in the researcher’s presence, feel secure about
confidentiality, believe the interviewer is interested in their story and do not feel judged. Practically,
this means adopting a friendly manner, smiling, using a pleasant tone of voice and relaxed body
language, avoiding patronising remarks, and being patient.
↓
Introduce the topic of discussion.
The aim is to make the respondent share their experiences, perceptions, attitudes on the issues being
discussed. It is important to use neutral wording and to be sure to ask only one question at a time so
as to not force respondents to address them all in full at the same time.
The order that questions are asked will affect the quality of the information collected. Move from
general to more specific questions and ask factual questions before questions about opinions. Initial
questions should be oriented towards encouraging the interviewee to share. Asking broader, more
general questions first will provide a context and prepare respondents to give more considered
responses to the more focused, specific questions that will follow.
If the researcher is unsure whether they heard accurately what a respondent said, they should verify
the response before going to the next question. They need to be careful not to imply that the response
was somehow incorrect. They could use a mirroring technique, by reflecting the respondent’s answer
back to him/her in question form; this technique seeks clarification, without suggesting that the answer
had been somehow incorrect. For example, the researcher could ask: “So, various people were
involved in collecting the proceeds?”
↓
38
Listen attentively and ask additional questions to induce sharing of more details.
Use follow-ups and probes. Probes are neutral questions, phrases, sounds, and even gestures used
to encourage respondents to elaborate on their answers and explain why or how. The researcher
should use probes when a respondent’s answer to the question is brief or unclear, when they seem
to be waiting for a reaction from the interviewer before continuing to speak, or when the person
appears to have more information on the subject.
Encouraging respondents to expand on their responses can be a valuable way of identifying and
opening up new topics not initially considered. However, if responses to probes are repetitive or
lacking in substance, or if the respondent becomes annoyed or upset about lingering on a particular
topic, it is best to advance to the next question.
Examples of appropriate probes include:
• What do you mean when you say ……?
• How did this happen?
• What happened then?
• Can you tell me more?
• I’m not sure I understand this. Would you explain it to me?
• Can you give me an example of this?
↓
Conclude the discussion.
After all the questions have been asked, or if a respondent wishes to withdraw, conclude with general
questions such as, “Is there anything further that you feel is important?" and waiting for the respondent
to provide a considered response.
Finally, thank the respondent(s) for their participation, explain again how this information will be used
in the safety governance assessment, and provide the respondent(s) with the assessment team’s
contact information in case of any follow-up questions or concerns.
Additional guidance for effective questioning
• Avoid leading questions. Leading questions are those which, intentionally or not,
influence the respondents’ answers and thus lead them along a particular line of
thinking. In answering such a question, the respondent is likely to provide an answer
which agrees with it because they might be reluctant to contradict the interviewer. “Do
you think it is poverty that drives women to get involved with traffickers?” would be an
example of a leading question. In addition, this type of question is not open-ended and
does not allow for respondent(s) to elaborate. Instead, consider asking “Some people
think it is poverty that drives women to get involved with traffickers. What do you think?”
This is a more neutral and unbiased way to elicit information.
• Emphasise the respondent’s perspective. This includes treating the respondent as the
expert, preventing the respondent from interviewing the interviewer, balancing
deference to the respondent with control over the discussion and maintaining a neutral
attitude.
• Ask respondents to talk about both the positive and negative aspects of an experience,
situation, program, etc., but ask them to talk about the positive aspects first as this
usually makes people feel more comfortable talking about the negative aspects.
39
To summarise:
Figure 14: Additional guidance for effective questioning
d. Documenting responses
Responses should be documented by making audio recordings (only with informed
consent from the respondents) or by taking field notes, which are later expanded.
Regardless of whether it is being recorded, notes should be taken. These notes serve
as a backup when recording fails and can also capture non-verbal information. They are
also valuable when a respondent asks the interviewer to turn off the tape recorder during
discussion of particularly confidential information.
40
If a respondent refuses to be recorded, the researcher should take notes that are as
extensive as possible. For focus group discussions, the moderator will not be able to
take notes as they are focused on facilitating the conversation, therefore an observer to
take notes and record responses of the participants is required.
Figure 15: Tips for effective note-taking
All notes should be expanded upon immediately after the data collection while the issues
discussed are fresh in the researcher’s mind. This involves transforming raw notes into
a narrative and elaborating on initial observations.
Figure 16: The stages of the data collection and analysis process
Data collection and analysis process
Stage 1: Initial assessment of problems and contributory factors
In this stage, the assessment team conducts a preliminary analysis in order to determine
priority areas requiring further investigation. The initial assessment consists of situational
analysis to understand the broader city context using secondary data, followed by key
informant interviews with stakeholders identified through the stakeholder mapping exercise in
the planning stage. Data collection can be described as ‘shallow and wide’ as it works to gain
41
insight on a broad range of issues affecting the city but not in great detail, as the main goal is
to identify priorities for further assessment.
Situational analysis
Demography, economy and urban development have an impact on the quality of life and level
of safety in cities. For the purpose of the situational analysis, data should be collected using
the list of potential indicators (see Appendix II) across seven indicator categories to describe
the specific crime trends of a city and enable analysis of the crime dynamics in different
communities.
Figure 17: Indicator categories for situational analysis
Sincere efforts must be taken by the assessment team to gather as much information as
possible across the seven indicator categories. However, as data constraints may limit what
can be collected in a timely manner, this list is differentiated into core and non-core indicators.
Data on core indicators are those that, at the very least, must be collected for the situational
analysis. In addition to using relevant government agencies as a source of data, other
stakeholders including civil society, non-governmental organisations, academia, and the
private sector may also constitute valuable sources of information.
42
Indicators should be collected at the city level to enable comparisons across cities, and, where
possible, should also be compared with corresponding data at the national level. However, it
is also essential to the analysis that data is disaggregated by sex, age, race, ethnic or religious
group, time unit such as year or month as appropriate, and spatial unit such as
neighbourhoods or administrative districts to enable comparisons within the city and identify
population groups and geographical areas that should be the focus of future research.
Moreover, the assessment team should, as part of the situational analysis, review all
secondary qualitative data selected for their reliability and relevance to the indicators outlined
above.
An increasing number of cities are starting to engage in ‘Voluntary Local Reviews’ (VLRs) to
assess the local implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs. In doing so, local
governments are adapting their own set of indicators to establish baselines and measure
progress. This provides a timely opportunity to create synergies between the assessment and
VLRs and promote the sustainability of the safety governance assessment by not only
ensuring that the assessment’s data is included within the VLRs but also utilising data from
VLRs (in cities that have already initiated the review process) to assess local vulnerabilities.
Key informant interviews
An important complement to the secondary data collected through the situational analysis is
the qualitative information gained through primary data collection methods. Stakeholders
approached for this exercise will most likely be those identified through the stakeholder
mapping exercise in the planning stage of the assessment process and should be drawn from
across the community, including local government departments, police, judicial agencies, civil
society, academia and the private sector.
When selecting key informants, it is important to assess who in the organisation will be best
equipped to provide the necessary information. For example, the information gathered through
an interview with the head of the city police department may be different to the information
that police officers working on the ground may be able to provide. Depending on the time and
resource constraints of the assessment, it can be valuable to gain multiple perspectives from
within an organisation or stakeholder group.
The aim of interviews at this stage of the assessment is to determine what the community’s
greatest concerns are, which forms of violence and insecurity are deemed most common
among different community groups, and which urban areas are most affected. Appendix III
outlines initial assessment questions to guide key informant interviews.
Identifying priorities
Once the situational analysis and key informant interviews are completed, the assessment
team must analyse the quantitative and qualitative
20
information to effectively reconcile the
perceptions of key stakeholders and the trends identified through quantitative data in order to
determine priority issues for further investigation. The assessment team should determine how
20
Further guidance on analysing qualitative information is outlined under Stage 2.
43
many issues to focus on for further investigation - ideally, at least three or four, and perhaps
more, based on the findings from Stage 1 and the resources and time available.
The analysis should attempt to determine which issues are priority for urban safety and
governance (and consequently, the focus of further investigation); and based on the priority
issues identified, which population groups and territories should be involved in the next stage
of data collection. Special emphasis is placed on information disaggregated by sex, age,
ethnic or religious group, and spatial units such as neighbourhoods or administrative districts.
Such level of disaggregation will enable further analysis of urban safety and governance
trends and will help the assessment team to obtain:
• A list and map of the most recurrent threats to urban safety and good governance,
most vulnerable social groups across the city – both in terms of victimisation and
likelihood to become a perpetrator – and most vulnerable territories (these could be
neighbourhoods, administrative districts, or other spatial units, as relevant and
appropriate);
• Impact of external flows on recurrent threats;
• Identification of risk factors and current and previous strategies to tackle these;
• Any gaps identified in existing data and crime or grievance reporting mechanisms, and
weaknesses in data collection methods.
Territories (based on a particular spatial unit, e.g. neighbourhoods, districts, etc.) identified as
high-risk, medium-risk, and low-risk should then be selected for further research on the priority
issues identified.
Stage 2: Further research into priority issues through participatory social diagnosis
At this stage, the assessment delves deeper into the particular issues identified as priority.
Primary data is collected from the communities through focus group discussions with various
community groups (including the vulnerable groups identified in Stage 1), key informant
interviews, and participatory mapping.
Identifying territories for further research: the cases of Querétaro and Bishkek
The LSA team in Querétaro utilised some of 102 indicators collected to select the neighbourhoods for
further research. These neighbourhoods were selected based on:
i) crime incidence: neighbourhoods with high, medium and low crime incidence rates were selected;
ii) sociodemographic information, particularly population density was considered in the selection of
neighbourhoods;
iii) geographic information, which was used to ensure an even geographic distribution of data
collection efforts.
In Bishkek, quantitative data was collected from three key state institutions – the Ministry of Interior,
National Statistics Committee, and local level municipal administrations. Neighbourhoods with the
highest rates of crime incidence were selected for further research using crime data collected from the
Ministry of the Interior. The sampling of respondents was conducted in a scientific manner with the
involvement of professional experts with research expertise, such as sociologists.
44
The assessment team must think carefully about the composition of participants for focus
groups and participatory mapping exercises. They could contain a mix of the potential
stakeholders outlined under each section below, including both the local community and public
officials; a cross-section of the local community; or groups with specific interests, such as
women, youth, civil society organisations, local businesses, etc. When determining who will
be involved in these activities, it is important to think about how to best facilitate open
discussion – for example, will the inclusion of public officials in the same focus group affect
the responses of the local community or vice versa?
Before engaging in primary data collection, the assessment team should collect any additional
secondary information, including statistics, reports, research studies etc., relevant to the
priority issues identified. The primary data collection process will be greatly enhanced by a
review of existing information as it can help to identify key stakeholders for consultation as
well as refine and further develop guiding questions for discussion.
The primary aim of this stage of the assessment is to gain deeper understanding of a specific
issue and attempt to explain the complex dynamics behind it. Appendix IV outlines specific
lines of inquiry for the assessment team to pursue on a range of safety and governance issues
that are likely to require further examination in most urban communities.
21
It is important to bear in mind that stakeholders will not have similar levels of education or
access to information. While the lines of inquiry provide an indication of the kinds of information
the assessment aims to collect, not all stakeholders will be equally equipped to respond. The
assessment team must determine which kinds of information are most appropriate for specific
stakeholders and tailor how the questions are phrased to suit the target stakeholder group.
Furthermore, the issues presented here are not intended to be comprehensive – the
complexity of threats to urban safety and good governance entails that not all issues can be
adequately covered. Questions will therefore need to be adapted or further questions created
in order to suit local priorities and context. In such instances, this can be done by following the
assessment’s general approach to participatory social diagnosis and asking questions related
to:
o Main concerns of participants
o Risk factors/drivers
o Actors that are involved in the issue and their role
o Locations and times where risks are higher (hotspots)
o External flows that influence a risk and their impact
o Actions of relevant stakeholders and their impact
o Capacities of relevant stakeholders
21
Lines of inquiry adapted from: ICAT, A Toolkit for guidance in designing and evaluating counter-
trafficking programmes, (Vienna: ICAT, 2016); ActionAid International, Making Cities and Urban Spaces
Safe for Women and Girls: Safety Audit Participatory Toolkit, developed by Social Development Direct,
(Karnataka: ActionAid International, 2013); National Crime Prevention Centre - Public Safety Canada Local
Safety Audit Guide: To Prevent Trafficking in Persons and Related Exploitation, (Ottawa: Public Safety
Canada, 2013); UNODC, Guidebook on anti-corruption in public procurement and the management of
public finances, (Vienna: UNODC, 2013); various UNODC bribery experience surveys; Jagori, Handbook
on Women’s Safety Audits; UN Women, Ask Questions About Women’s Safety in Cities; Efus, Guidance
on Local Safety Audits.
45
o Potential positive change or resilience factors
o Priorities for further action
The next section outlines potential thematic areas to be explored during Stage 2 of data
collection.
Local Crime
The prevalence of specific types of local crime vary across urban areas and regions. Local
crime includes, but is not limited to, theft, robberies, serious assault, breaking and entering,
kidnapping, homicides, disorderly conduct, and other violations of local laws. These crimes
are often dealt with by the local police and authorities. Local crimes can often have the largest
impact on the lives of urban dwellers and their immediate sense of safety and security.
Although there are broader categories of crime, as demonstrated below, acts of local crime
illustrate a strong sense of where hotspots occur and the direction of illicit flows within an
Primary data collection: the cases of Bishkek, Cali and Querétaro
In Bishkek, interviews, focus groups discussions and online surveys were used to collect primary data
from a range of different stakeholders. It was found that there was very low level of institutional
capacity among local government and other relevant authorities to conduct such audits and was
sometimes viewed as an additional task for local government officials which led to challenges. This
highlighted the essential need for a strong commitment and interest from the Mayor’s office. However,
various civil society and non-governmental organisations were actively involved in the research
process which helped to ensure that data was gathered effectively.
In Cali, the city already had at its disposal a rich database of quantitative data from which the safety
audit team was able to select the most relevant ones. 57 focus groups were conducted in both urban
and rural areas of Cali. These focus groups involved 1209 people from 22 communities (known as
‘comunas’) and 10 rural districts (known as “corregimientos”) of the city of Cali and were selected using
non-probabilistic sampling methods. On average, two focus groups were conducted per ‘comuna’.
However, in areas with high crime rates, COCOL conducted four focus groups to better understand the
structural causes, manifestations and consequences of security problems. In addition, interviews with 16
experts identified during the focus group discussions were carried out.
Participants in the data collection included different leaders of the communities and civil society
organisations such as Communal Unions (Juntas de Acción Comunal -JAC), youth local organisations,
women’s organisations, children in conflict with law belonging to Integral Treatment of Gangs program
(TIPS), rural communitarian leaders, Catholic Church leaders, and regular citizens. Using participatory
mapping, specifically social cartography, these participants identified relevant safety and security
problems in the communities and neighbourhoods. The entire process was conducted with the support
of Security and Justice Secretariat and Inclusion and Opportunities Territories Deputy Secretariat (TIOS)
of Cali as representatives of the local authorities, who issued calls for participation in focus groups within
the city.
In Querétaro, primary data collection consisted of focus groups, exploratory walks and consultation
sessions with key stakeholders in order to collect data on the perceptions of their local environment,
living conditions and concerns surrounding safety. Participants included state authorities, police,
municipal governments, women, youth children, as well as prisoners. The team also developed a self-
administered online survey which was answered by participants in focus groups and consultation
sessions to cross-validate the collected information. Primary data collection was conducted in various
locations including schools, community centres, and parks.
46
urban area. Appendix IV (a) outlines lines of inquiry to be pursued during the assessment
regarding local crime.
Violence against women and girls
The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women of 1993 defines violence
against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in,
physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts,
coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”
22
Violent practices against women and girls can take many forms which vary according to social
and cultural contexts. The Declaration outlines that violence against women encompasses but
is not limited to physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family, within the
general community, and perpetrated or condoned by the State, including intimate partner
violence (physical, sexual and psychological violence), sexual harassment and other forms of
sexual violence (attempted rape, rape) in public and private spaces, dowry-related violence,
female genital mutilation, sexual harassment and intimidation, and violence related to
exploitation.
Violence against women and girls is a global issue that transcends any geographic, social or
cultural boundaries. Women and girls all over the world are affected regardless of class,
ethnicity, religion, age, or sexual orientation. That being said, women and girls cannot be
viewed as a homogenous group. Differences in class, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation or
culture mean that women experience similar acts of violence differently, including in terms of
access to services. Appendix V outlines a range of at risk and resilience factors (often referred
to as protective factors) for violence against women and girls.
Societal norms that encourage silence combined with poor access to services and weak
judicial mechanisms entail that rates of violence are often severely underreported and that
offenders go unpunished. Without clearly targeted efforts to alter the culture and practices of
institutions, and wider society, most legal and political reforms will have little impact. When
conducting the safety governance assessment, it is important to remember that the aim is not
to gather details of specific crimes that have occurred, rather it is to understand the kinds of
violence women and girls experience, the kinds of services they have access to, and the
quality of these services, as well as the societal and institutional norms that tolerate and
perpetuate violence against women and girls (see Appendix IV (b) for lines of inquiry). It is
especially important to include the perspectives of those groups of women who may be more
likely to experience violence, including women with disabilities, women of colour, ethnic
minorities, indigenous women, refugees and asylum seekers, girls and younger women, and
older women.
Sexual harassment in public spaces
Women and girls often fear and experience various types of sexual violence in public spaces
from unwanted sexual remarks and touching to rape and femicide. It is a universal issue. It
happens on streets, in and around schools, public transportation, workplaces, public toilets
and parks, and marketplaces among others. In addition to the physical and psychological
impact of such harassment, this reality reduces women’s and girls’ freedom of movement and
their ability to study and work, access essential services, participate in public life and enjoy
recreation opportunities. This negatively impacts their health and well-being.
23
While women
and girls of all social and economic strata experience and fear violence in public spaces,
women and girls living in poverty, in disadvantaged areas, or belonging to socially excluded
22
General Assembly resolution 48/104, article 1.
23
UN Women, Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces: Global Results Report, (New York:2017).
47
or stigmatised groups (such as indigenous women, women of colour, migrants LGBTQIA+,
women living a disability or HIV/AIDS, displaced women, women engaging in sex work, etc.)
are more likely to be exposed to risks and dangers, especially because of experiences of
discrimination and inequality, and limited access to information, services, resources and
justice.
Inclusive, accessible and safe public spaces can help to reduce levels of inequality as they
can act to reduce socio-spatial segregation and increase social cohesion.
24
During the safety
governance assessment, participatory mapping through exploratory safety walks can be a
valuable method to map locations that are perceived by groups as unsafe, understand what it
is about these spaces that make them feel unsafe, and identify ways to reduce the
opportunities for harassment in public spaces.
25
Substance abuse
Substance abuse refers to harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including
alcohol and illicit drugs.
26
Substance abuse can act as a significant burden on individuals and
their families, and lead to a number of negative outcomes for communities including lost
productivity, increased healthcare costs, security challenges, and crime. However, it is
important to note that while intoxication with some substances (for example, alcohol or
methamphetamines) can lead to violent behaviour, most people who use substances will not
be involved in crime or violence. Drug use disorders should be treated as a health issue.
Drug problems appear to be disproportionately found among certain sub-population groups –
such populations diverge between regions but may include groups like street children, the
homeless, members of certain professions, prison populations, those with mental health
problems, etc.
27
The safety governance assessment can be used to recognise who these
vulnerable groups might be. However, the assessment team must carefully consider potential
consequences of applying negative stereotypes to what are already often socially excluded
and disadvantaged groups, and it is crucial that all ethical issues are addressed when
collecting data amongst these populations. The aim of the assessment is not to pinpoint
specific community groups as drug users, rather it is to understand general patterns and trends
in substance (ab)use, identify potentially vulnerable populations and assess the quality and
capacity of responses, particularly the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation services
available.
(Transnational) Organised Crime
The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, initiated in 2003,
provides an international framework to help combat this issue. However, many local police
and authorities lack the resources to deal with transnational organised crime. More specifically
24
UCLG Committee on Urban Strategic Planning, Public Space, https://www.uclg-planning.org/public-
space
25
See Action Aid’s Safety Audit Participatory Toolkit (2013) for practical guidance on conducting safety
walks.
26
WHO (2019) https://www.who.int/topics/substance_abuse
27
E/CN.7/2000/CRP.3 (2000) https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-
analysis/statistics/Drugs/lisbon_consensus.pdf
48
within the context of the safety assessment, it is important to note that citizens rarely complain
to the policy about organised crime, and furthermore, organised criminal activity is often only
known when the policy actively investigate it
28
. It is therefore necessary to use participatory
methods to unpack and address organized criminal activity within an urban area. Various
forms of organised crime, specifically gang violence, drug trafficking, trafficking in persons,
and smuggling of migrants are outlined in further detail below.
Gang violence
When conducting safety assessments, it is important to understand the dynamics of gangs
within an urban area. Urban dwellers often recognize the boundaries of gangs that are not
displayed directly on a map – in essence, where there are safe zones or areas of violence
where there are opposing gangs. Participants can therefore help to identify criminal hotspots
and areas of different gangs, particularly areas where there are overlapping gang boundaries.
In addition, it is important to receive participatory feedback from different gang members and
other urban dwellers to understand the motivations behind joining a gang, recruitment
methods, and the impact of gang violence on communities (see Appendix IV (e) for lines of
inquiry). Receiving a wide range of participation is vital for the accuracy and validity of the data
collected. However, safety precautions must also be considered when gathering this data. For
example, it may be prudent to conduct separate interviews or group interviews with different
gangs. This practice will help to ensure the accuracy of the data without causing potential
friction. Furthermore, there are youth outreach centres and youth rehabilitation centres in
certain communities. These locations provide a neutral zone to gather information about gang
activity with youth from different gangs, or youth formerly involved in gangs, participating in
community activities.
Drug trafficking
Drug trafficking is the global illicit trade involving the cultivation, manufacture, distribution, and
sale of substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. In addition to the increased
availability of illicit drugs, drug trafficking can result in increased violence and urban
segregation as well as a number of other negative social consequences. However, it should
be noted that drug trafficking can, in some instances, provide economic benefits to
communities, particularly in contexts with limited economic opportunities and lack of support
from formal institutions. When assessing drug trafficking, the safety governance assessment
should aim to understand trafficking routes (transnational and domestic, including the
cultivation of illicit crops near urban areas and the manufacture of synthetic substances in
cities themselves), the impact on communities, and the quality and capacity of responses to
drug trafficking. In addition, it is also especially important to consider the links between drug
trafficking and other forms of organised crime including gang violence and trafficking in
persons, arms or illicit goods (See Appendix IV (f) for lines of inquiry).
Trafficking in persons
As defined in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons
29
, trafficking
in persons has three constituent elements: the act, i.e. what is done, including recruitment,
transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons; the means, i.e. how it is done,
28
See above.
29
Article 3, paragraph (a)
49
including the threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or
vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim; and finally the
purpose, i.e. why it is done, for the purpose of exploitation, which includes exploiting the
prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or similar practices, and the
removal of organs. In the urban context, it includes both international trafficking (victims being
trafficked from other countries) as well as domestic trafficking (rural to urban trafficking). Data
on trafficking in persons represents only small fraction of actual cases as it is underreported
and very difficult to collect data on trafficking. Appendix IV (g) outlines lines of inquiry and
potential stakeholders to be consulted with for the safety governance assessment. For the
assessment, it is not necessary to interview or consult with victims directly – speaking with
relevant civil society organisations who work with trafficking victims is sufficient as these
organisations will possess the in-depth knowledge required to provide victims’ perspectives
without having them directly access their experiences of violence.
Smuggling of migrants
The Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air describes the smuggling
of migrants as the combination of the following elements:
o Either the procurement of the illegal entry or illegal residence of a person
o Into or in a country of which that person is not a national or permanent resident
o For the purpose of financial or other material benefit.
30
It is important to highlight that the criminalisation of smuggling of migrants and related conduct
covers only those who profit from smuggling of migrants through financial or other material
gain. It does not cover persons or groups, such as family members or non-governmental or
religious groups, who facilitate the illegal entry of migrants for non-profit reasons, nor does it
cover the migrants themselves. Appendix IV (h) outlines lines of inquiry and potential
stakeholders for the assessment. While the issues related to smuggling of migrants may vary
depending on whether the city is an origin, transit or destination location, it should be noted
that the safety governance assessment should never be used as a means to identify smuggled
migrants. The focus must be on the smugglers and smuggling networks, including the
identification of known hotspots and money flows.
Firearms
No region in the world is exempt from the dramatic consequences of firearms violence. While
the death toll in the context of armed conflicts is well known, less evident but even more
dramatic, is the fact that more lives are lost worldwide from non-conflict firearm events, than
do during ongoing wars. The problems associated with firearms violence covers the whole
spectrum of human security: ranging from high levels of individual physical insecurity
(domestic violence and street, gang and criminal violence) with serious economic and social
consequences for the society at large, to large scale armed conflicts in which these arms
enable widespread violence and account for the majority of deaths.
Unlike other types of trafficked goods, firearms are durable goods that remain competitive, as
they are a mature type of technology.
31
In addition, the majority of firearms are produced and
30
Article 3, Article 6.
31
UNODC, The Globalization of Crime: A Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment, p. 8.
50
transferred legally
32
. While the safety governance assessment should not consider the legal
purchase and transfer of firearms, it should examine the illicit trafficking of firearms and its
links to other forms of criminality such trafficking in persons or drugs, as well as the misuse of
weapons, including the use of legally purchased firearms for illicit activities (see Appendix IV
(i) for lines of inquiry).
Violent extremism
Violent extremism is a diverse and complex phenomenon, without clear definition. It is neither
new nor exclusive to any region, nationality, system or belief. As the Secretary-General’s Plan
of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism notes, violent extremism, conducive to terrorism,
encompasses a wider category of manifestations and should not be conflated with terrorism
as this could lead to the justification of a broad application of security-based counter-terrorism
measures against even those forms of conduct which do not qualify as terrorist acts.
Risk factors for violent extremism can emerge from multiple levels, through a combination of
the conditions conducive to violent extremism and structural context (‘push’ factors) and
individual motivations and processes (‘pull’ factors). Existing data on violent extremism
suggests that lack of socioeconomic opportunities, poor social cohesion characterised by
marginalisation and decriminalisation, poor governance, violations of human rights and the
rule of law, prolonged and unresolved conflicts, and radicalisation in prisons are potential push
factors for radicalisation and violent extremism. While these conditions affect entire
populations, only very few individuals become radicalised and turn to violence highlighting the
role of individual motivations and agency in the transformation of ideas and grievances into
violent action. When conducting the safety governance assessment, it is important to
understand both the contextual and individual factors that lead to violent extremism. It is also
especially crucial to better understand the processes of radicalisation, including narratives
surrounding collective grievances and victimisation, the distortion and misuse of beliefs and
ideologies as well the social networks and leadership involved in organising and directing
these elements towards violence (see Appendix IV (j) for lines of inquiry).
Corruption
Local governance is most effective when decision-making processes are participatory,
accountable, transparent, efficient, inclusive, and respect the rule of law.
33
While corruption
undermines good governance and the stability and security of societies at all levels, the most
prevalent manifestations of corruption are often at the local level. The United Nations
Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) is the only legally-binding universal anti-corruption
instrument. With 186 States parties, the Convention’s far-reaching approach and mandatory
character of many of its provisions make it a unique tool for developing a comprehensive
response to a global problem. While the Convention is targeted at States, compliance with
UNCAC can also be assessed at the urban level to enable a comprehensive understanding
of corruption challenges to local governance and its impact on basic services
34
. It is highly
32
UNODC, The Globalization of Crime: A Transnational Organized Crime Threat Assessment, p. 8.
33
UCLG, Local Governance, https://www.uclg.org/en/action/decentralisation-governance
34
UNCAC compliance can be assessed using the UNCAC self-assessment checklist on the
implementation of Chapter II (Preventive measures) and adapting it to the urban level,
https://www.unodc.org/documents/treaties/UNCAC/WorkingGroups/ImplementationReviewGroup/20-
24June2016/V1601515e.pdf See also guidance to filling self-assessment checklist:
51
recommended that this approach is taken when assessing corruption at the urban level.
However, for assessments conducted with limited time and resources, two aspects of
corruption – corruption in public service delivery and corruption in public procurement – can
be examined to gain a basic understanding of corruption dynamics at the urban level (see
Appendix IV (k) for lines of inquiry).
Stage 3: Putting it all together
The assessment process will generate a wealth of information, on a wide range of issues with
different types of data, but not all of this information will be useful. The knowledge and critical
thinking capabilities of the assessment team can have a significant impact on the analysis.
The team must determine what data is relevant and meaningful to the assessment and how
best to compile and analyse this information. It may be useful to organise information into
coherent categories to summarise and generate meaning to the data.
It is important to compare and combine the secondary data gathered throughout the
assessment with the information collected through key informant interviews, focus group
discussions, and participatory mapping exercises. In particular, it is important to examine
whether there are differences between the statistical information gathered and the subjective
perceptions of security and explore why this might be the case. The analysis needs to dig
into the root causes of urban safety challenges in the selected communities. It is important to
consider the variations between the territories examined, for example, how are challenges the
same across low-, medium-, and high-risk communities and how do they differ? In addition, it
is also important to examine the differences between various community groups to understand
challenges and opportunities specific to a community group.
Based on the statistical information gathered and the conclusions derived from key informant
interviews, focus groups discussions, surveys, and participatory mapping exercises, the
https://www.unodc.org/documents/treaties/UNCAC/WorkingGroups/ImplementationReviewGroup/20-
24June2016/V1603598e.pdf
Analysing qualitative responses
When analysing qualitative data gained through consultations with various stakeholders, there
is no universally applicable method or tool. It is a more fluid process that is likely to adapt
depending on the information collected. A general approach to analysis is to identify patterns
that emerge from the responses. These themes could be related to specific terminology or
phrases, behaviours, interactions, incidents, locations or special units; or more broadly, ideas,
issues or actors. In addition, it is valuable to reflect on what respondents avoided as well as the
points that they raised. It is worth examining which, if any aspects of an issue
informants/participants were unable or unwilling to discuss or elaborate upon and why. It is also
important to explore differences of opinion and perspectives between and within the various
stakeholders. The assessment team must consider whether these differences can be linked to
available and anecdotal evidence of safety and governance problems identified through the
process.
52
assessment team must develop a list of findings. Findings should be focused mainly to the
priority issues identified, and for each issue should relate to:
Nature of the issue:
o Crime, violence or corruption patterns by a unit of time (hour, day, season, etc., as
relevant and appropriate);
o Hotspots (areas with high crime/violence intensity or locations where risks are higher)
and routes of illicit flows;
o Actors involved – this could include the typical profile of offenders/perpetrators,
victims, most vulnerable groups, etc.;
o The impact and influence of external flows on crime, violence or corruption patterns;
o Linkages to other threats to urban safety and governance;
o The impact and social consequences on the community.
Risk factors:
Risk factors can emerge from multiple levels and the analysis needs to consider factors at
each level and examine how they intersect. The analysis should therefore cover:
o Individual-related factors, for example, sensation-seeking behaviour, early
aggressiveness, substance abuse, among others.
o Family, peer, school or community related factors, for example, family criminal
history, low parental involvement, friends who are gang members, poor school
performance, high levels of neighbourhood crime, easy availability of firearms or drugs
in the community, norms that tolerate violence against women, etc.
o Environmental factors, i.e. factors related to the physical environment, for example,
those related to land use, housing, transport, street lighting and basic services
including electricity, sanitation, health and education; lack of safe spaces.
o Local structural and economic factors, for example, high levels of income and
social inequality, concentrations of poverty, large bulges of unemployed youth, limited
economic opportunities.
o Factors related to local governance and social cohesion, including, poor access
to and/or quality of government security and justice services; coverage of basic
services including electricity, sanitation, health and education, low levels of state or
political legitimacy; provision of security and governance by non-state actors;
grievances around race, ethnicity, or religion; isolated or displaced populations,
women, children or other vulnerable groups.
o National or global factors, for example, unregulated urbanisation, illicit flows,
exposure to climate change, vulnerability to the risk of natural disaster, flows of ideas
and ideologies that promote violence, financial crises or contagion at national or
international level.
53
The analysis should not only identify the relevant risk factors at each level but should also
examine the relationships between them. Depending on the type and quality of data collected,
it can also be useful to establish correlations between specific crime, violence or corruption
trends and various risk factors. Mapping and geo-referencing sociodemographic,
socioeconomic, and environmental factors as well as crime incidence provides a better
understanding of the relationship between risk factors and incidence of crime. Therefore,
different layers of information need to be examined jointly, for example, concentration of crime
by type and hour of the day, trafficking routes and flows, coverage of public services, education
and health facilities, transportation routes and infrastructure, public spaces and recreational
areas, housing, street lighting, natural disaster areas, etc.
Finally, the assessment team should consider which factors can be realistically addressed
through local policies and programmes.
Responses:
The analysis needs to evaluate what is currently being done to address challenges to urban
safety and governance, as well as examine what strategies were used previously and assess
their effectiveness. This should include:
o Current responses to safety and governance issues, including for example:
o legislative and institutional framework;
o actors involved in responding to challenges,
o actors involved in addressing risk factors;
o local resources and capacity to address challenges, including financial and
human resources, and technical capacity;
o policies, programmes, and practices of local government departments and
other relevant actors, including civil society, private sector, etc.;
o effectiveness of these policies, programmes, and practices in addressing
safety and governance challenges or reducing their impact.
When analysing current responses, it is especially useful to examine differences between the
legislation, policies and mechanisms in place and to what extent they differ from what actually
happens in practice.
o Past approaches, strategies, or policies: where data is available, it can be very
useful to evaluate the impact of past approaches on crime incidence or good
governance to identify what has or has not worked in the past.
o Gaps identified in data collection: this could relate to the frequency and coverage
of data collection; the methods, platforms, and tools used for data collection and
analysis, and the reliability and validity of data collected.
Opportunities for response, prevention and building resilience:
In addition to identifying challenges, it is also important for the analysis to take into
consideration opportunities available for improving urban safety and governance. This could
include:
54
o Available local (and national, as appropriate) resources and capacity to address
urban safety and governance, such as financial and human resources, and technical
capacity, including to collect, analyse and monitor crime, violence and corruption data.
o Potential adjustments or development of policies, programmes, and practices to
improve urban safety and governance.
o Points of resilience for the community: resilience factors could include individuals,
groups (or parts of groups), organisations (or parts of organisations), physical spaces,
as well as more intangible factors such as history, beliefs, values, and traditions that
shape a coherent local identity.
When developing recommendations for implementation, drawing on the foundation of the
2002 UN Guidelines for the Prevention of Crime, the urban safety governance framework
highlights the following basic principles:
o Government leadership: all levels of government should play a leadership role in
developing effective and humane crime prevention strategies.
o Socio-economic development and inclusion: Crime prevention considerations should
be built into all relevant social and economic policies and programmes, including those
addressing employment, education, health, housing and urban planning.
o Cooperation and partnerships: Given the wide-ranging nature of the causes of crime
and the skills and responsibilities to address them, cooperation and partnership
between ministries and between authorities, community organisations, non-
governmental organisations, the business sector and private citizens is needed.
o Sustainability, accountability and resources: Achieving safety is not possible without
an investment of sustainable resources. There should be clear accountability for
funding, implementation and evaluation of programmes, policies and initiatives.
Data analysis: the cases of Cali and Querétaro
The process of systematisation and geocoding of information collected in Cali started with an initial
data validation with technical field officers of Inclusion and Opportunities Territories Deputy Secretariat
(TIOS), members of the Peace Observatory and ICESI University. Trends analysis was conducted
using sociodemographic, geographic and circumstantial data to determine their impact on the level of
safety, social cohesion and police operability. The audit team used the UNTOC typology of organised
crime groups to identify crime groups in Cali and classify them into seven types based on their
permanence in time, the type relationship between the groups, their resources and territory
characteristics. In addition, exploratory analysis of spatial data was conducted using quantile maps,
standard deviation maps, and spatial autocorrelation to identify vulnerable groups. Modelling of spatial
relationships and regression models were also used in the analysis.
In Querétaro, three types of analysis were conducted. Diagnostic analysis was conducted using the
102 indicators to fully understand the current situation and local context. Next descriptive analysis was
used to analyse key indicators, primarily to understand patterns and trends over time through
correlating public policies of various administrations with crime incidence. Finally qualitative analysis
was conducted by collecting and systematising primary data through an inclusive and participatory
process and complementing it through discourse analysis.
55
o Knowledge base and monitoring: strategies, policies and programmes to address
crime and violence in cities, should be based on a broad, multidisciplinary foundation
of knowledge about crime problems, their causes and promising and proven practices.
o Promote a culture of lawfulness and human rights: The focus on replacing ‘criminal
governance’ with legitimate governance lies at the heart of the framework. Doing so
must rely on building a culture of lawfulness that is based on human rights principles
and the promotion of the rule of law.
o Differentiation: There is a need for programmes that are consultative and respectful of
the conditions, resources and needs of local communities. This includes taking into
account the different needs of women and men and the special requirements of
vulnerable groups.
o Interdependency: National crime prevention diagnosis and strategies should, where
appropriate, take account of links between local criminal problems and international
organised crime.
In addition to these basic principles, the urban safety governance approach promotes the
following prerequisites for success:
• Empowering the public sector and enhancing local governance: Where possible, the
assessment should contribute to a stronger public sector that is able to govern
efficiently and respond to local challenges. The assessment may result in the discovery
of certain misbehaviours and, perhaps even certain forms of criminal activity, however
the assessment results should not be used for any punitive action. The general spirit
that should animate the process is to support the Mayor, their team and local
government departments to improve the transparency of processes and be able to
better deliver and serve the needs of the local community.
• A mix of practical and symbolic actions: While it is accepted that practical outcomes
must be achieved, symbolic measures may be no less important. These include the
activities of individual leaders in promoting behaviours commensurate with high levels
of integrity and the rule of law. It is worth noting here that, independent of the quality
and quantity of data collected, the mere process of participating in the assessment will
have contributed to creating awareness on the opportunities and challenges for urban
safety and governance as well as encouraging discussion and debate on the way
forward.
• Innovation and experimentation: In the complex environment in which most cities find
themselves, many policy responses will by definition be locally contingent. This
provides important space for innovation and experimentation and also enables people
to feel empowered to contribute to change.
C. Presentation and validation of results
Figure 18: Presentation and validation of results process
Build consensus on local priorities Write the report
56
i. Building consensus on local priorities and developing
recommendations
Once the analysis is complete, and ideally before writing the assessment report, the
assessment team should engage with key stakeholders, at local and national levels, through
workshops or roundtables to discuss the data collection process and the evidence gathered
in order to build consensus on local vulnerabilities, priority areas of intervention, and key
stakeholders to address these priorities. In addition to building consensus, the workshops or
roundtables enable discussions among key stakeholders on the ways forward by considering
what interventions are appropriate and feasible in light of the results gathered from the
assessment, identify specific needs for local government departments based on the gaps
identified, and establish the parameters for gradual implementation of policies. The issues
raised during these meetings can then feed into the final assessment report and the
development of a comprehensive city strategy.
ii. Writing the report
The final assessment report describes the objectives and process of the assessment,
highlights key findings, outlines priorities for action, and proposes recommendations for
improving urban safety and governance. The report should be circulated among all those who
participated in the assessment process, as well as a wider range of stakeholders, at both local,
national and international levels, as appropriate.
When writing the report, the team needs to derive clear, coherent messages from the
assessment findings. The report should not be too complex or academic as it is intended for
a wide audience and should therefore use language that can be understood by an educated
layperson. Effective data visualisation can be used to efficiently and clearly communicate
more complex information. The team must think about how to best utilise visual elements such
as graphs, charts, maps, infographics, and photographs, among others.
Appendix VI outlines the general structure that the report should follow.
It is also important to use different means to disseminate the results of the safety governance
assessment. Aside from the report, infographics and videos can be shared on the assessment
website and social media platforms to effectively communicate assessment findings to the
target audience and draw attention to local priorities.
57
D. Strategies and policies
Figure 19: Strategies and policies process
Based on the results of the safety assessment, the assessment team and working group (if
applicable) should work with the local government to develop a comprehensive strategy to
tackle the challenges identified and implement the assessment’s recommendations. It is also
especially important that strategy development is a participatory process. The various
stakeholders involved in the audit should actively participate in the development of strategies
and public policies.
The strategy should be developed in accordance with the principles of the Safety Governance
Approach, specifically regulation, enforcement, engagement, and resilience.
35
The strategy
must establish clear objectives with timeframes and quantified goals, institutional
responsibilities, roles of the different stakeholders, and a work plan according to available
funds. Furthermore, it should include a participatory monitoring and evaluation system to
adequately measure progress and achievements. It may be useful to establish a formal
framework of cooperation through memorandums of understanding and other inter-
institutional agreements.
35
See section on Safety Governance Strategies (p.31- p.41) in Governing Safer Cities guide.
Design public
policy/
strategy
Adoption of
the policy
with
accompanying
budget
allocation
Policy
implement-
ation
Participatory
M&E
Policy re-
planning/
strategy
update
Presentation and validation of results: the cases of Bishkek and Querétaro
In Bishkek, the results of the audit were communicated to various stakeholders through a series of
meetings. For each stakeholder group, separate meetings were organised, for example for the Mayor’s
office, rayon administrations, police, and city parliament. The aim of these meetings was to build
dialogue and prioritise key crime problems in the city.
During the implementation of the audit in Querétaro, the LSA team were in constant communication
with the local government and other local authorities to inform them about the process. Before
presenting the results publicly, the team shared the main findings with the main stakeholder: the
Ministry of Public Security of the Queretaro Municipality. They provided feedback to validate the results
and add relevant information. The audit report focused on explaining which, where, and how crimes
take place in Queretaro and outlined recommendations on how to address and prevent various threats
to urban safety, including highlighting which institutions were responsible for taking action on issues.
The report was presented in a public event with the participation of local government and other relevant
authorities, CSOs, academic experts, businessmen, police officers, and students.
58
A small-scale implementation of the strategy, as an initial test phase, is an effective way of
adapting the strategy and work plan to the local context, and identifying any challenges,
limitations and opportunities before the full roll out. The test phase can also help to validate
the conceptual model, the causal chains and the real weight of the risk factors and priorities
identified in the safety audit phase. Once the test phase has been developed, and the work
plan adapted, the full-scale implementation can commence.
Monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the strategy is crucial. In line with the
expected objectives, results and activities, the progress indicators and the related
responsibilities should be periodically analysed and updated. Civil society organisations can
should be actively involved to ensure transparency and accountability. Furthermore, the
participation of a wide range of stakeholders in the M&E process is essential to allow an
adequate understanding of the dynamics, the reasons for success and failure, as well as the
interpretation of available information.
Translating results into public policies: the cases of Bishkek, Cali and Querétaro
After the audit process was completed in Bishkek, budget lines – with assigned responsibilities and
timeframes – were determined in order to implement strategies and policies from the audit’s findings.
The budget lines were established through several roundtables that included a variety of stakeholders
from city officials to police to private businesses. These multi-stakeholder roundtable discussions were
vital to ensuring that the budget allocation process remained transparent for all stakeholders. These
discussions helped to fundraise money to tackle the problems listed in the plan and were also
organised alongside strong advocacy and awareness raising campaigns. For example, there were
campaigns on reducing school bullying and preventing child marriages. A monitoring framework was
also established with the city parliament and a number of CSOs taking the lead on monitoring progress
of implementation of public policies.
In Cali, the results of the safety audit informed the development of Cali’s citizen safety policy for the
next 10 years. The citizen safety policy was approved by Cali’s local council and a budget allocated for
each of the 10 years of policy’s implementation. The implications of other recommendations from the
safety audit are also currently being discussed with local governments and CSOs.
The recommendations which emerged from the safety audit in Querétaro helped to design policies on
safety and crime prevention. A regulation on crime and violence prevention issued by the Ministry of
Public Security of the Municipality of Queretaro was endorsed by all local authorities. In addition, the
municipality launched a crime prevention program (AcciónEsPrevenir), which main objectives are:
• to guarantee the security in the municipality, as a fundamental right for all citizens
• improve family cohesion, economic opportunities and
• strengthening of the social fabric.
To ensure the sustainability of the audit process, local government and UNODC settled an open
commitment to work together on building capacities based on the needs of Ministry of Public Security,
including on geo-referencing of data and participatory social diagnosis.
59
Appendices
Appendix I: Sample consent form for participation in Safety Governance
Assessment
If you agree to participate then please complete and sign the form below. Please initial the
boxes below to confirm that you agree with each statement:
________________________ __________________ ___________________
Name of the respondent
________________________ __________________ ___________________
Name of the researcher Date Signature
Please initial
box:
I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw at any time
without giving any reason and without there being any negative consequences. In
addition, should I not wish to answer any particular question or questions, I am free to
decline.
I understand that my responses will be kept strictly confidential. I understand that my
name will not be linked with the research materials and will not be identified or
identifiable in the report or reports that result from the research.
I agree for this interview to be recorded. I understand that the audio recording made of
this interview will be used only for analysis and that extracts from the interview, from
which I would not be personally identified. I understand that no other use will be made
of the recording without my written permission, and that no one outside the research
team will be allowed access to the original recording.
I agree to take part in the Safety Governance Assessment.
60
Appendix II: List of potential indicators for the data analysis
36
:
core indicators
1. Sociodemographic indicators
Population:
Total urban population
Urban population by sex, age and other relevant factors (e.g. indigenous population, ethnicity,
religion)
Urban population density
Metropolitan area population (if applicable)
Urban population growth over 10-year period
Total number of national migrants into city
Total number of international migrants into city
Proportion of urban population living in slums, informal settlements or inadequate housing
Size of informal settlements as a proportion of the city area
Household:
Average household size (number of members)
Average household income
Rate of single parent households per 100,000 population
Teenage pregnancy rate per 100,000 population
Education:
Literacy rate
Proportion of total population with primary school education; secondary; and post-secondary,
by sex, age and other relevant factors
Proportion of children and young people in (a) grades 2/3; (b) at the end of primary; and c; at
the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in reading and
mathematics, by sex and other relevant factors
School dropout rate per 100,000 population
Employment:
Youth unemployment rate
Proportion of economically active population
Proportion of the population in formal employment
Proportion of the population in informal employment
Proportion of women without access to formal work
Proportion of young population without access to formal work
Proportion of the population with precarious working conditions
Proportion of children employed in formal/informal work
2. Socioeconomic indicators
Macroeconomic indicators:
Gross Income per capita
GDP per capita
36
List of indicators adapted from UNODC & UN Habitat, A guide for participatory safety audits; J. De
Boer, R. Muggah & R. Patel, Conceptualising City Fragility and Resilience, UNU-CPR Working Paper
5, (2016); Efus, Guidance on Local Safety Audits; Council of Europe, Concerted development of
social cohesion indicators: Methodological guide, (Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 2005).
61
Human Development Index
Poverty:
Poverty rate (proportion of the city population living below the urban poverty line)
Concentrated poverty rate (i.e. proportion of neighbourhoods/municipalities where the poor
exceed 40% of the population)
Income and social inequality:
City GINI coefficient
Proportion of population lacking access to basic services (access to electricity can be used as
a proxy as other variables such as sanitation, for example, tend to lack adequate coverage)
Proportion of population without registered legal title
Micro-economic security and social protection:
Percentage of population covered by social protection schemes
Percentage of population with access to a bank account
Proportion of population enrolled in social safety net programs, pensions
3. Provision of essential services (including public health and critical infrastructure)
Proportion of population with access to piped water or improved sanitation
Infant mortality
Life expectancy
Percentage of doctors per 100,000 population
Proportion of population with access to healthcare
Number of individuals receiving treatment for drug abuse per 100,000 population
Proportion of city area covered by public lighting
Proportion of population with access to electricity
Number of schools per 100,000 of school-going population
Coverage of essential services (electricity, water, sewage system, healthcare, schools) as a
proportion of city area
Proportion of total local government spending on essential services (education, health, and
social protection)
4. Crime incidence
Victims of intentional homicide per 100,000 population, by age, sex, place of occurrence, and
other relevant factors
Victims of intentional homicide related to organised criminal groups or gangs per 100,000
population, by age, sex, place of occurrence, and other relevant factors
Victims of intentional homicide by intimate partner or family member per 100,000 population,
by age, sex, place of occurrence, and other relevant factors
Victims of intentional homicide committed with firearm per 100,000 population, by place of age,
sex, place of occurrence, and other relevant factors
Victims of serious assault per 100,000 population by age, sex, place of occurrence, and other
relevant factors
Victims of serious assault committed with firearm per 100,000 population by age, sex, place of
occurrence, and other relevant factors
Victims of sexual violence per 100,000 population by age, sex, disability status, place of
occurrence, and other relevant factors
Victims of sexual violence committed with firearm per 100,000 population by age, sex,
disability status, place of occurrence, and other relevant factors
62
Victims of physical or sexual harassment per 100,000 population by age, sex, disability status,
place of occurence, and other relevant factors
Number of victims of trafficking in persons per 100,000 population by sex, age, and form of
exploitation per 100,000 population
Motor vehicle thefts reported per 100,000 population
Robbery committed with the use of firearms per 100,000 population
Proportion of total seized firearms that are recorded and traced in the city
Proportion of civilian-held/state-held firearms that are diverted (including lost or stolen)
Proportion of total drug seizures that are recorded and traced in the city
Number of terrorist related killings per 100,000 population
Political instability (a proxy that can be used is the number of protests and strikes in the past
three years)
Proportion of reported corruption cases investigated
5. Drug use and dependence
Prevalence of drug use among the general population
Incidence of drug use among the general population
Prevalence of drug use among the youth population (15-24 years old)
Incidence of drug use among the youth population
Number of daily users per 100,000 population
Number of drug injectors per 100,000 population
Drug treatment registries (as a proxy for demand for treatment)
37
Drug-related morbidity – cases of disease directly or proportionally attributable to drug
consumption
Infection rates of HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C among drug injectors
38
Drug-related mortality – deaths directly or proportionally attributable to drug consumption
39
6. Local governance, policing and judicial mechanisms
Proportion of positions in local government, police force, and judiciary compared to national
distributions, by age, sex, persons with disability and population groups
Local government expenditures as a proportion of original approved budget, by sector (or by
budget code or similar)
Proportion of victims of violence or crime who reported their victimisation to competent
authorities or other officially recognised conflict resolution systems
Proportion of reported crime cases investigated
Number of cases resolved by courts
Policing presence per 1000 population
Prison overcrowding rate, disaggregated by facility
Proportion of unsentenced detainees out of the overall prison population
Ratio of young population in conflict with the law per 10,000 population
37
Trends and patterns of high-risk drug use can also be generated from drug treatment registries.
38
It should be noted that conceptual problems do exist in this area. While health costs of illicit drug
consumption need to be assessed, problems exist in estimating the contribution that drug consumption has
made to cases of disease in which there are other additional attributed causes, and in calculating the
proportion of cases in which drug use is the sole attributed cause when in reality a number of possible
causes exist. (https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/Drugs/lisbon_consensus.pdf)
39
As with morbidity, it is important to distinguish between those deaths which are solely attributable to drug
consumption (such as overdose), those where drug consumption is attributable for a proportion of deaths
(such as AIDS deaths), and those deaths where drug use is one of several attributable factors.
(https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/Drugs/lisbon_consensus.pdf)
63
Existence of informal justice mechanisms
Proportion of population who had at least one contact with a public official and who paid a
bribe to a public official, or were asked for a bribe by those public officials
Public confidence in local government, police force and judicial systems, e.g. through existing
perception surveys, if available
Proportion of population satisfied with their last experience of public services
Perceived insecurity, e.g. through existing victimisation or perception surveys, if available
7. Social cohesion
Voter turnout (urban population who voted in the last election as a proportion of total urban
population)
Voter turnout amongst 18-34 year olds
Existence of mechanisms for community participation in local decision-making, e.g. a direct
participation structure of civil society in urban planning and management operating regularly
and democratically
Number of citizens that participate in local consultations
Ability to launch direct democracy through petition, and number of signatures required to do so
as a proportion of total population
Proportion of population volunteering their time or donating resources to local community
causes
Average share of the built-up area of cities that is open space for public use for all, by sex, age
and persons with disabilities
Proportion of population reporting having personally felt discriminated against or harassed on
the basis of a ground of discrimination prohibited under international human rights law
Income insufficiency – proportion of households below poverty threshold in spite of all
employable members working
8. (Natural) Hazard exposure
Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per
100,000 population
Direct economic loss as a percentage of city GDP, damage to critical infrastructure and
number of disruptions to basic services, attributed to disasters
Existence of local disaster risk reduction strategies
Proportion of individuals living in the vicinity of an ammunition stockpiling site
Indicators should be collected at the city level to enable comparisons across cities, and, where
possible, should also be compared with corresponding data at the national level. However, it
is also essential to the analysis that data is disaggregated by sex, age, race, ethnic or religious
group, time unit such as year or month as appropriate, and spatial unit such as
neighbourhoods or administrative districts to enable comparisons within the city and identify
population groups and geographical areas that should be the focus of future research.
Moreover, the assessment team should, as part of the situational analysis, review all
secondary qualitative data selected for their reliability and relevance to the indicators outlined
above.
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Appendix III: Lines of inquiry for initial assessment
• What are the community’s greatest concerns?
• How do the problems impact on different groups (women, youth, religious and ethnic
minorities, indigenous peoples, migrants, refugees or asylum seekers, people with
disabilities, older persons)?
• Which forms of violence and insecurity are deemed most common/priority among
different community groups?
• What is the nature and quality of the physical environment - open spaces, buildings
(housing, businesses, public buildings), markets, etc?
• Are there locations where people feel particularly unsafe and why?
• How can the level of crime and insecurity be explained?
• What risk factors need to be addressed urgently?
• Which neighbourhoods and commercial areas are most damaged by crime?
• What crimes have the greatest prevalence?
• What crimes show the highest rate of increase?
• What are the enabling factors for these crimes and what are their links to organised
crime?
• What is the state of basic services available in the community including: electricity
and water supply, sanitation, waste disposal, health, policing, public lighting, roads,
and public transport?
• Are there challenges for certain groups to gain access to these services (e.g.
women, youth, religious and ethnic minorities, indigenous peoples, migrants,
refugees or asylum seekers, people with disabilities, older persons)?
• What are the mechanisms in place to register grievances with local government
departments, police and other law enforcement agencies, and judicial agencies?
• How is public service delivery affecting safety?
• How will election and budgeting cycles interact with what basic/essential social
services are available in the area?
• What is the level of trust and confidence the community has in local public
authorities?
• What measures are taken by community members themselves to ensure their
safety/self-protection?
• What is being done specifically to tackle the problems?
• Are appropriate interventions directed at vulnerable individuals and families?
• Which services and interventions are working well and which are not, and why?
• What problems should be tackled at the community level in order to best contribute
to wider policy priorities?
• For which issues are there available resources (financial, technical, human)?
• Do agencies exchange information and work effectively in partnership?
• What are the arrangements for political and administrative governance - including the
level of decentralisation, budget sources and decision-making processes on budget
allocation?
65
Appendix IV: Lines of inquiry by thematic issue
40
The questions below are lines of inquiry for the assessment team to pursue during Stage 2 of
data collection. These questions are not intended to be asked directly to participants in the
assessment, rather they represent the kinds of information the assessment aims to reveal.
IV (a): Local crime
Potential stakeholders: Local community, police and other relevant law enforcement agencies,
judiciary, other relevant local government departments, relevant civil society organisations,
local businesses
Main Concerns
• What are the main concerns regarding crime and violence in the community (homicide,
serious assault, kidnapping, theft, robbery, others)?
Risk factors/drivers
• What is driving criminal activity? What is motivating individuals to engage in the
criminal activity?
Actors and their role
• What is the demographic profile of offenders?
• What is the impact on the community of the crime?
• Are certain groups in the community more likely to be impacted by crime?
Hotspots
• Are the risks higher in particular areas? Are there any places where community
members feel more safe or unsafe? What is it about these places that makes them
feel so?
• Have there been any recent changes in the trends of the crime (in terms of prevalence,
perpetrators, behaviours, locations, etc.)?
External flows
• What external flows impact local crime?
• Which actors are involved in facilitating these flows?
• Which stakeholders are responding to these flows (i.e. non-state entities, including
civil society organisations, private sector, academia, etc.)?
40
Lines of inquiry adapted from: ICAT, A Toolkit for guidance in designing and evaluating counter-
trafficking programmes, (Vienna: ICAT, 2016); ActionAid International, Making Cities and Urban Spaces
Safe for Women and Girls: Safety Audit Participatory Toolkit, developed by Social Development Direct,
(Karnataka: ActionAid International, 2013); National Crime Prevention Centre - Public Safety Canada Local
Safety Audit Guide: To Prevent Trafficking in Persons and Related Exploitation, (Ottawa: Public Safety
Canada, 2013); UNODC, Guidebook on anti-corruption in public procurement and the management of
public finances, (Vienna: UNODC, 2013); various UNODC bribery experience surveys; Jagori, Handbook
on Women’s Safety Audits; UN Women, Ask Questions About Women’s Safety in Cities; Efus, Guidance
on Local Safety Audits.
66
• What resources or stakeholders promote or inhibit safety through the management of
these flows?
Responses of relevant stakeholders
• How does the police respond to crime?
• How do other relevant agencies respond to crime?
• What regulatory policies, programmes, and practices relating to the crime exist in the
city or community?
• Is there a strategy in place among local authorities to tackle the crime?
Capacities of relevant stakeholders
• What are the capacities (financial, technical, human) of police, local government
departments/agencies, and other relevant stakeholders to prevent and address local
crime?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices can most effectively improve
safety from the crime in the city or the community? How can these be expanded?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices are less effective at improving
safety from the crime in the city or the community? How can these be improved or
replaced?
• Is the strategy well-implemented, adequate, and effective? Why or why not? How can
it be improved?
• What are the capacities of police, local government agencies, and other relevant actors
to address the crime? Are they sufficient?
Positive change/resilience factors
• How can the police, local government departments or agencies, and other relevant
actors contribute to reducing the risk of crime?
• How can the community contribute to reducing the risk of the crime?
Priorities for further action
• Are there are any new policies that could be implemented to address local crime? Who
would be responsible for implementing these policies?
• What are the priorities for action for each relevant stakeholder?
• Where do priorities between stakeholders overlap? Where do these priorities differ?
IV (b): Violence against women and girls
Potential stakeholders: women and girls, and individuals of diverse sexual orientation and
gender identities from local community
41
, first responders (including police, welfare service
providers, social workers etc.), local government and various municipal departments, relevant
civil society organisations
Main concerns
41
It is important to include the perspectives of different groups who may be more at risk of violence,
including women with disabilities, women of colour, ethnic minorities, indigenous women, refugees and
asylum seekers, and older women.
67
• What forms of violence against women is the community aware of?
• Have there been any recent changes in the trends regarding violence against women
and girls (in terms of prevalence, perpetrators, behaviours, locations, etc.)?
• What forms of violence against women does the city or country have data on?
Risk factors/drivers
• Are there social norms which exist which tolerate or perpetuate violence against
women and girls?
• What types of risks do women and girls face in the community? What tools do
women and girls have in order to address problems at home? At work/education?
Actors and their role
• Who are the perpetrators of such violence against women?
• Which groups of women in the city/community most often experience violence or
insecurity?
Hotspots
• When and where are women and girls most likely to experience such violence?
• Have there been any recent changes in the trends of the crime (in terms of prevalence,
perpetrators, behaviours, locations, etc.)?
• Are there any places where women and girls feel particularly safe or unsafe? What is
it about these places that make them feel so?
• What are the different problems faced by women and girls at different times of the
day (early morning, day, evening and night) in accessing essential services?
External flows
• What external flows impact violence against women and girls?
• Are there illicit flows related to women and girls?
• Which stakeholders are responding to these flows (i.e. non-state entities, including civil
society organisations, private sector, academia, etc.)?
• What resources or stakeholders promote or inhibit safety through the management of
these flows?
Responses of relevant stakeholders
• Do women and girls ask for help with an unsafe or dangerous situation? Did they go
to the police or approach anyone else for help? Did the response meet their need
and why or why not? Who are women and girls most likely to seek help from?
• How does the police respond to incidences of violence against women and girls?
• What regulatory policies, programmes, and practices relating to violence against
women, insecurity and crime already exist in the city/community? How do other
relevant agencies respond?
• Are there formal laws and policies or cultural norms and attitudes that reproduce
gender stereotypes and endow men with better or increased resources?
• Does the city have a strategy in place to address violence against women?
• Is there a mechanism in place to enable cooperation between all relevant
stakeholders involved in providing services to those at risk of or victims of gender-
based violence?
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• Are there awareness campaigns on prevention and protection form gender-based
violence? Do they reflect services available to victims or those at risk? Who is the
target audience of these campaigns?
• Is the support system available to victims of domestic and gender-based violence,
irrespective of their willingness to cooperate with the criminal justice system?
• Are there existing crisis intervention structures, such as shelters, crisis centres and
counselling centres for victims of domestic violence?
Capacities of relevant stakeholders
• What are the capacities (financial, technical, human) of police, local government
agencies, and other relevant stakeholders to prevent and address violence against
women and girls? Against people with diverse gender identities? Are they sufficient?
• If they exist, what forms of violence and crime against women do they target? Are
there forms of violence and crime against women that they do not address?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices can most effectively help
women and girls be and feel safer in the city/community? How can these be
expanded?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices are least effective in helping
women and girls be and feel safer in the city/community? How can these be
improved or replaced?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices can most effectively help
people of diverse gender identities be and feel safer in private spaces or at home?
How can these be expanded?
• Is the strategy well-implemented, adequate, and effective? Why or why not? How
can it be improved?
Positive change/resilience factors
• How can the community contribute to improve the safety of women and girls?
Priorities for further action
• Are there are any new policies that could be implemented to address violence against
women and girls? Who would be responsible for implementing these policies?
• What are the priorities for action for each relevant stakeholder?
• Where do priorities between stakeholders overlap? Where do these priorities differ?
IV (c): Sexual harassment in public spaces
Potential stakeholders: marginalized individuals - women and girls, and individuals of
diverse sexual orientation and gender identities from local community, migrants, refugees,
ethnic minorities, indigenous peoples, people with disabilities – first responders (including
police, welfare service providers, social workers etc.), local government departments (related
to urban planning, transportation, recreation, economic development etc.)
42
, relevant civil
society organisations
42
It is important to include a wide range of local government departments to mainstream prevention and
safety and get a better sense of the level of understanding and awareness local government departments
have on this issue.
69
Main concerns
• Are public spaces in the city/community safe to move about freely?
• What types of sexual harassment and violence are taking place in public spaces in
the potential intervention areas? For example, is it physical, verbal or visual?
• What is the scale of the problem? How many incidents are taking place each day?
How many women are affected? How many girls are affected?
• Do women and girls go out alone, or in groups, or in the company of men?
• Have there been any recent changes in the trends of the crime (in terms of prevalence,
perpetrators, behaviours, locations, etc.)?
• What are the consequences of this problem for women and girls? How does it affect
their sense of safety, their level of comfort, access, and right to use public spaces?
Risk factors/drivers
• What are the causes, contributory factors and permissive conditions for each form of
harassment and violence mentioned above?
• Are there social norms which exist which tolerate or perpetuate sexual harassment or
violence?
• Does the built environment facilitate such behaviour?
• Is there insufficient legal protection against harassment and violence in public spaces?
• Is alcohol or are other drugs involved?
• Is there much use of weapons (knives, firearms, other weapons)?
• Is there a lack of education or public awareness of the issue?
• Do marginalised individuals take any precautions when they go out? Do they carry
something for protection or avoid certain areas?
Actors and their role
• Who is perpetrating the sexual harassment and violence? Do they act individually or
in groups?
• Are certain groups of women and girls being targeted or affected more than others?
For example, does it impact most on those of a particular age, ethnicity, (dis)ability or
socio-economic group?
Hotspots
• In which public spaces are these behaviours most common (streets, consider
especially those near schools, shops, bars or recreational facilities; libraries; formal or
informal recreational facilities, e.g. sport/play grounds, parks; formal and informal
public transportation, buses, taxis, informal taxis - including mini-vans, motorbikes and
open trucks, bus stops and transport hubs/interchanges, markets, other public
spaces)?
• What kinds of spaces in the city/community do women and girls avoid and why?
• Are there any places where women and girls feel particularly safe or unsafe? What is
it about these places that make them feel so?
• Do women and girls stay in public spaces and use them, or just move through them?
Why and why not? What are the gender dynamics underpinning these behaviours?
• What kinds of spaces in the city/community do women and girls use and what kinds
of activities do they perform when they use these spaces?
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• Is there a temporal pattern to this problem? Is it more common at certain times of the
day, days in the week or months in the year?
• What times of day or night do women and girls go out most often? What times do
they go out least often? Why?
• What are the different problems faced by women and girls at different times of the
day (early morning, day, evening and night) in accessing essential services?
External flows
• What external flows impact harassment and violence in public spaces?
• Which stakeholders are responding to these flows (i.e. non-state entities, including civil
society organisations, private sector, academia, etc.)?
• What resources or stakeholders promote or inhibit safety through the management of
these flows?
Responses of relevant stakeholders
• How do women and girls respond to the harassment and violence? What coping
strategies do they employ? Do they take any precautions when they go out? Do they
carry something for protection or avoid certain areas?
• Are there specific services for women and girls who experience sexual harassment
and other forms of sexual violence in public spaces?
• Do marginalized individuals ask for help with an unsafe or dangerous situation? Did
they go to the police or approach anyone else for help? Did the response meet their
need and why or why not?
• Do police and other justice agencies protect women and girls effectively and, if not,
why not?
• How does the police respond to incidences of violence against people of diverse
gender identities?
• Are there existing crisis intervention structures, such as shelters, crisis centres and
counselling centres for marginalized individuals?
• What are the significant gaps in existing services related to women’s and girls’ safety
and how might they be filled?
Capacities of relevant stakeholders
• What are the capacities (financial, technical, human) of police, local government
agencies, and other relevant actors to address harassment and violence in public
spaces? If they exist, what forms of violence and crime do they target?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices can most effectively help
marginalized individuals feel safer in the city/community? How can these be
expanded?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices are least effective in helping
marginalized individuals be and feel safer in the city/community? How can these be
improved or replaced?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices can most effectively help
marginalized individuals feel safer in public spaces?
• Is the strategy well-implemented, adequate, and effective? Why or why not? How
can it be improved?
71
Positive change/resilience factors
• How can the community contribute to improving the safety of individuals in public
spaces?
Priorities for further action
• Are there are any new policies that could be implemented to address violence and
harassment in public spaces? Who would be responsible for implementing these
policies?
• What are the priorities for action for each relevant stakeholder?
• Where do priorities between stakeholders overlap? Where do these priorities differ?
IV (d): Substance abuse
Potential stakeholders: local community, police, local government department responsible for
health, hospitals, schools, relevant civil society organisations, drug treatment registries
a. Use of illicit drugs
Main concerns
• How prevalent is the use of illicit drugs?
• Which drugs are being used?
• How are users obtaining these drugs?
• How serious is problematic use?
• What is the mode of use?
• What is the impact of use of illicit drugs on the community (health, violence, etc.)?
Are certain community groups more likely to be impacted?
Risk factors/drivers
• What factors enable the use of illicit drugs in the community?
• Is drug use considered a health problem?
Actors and their role
• What is the demographic profile of users (age, gender, education level,
neighbourhood)?
• How many high-risk drug injectors are there?
• How many cases are there of direct or proportional drug consumption related
diseases in the last year?
• What are the infection rates of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) hepatitis B
virus and hepatitis C virus among drug injectors?
• How many cases are there of direct or proportional drug consumption related
mortality in the last year?
Hotspots
• In which areas or neighbourhoods are problems most serious?
• Have there been any recent changes in the use of illicit drugs (in terms of prevalence
and patterns of drug use, new drugs, etc.)?
72
External flows
• What external flows impact the use of illicit drugs?
• Which actors are involved in facilitating these flows?
• Which stakeholders are responding to these flows (i.e. non-state entities, including
civil society organisations, private sector, academia, etc.)?
• What resources or stakeholders promote or inhibit safety through the management of
these flows?
Responses of relevant stakeholders
• What is the police response to use of illicit drugs?
• What is the police response to sale of illicit drugs?
• What treatment services are available? Are there differences in access to treatment
services between various community groups?
• What other programmes or agencies are working to reduce demand?
• What regulatory policies, programmes, and practices relating to use of illicit drugs
already exist in the city or community? What action is being taken to reduce
demand?
• Does the city have a strategy for preventing use of illicit drugs?
• Does the city have a strategy for preventing children and youth using illicit drugs?
Does it target vulnerable neighbourhoods and potentially higher-risk children?
• Do schools have an appropriate drugs policy?
• Are there any attempts to address stigma against substance use disorders and
encouraging access to drug treatment services?
• Is drug treatment provided as an alternative to incarceration?
• Is the public health sector and the public security sector collaborating in the field of
drug use and drug use disorders?
• Is there an autonomous relationship relative to the national or regional governments
when it comes to urban drug policy?
Capacities of relevant stakeholders
• What are the capacities (financial, technical, human) of treatment services and other
relevant agencies to prevent and address substance abuse? Are they sufficient?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices can most effectively reduce
demand in the city or the community? How can these be expanded?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices are less effective at reducing
demand in the city or the community? How can these be improved or replaced?
• Is the strategy well-implemented, effective, and adequate? Why and why not? How
can it be improved?
• Are drug treatment service providers or institutions certified or audited for quality of
responses?
• Are drug treatment services mapped in line with the UNODC WHO International
Standards on Treatment of Drug Use Disorders? Does it have low threshold options?
Outpatient options? Short term drug treatment options? Long term drug treatment
options? Social rehabilitation and re-integration options?
73
Positive change/resilience factors
• How can the use of illicit drugs be reduced? How can the local community
contribute?
• How can illicit drugs use amongst the youth be reduced? How can the local
community (including family, school, etc.) contribute?
Priorities for further action
• Are there are any new policies that could be implemented to address the use of illicit
drugs? Who would be responsible for implementing these policies?
• What are the priorities for action for each relevant stakeholder?
• Where do priorities between stakeholders overlap? Where do these priorities differ?
b. Alcohol abuse
Main concerns
• How serious is the problem of alcohol abuse? Is this a problem for youth?
• Where, when and how is alcohol abused? Is there a specific context for youth?
• How serious is binge drinking?
• What are the effects of alcohol abuse on the community (health, violence, etc.)?
Risk factors/drivers
• What factors enable the abuse of alcohol (easy availability, social norms regarding
binge drinking, etc.)?
• How are youths gaining access to alcohol?
Actors and their role
• Are certain demographic groups more affected by alcohol abuse?
• Are certain community groups more likely to be affected by alcohol abuse?
Hotspots
• Have there been any recent changes in the prevalence or patterns of alcohol abuse?
• Are certain neighbourhoods more affected by alcohol abuse?
External flows
• What external flows impact alcohol abuse?
• Which actors are involved in facilitating these illicit flows?
• Which stakeholders are responding to these flows (i.e. non-state entities, including civil
society organisations, private sector, academia, etc.)?
• What resources or stakeholders promote or inhibit safety through the management of
these flows?
Responses of relevant stakeholders
• What treatment services are available? Are there differences in access to treatment
services between various community groups?
• How do other relevant agencies respond?
74
• What regulatory policies, programmes, and practices relating to alcohol abuse
already exist in the city or community? What action is being taken to reduce
demand?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices can most effectively reduce
demand in the city or the community? How can these be expanded?
• Does the city have a strategy for preventing alcohol abuse amongst young people?
• Do schools have education programmes on underage drinking and alcohol abuse? Are
they effective? Are they sufficient?
Capacities of relevant stakeholders
• What are the capacities (financial, technical, human) of treatment services and other
relevant agencies to prevent and address alcohol abuse? Are they sufficient?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices are less effective at reducing
demand in the city or the community? How can these be improved or replaced?
• Does the city have a strategy for preventing alcohol abuse? Why or why not? How can
it be improved?
• Is the strategy well-implemented, effective, and adequate?
• What are the capacities of treatment services and other relevant agencies? Are they
sufficient?
• Is the strategy well-implemented, effective, and adequate? Why or why not?
Positive change/resilience factors
• What can be done to reduce alcohol abuse in the community? How can the local
community contribute?
• How can underage drinking and alcohol abuse amongst the youth be reduced? How
can the local community (including family, school, etc.) contribute?
Priorities for further action
• Are there are any new policies that could be implemented to address alcohol abuse?
Who would be responsible for implementing these policies?
• What are the priorities for action for each relevant stakeholder?
• Where do priorities between stakeholders overlap? Where do these priorities differ?
IV (e): Gang violence
Potential stakeholders: Local community, police, relevant civil society organisations,
current/former gang members, family members of gang members, local schools.
Main concerns
• What is the nature of the criminality (violence, illicit drugs, etc.)?
• What proportion is involved in armed conflict?
• What is the impact on the community of gang violence?
Risk factors/drivers
• What is driving gang activity (disaffection, profit, insecurity, identity, sense of
belonging)?
• What motivates children and youth to join a gang?
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• How are members being recruited into gangs?
• What are the most common types of weapons used by gangs and from where do
they procure them?
Actors and their role
• What is the demographic profile of criminal gang members?
• How many children and youth are members of criminal gangs? (Local government
agencies and civil society organisations may be best able to answer this.)
• What motivates individuals to join a gang?
• Are certain groups in the community more likely to be impacted?
• How serious of a problem is gangs in schools?
Hotspots
• Are gangs associated with particular neighbourhoods or groups?
• Are there any places where community members feel more safe or unsafe? What is it
about these places that makes them feel so?
• Are there any ‘no-go areas’ for particular gangs, or community members?
• Have there been any recent changes in the trends of gang-related activities (in terms
of prevalence, perpetrators, behaviours, locations, etc.)?
External flows
• What external flows impact gang violence (trafficking in firearms, illicit financial flows
etc.)?
• Which actors are involved in facilitating these illicit flows?
• Which stakeholders are responding to these flows (i.e. non-state entities, including
civil society organisations, private sector, academia, etc.)?
• What resources or stakeholders promote or inhibit safety through the management of
these flows?
Responses of relevant stakeholders
• How does the police respond to gang violence?
• How do other relevant agencies respond to criminal gangs?
• What regulatory policies, programmes, and practices relating to gang-related
activities already exist in the city or community? What action is being taken to reduce
recruitment?
• Does the city have a strategy in place to tackle gang-related activities?
• Is there a strategy in place to tackle gang-related activities in schools?
Capacities of relevant stakeholders
• What are the capacities (financial, technical, human) of police, local government
departments/agencies, and other relevant stakeholders to prevent and address gang
violence?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices can most effectively address
gang-related activities in the city or the community? How can these be expanded?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices are less effective at addressing
gang-related activities in the city or the community? How can these be improved or
replaced?
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• Is the strategy well-implemented, effective and adequate? Why or why not? How can
it be improved?
• What are the capacities of police and other relevant agencies to tackle gang-related
activities? Are they sufficient?
Positive change/resilience factors
• How can the risk of gang violence be reduced? Are there any ways in which the local
community could contribute to reducing these risks?
• How can the risk of gang violence be reduced in schools?
• How can the risk of joining a gang be reduced in schools?
Priorities for further action
• Are there are any new policies that could be implemented to prevent gang violence?
Who would be responsible for implementing these policies?
• What are the priorities for action for each relevant stakeholder?
• Where do priorities between stakeholders overlap? Where do these priorities differ?
IV (f): Drug trafficking
Potential stakeholders: Police, justice agencies, offenders, relevant civil society organisations
(e.g. those working with offenders), drug treatment registries
Main concerns
• Which drugs are being trafficked in the city?
• What is the estimated scale of the business?
• What and how much is locally produced?
Risk factors/drivers
• What factors enable drug distribution networks to prosper in the city? To what extent
is corruption an enabling factor?
• Are there any links with other forms of organised crime (gangs, trafficking in persons,
firearms etc.)?
Actors and their role
• Where, how, and by whom are drugs sold and distributed?
• Have there been any recent changes in the trends of drug production and/or trafficking
(in terms of prevalence, perpetrators, behaviours, locations, etc.)?
• What is the impact of drug trafficking on the community? Are certain community groups
more likely to be affected?
Hotspots
• Are certain neighbourhoods or groups associated with drug production or trafficking?
• Where do the trafficked drugs come from?
• How are they brought into the city?
• Is there any local production?
External flows
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• What external flows impact drug production and trafficking?
• Which actors are involved in facilitating these illicit flows?
• Which stakeholders are responding to these flows (i.e. non-state entities, including civil
society organisations, private sector, academia, etc.)?
• What resources or stakeholders promote or inhibit safety through the management of
these flows?
Responses of relevant stakeholders
• What is the police response to drug production and trafficking? Is this response
sufficient and effective?
• What else is being done by other relevant organisations to reduce supply?
• What regulatory policies, programmes, and practices relating to drug production or
trafficking exist in the city?
• Does the city have a strategy for responding to drug production and trafficking?
Capacities of relevant stakeholders
• What are the capacities (financial, technical, human) of police and other relevant actors
to reduce supply? Are they sufficient?
• How can the impact of drug production and trafficking on the community be reduced?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices can most effectively address
drug production and/or trafficking in the city or the community? How can these be
expanded?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices are less effective at
addressing drug production and/or trafficking in the city or the community? How can
these be improved or replaced?
• Is the strategy well-implemented, effective, and adequate? Why or why not? How can
it be improved?
Positive change/resilience factors
• How can drug production and trafficking be reduced in the city/community? Are there
any ways in which the local community could contribute?
Priorities for further action
• Are there are any new policies that could be implemented to address drug production
and drug trafficking? Who would be responsible for implementing these policies?
• What are the priorities for action for each relevant stakeholder?
• Where do priorities between stakeholders overlap? Where do these priorities differ?
IV (g): Trafficking in persons
Potential stakeholders: local community, police and other law enforcement agencies, justice
agencies, local labour department, hospitals and other health agencies (particularly those
providing services to sex workers), frontline officers dealing with immigration, customs, border
control, social service provision, relevant civil society organisations (including those providing
victim assistance such as sexual assault crisis centres, women’s shelters etc.), and offenders.
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Main concerns
• What is known about the nature and scale of trafficking in the city (sexual
exploitation, forced labour)?
• What is the impact of trafficking in persons in the community?
Risk factors/drivers
• What factors increase the vulnerability of an individual or a community to trafficking in
persons? What, if any, factors distinguish victims from other members of their
community? To what extent are these factors systemic (e.g. exploitation of a
particular ethnic group)?
• What, if anything, caused victims to leave home?
• What factors underlie trafficking patterns in the city or community (including factors
enabling traffickers/trafficking networks to commit the crime, profit from it, escape
detection, avoid prosecution)? To what extent is corruption an enabling factor?
• What factors allow people to justify actions that considered by the law as trafficking in
persons (social norms such as expectation on children to contribute to family income,
discrimination against different groups, failure to recognise domestic work or work in
other service sectors as forms of employment encompassing basic labour rights)?
Actors and their role
• What is known about the method of ‘recruitment’ of victims? Do these vary among
different groups and how?
• What allows traffickers and trafficking networks to maintain the victim in a situation of
exploitation (deprivation of liberty, threats against the individual or their family, debt,
delayed payment, withholding of documents)?
• What is the demographic profile of known victims (gender, age, nationality,
neighbourhood, education level)?
• Who are the traffickers? Any pertinent information on gender, age, ethnicity, origin,
links to gangs or organised crime?
• Are community members aware of the services available to those at risk of trafficking
or victims? Are those at risk or victims aware of the services available to them?
Hotspots
• Where in the city are trafficking and exploitation or recruitment most likely to be
occurring (transport hubs, international border areas close to city, commercial
organisations, private homes, remote or rural areas, schools, hotels)?
External flows
• What external flows impact trafficking in persons?
• Which actors are involved in facilitating these illicit flows?
• Which stakeholders are responding to these flows (i.e. non-state entities, including
civil society organisations, private sector, academia, etc.)?
• What resources or stakeholders promote or inhibit safety through the management of
these flows?
Responses of relevant stakeholders
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• What is the response of police and other relevant agencies in addressing trafficking
and exploitation, and providing services to those at risk of trafficking or victims (e.g.
legal services, information and advice, support and shelter, health services, including
counselling, services for at risk youth)? Are these responses sufficient and effective?
How can they be improved?
• Do clear standard operating procedures exist, ensuring and regulating first
responders’ appropriate responses in the identification of trafficked persons?
• Is there a mechanism in place that allows all relevant stakeholders, including law
enforcement agencies, civil society actors, and first responders (including in public
services such as transport, health, and social services) to be involved in identifying
persons who have been trafficked?
• Have law enforcement agencies and other service providers, including healthcare
workers, received training in identifying and supporting trafficked victims?
• Have law enforcement agencies and other service providers, including healthcare
workers, received training in identifying and supporting trafficked victims?
• Are there specialised law enforcement units, prosecutors’ offices and other judicial
representatives in the city that deal solely with trafficking in persons?
• Are there mechanisms in place encouraging cooperation between law enforcement
officers, prosecutors, and judges involved in cases of trafficking in persons?
• Does the city have a strategy to address trafficking in persons (specific policies or
initiatives relating to trafficking; awareness campaigns about trafficking, hotlines to
report incidents or get help; codes of conduct for local businesses; regulations and
inspections affecting local hotel, bars, industry and agricultural sectors)?
• Is the strategy well-implemented, adequate, and effective? Why or why not? How
can it be improved?
• What kind of awareness campaigns are available, if any? Do they focus on risks of
being trafficked, how to identify potential victims, or services available to victims or
those at risk? Who is the target audience of these campaigns?
• Is there a mechanism in place to enable cooperation between all relevant
stakeholders involved in providing services to those at risk of trafficking or victims?
• Is the support system available to all trafficked persons, irrespective of their
willingness to cooperate with the criminal justice system?
• Are existing crisis intervention structures, such as shelters and counselling centres
for victims of domestic violence, victims of hate crimes and unaccompanied children
included in a specialised anti-human trafficking support structure?
• Are there formal cooperation agreements between law enforcement agencies and
non-governmental service providers enabling persons presumed to have been
trafficked to access protection and support structures?
Capacities of relevant stakeholders
• What are the capacities (financial, technical, human) of police, local government
departments/agencies, crisis intervention centres, and other relevant stakeholders to
prevent and address trafficking in persons?
Positive change/resilience factors
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• What opportunities exist to ‘crowd out’ the criminal market involved in trafficking (e.g.
creating safe recruitment pathways into which employers and/or potential victims
may self-select thus making exploitative pathways unprofitable)?
• What opportunities exist to increase the difficulty of trafficking in persons (disruption
strategies, such as outreach to places where traffickers recruit, community reporting
mechanisms, counter-advertisements in places or platforms where traffickers
advertise)?
• What opportunities exist to reduce the rewards for traffickers and target the profits
made by traffickers?
• How can the local community contribute to reducing the risk of trafficking in persons
to individuals and the community?
Priorities for further action
• Are there are any new policies that could be implemented to prevent trafficking in
persons? Who would be responsible for implementing these policies?
• What are the priorities for action for each relevant stakeholder?
• Where do priorities between stakeholders overlap? Where do these priorities differ?
IV (h): Smuggling of migrants
Potential stakeholders: local community, police and other law enforcement agencies, justice
agencies, frontline officers dealing with immigration, customs, border control, social service
provision, relevant civil society organisations, migrants
Main concerns
• What is known about the nature and scale of smuggling of migrants in the city?
• What is known about the methods of smuggling of migrants? How do they travel (by
sea, land, air) and what are the most common routes?
• What is the impact of smuggling of migrants on the community?
Risk factors/drivers
• What factors enable smugglers/smuggling networks to commit the crime, profit from
it, escape detection, avoid prosecution?
• What schemes do smugglers/smuggling networks use (organising fake marriages or
fictitious employment, counterfeiting travel documents, corrupting officials)?
Actors and their role
• What is known about the demographic profile of migrants smuggled into or out of the
city, (gender, age, nationality, education level, etc.)?
• Who are the smugglers? Any pertinent information on gender, age, ethnicity, links to
organised crime?
Hotspots
• Are there known hotspots for smuggling within the city?
• Where do smugglers advertise their business (neighbourhoods that are home to
diaspora communities, refugee camps, informal settlements, online social networks)?
• Where can fraudulent documents be obtained? Are community members aware of
these places?
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External flows
• What external flows impact smuggling of migrants?
• Which actors are involved in facilitating these illicit flows?
• Which stakeholders are responding to these flows (i.e. non-state entities, including
civil society organisations, private sector, academia, etc.)?
• What resources or stakeholders promote or inhibit safety through the management of
these flows?
Responses of relevant stakeholders
• Are responses to smuggling of migrants undertaken at the national level or do local
level authorities play a role? What is the nature of cooperation between authorities at
national, local level, and international level?
• What measures have been implemented to prevent commercial carriers (airlines,
shipping lines, trucking companies) from being used for the purpose of smuggling of
migrants?
• Have specialized awareness-raising campaigns on smuggling of migrants been
carried out in the city? If so, what has been the message and target audience of the
campaign? Does it warn against the risks of smuggling of migrants as well as the
consequences of offending, highlight the involvement of organised criminal groups
operating for profit, and address other risks such as becoming victims of trafficking in
persons?
• What happens when a smuggling of migrants’ offence is reported or otherwise
comes to the attention of authorities? Are financial investigations launched?
• What regulatory policies, guidelines, programmes, and practices are in place for the
protection of smuggled migrants?
• Do smuggled migrants have access to urgent medical care?
• Are smuggled migrants offered temporary protection and basic access to
accommodation, food, medical care, legal assistance and opportunity to
communicate with relatives?
• Are separate policies, guidelines, programmes, and practices in place for the
protection of unaccompanied minors?
• What measures are in place to protect smuggled migrants from violence and other
forms of threats and retaliation?
• What measures are in place to cater for the special needs of children, women and
other vulnerable persons who have been smuggled?
• How and where are reports and other information about instances of smuggling of
migrants recorded?
Capacities of relevant stakeholders
• What are the capacities (financial, technical, human) of relevant authorities to prevent
and address smuggling of migrants?
• What are the capacities of relevant authorities to conduct effective financial
investigations using a ‘follow the money approach’? What cooperation mechanisms
at local, national and international level are in place to facilitate financial intelligence
sharing?
• Do first responders and investigators receive training in relation to assisting
smuggled migrants? Is this training sufficient?
• What is the capacity of relevant agencies to store and manage relevant information?
Positive change/resilience factors
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• What opportunities exist to ‘crowd out’ the criminal market involved in smuggling of
migrants (including ensuring regular pathways for migration)?
Priorities for further action
• Are there are any new policies that could be implemented to prevent the smuggling of
migrants? Who would be responsible for implementing these policies?
• What are the priorities for action for each relevant stakeholder?
• Where do priorities between stakeholders overlap? Where do these priorities differ?
IV (i): Firearms
Potential stakeholders: local community, police, justice agencies, hospital emergency
departments, relevant civil society organisations
Main concerns
• What is known about the nature and scale of firearms-related criminality in the city or
community (violent crimes, firearms trafficking, illicit manufacture)?
• What are the most common types of firearms used in crimes? Are these licensed or
not?
• What is the impact of licensed/unlicensed firearms on the community?
Risk factors/drivers
• Do community members carry a firearm for personal protection? Do community
members believe that carrying a firearm is necessary or beneficial for their personal
protection?
• From where and how do illicit firearms enter the city?
• Have there been any recent changes in the trends of firearms-related criminality?
Actors and their role
• Are there any links with organised crime groups or terrorist groups?
Hotspots
• Is firearms-related criminality more likely to occur in certain areas or
neighbourhoods?
• Is firearms-related criminality more likely to occur at certain times (daytime, evening,
night, during elections, special holidays)?
• Is there any local production of firearms in the city (legal or illegal)?
External flows
• What external flows impact firearms?
• Which actors are involved in facilitating illicit flows?
• Which stakeholders are responding to these flows (i.e. non-state entities, including
civil society organisations, private sector, academia, etc.)?
• What resources or stakeholders promote or inhibit safety through the management of
these flows?
Responses of relevant stakeholders
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• Does the origin point of diversion of seized arms traced at national or international
level? (Local government agencies and civil society organisations may be best able
to answer this.)
• What regulatory policies, programmes, and practices relating to the use of firearms
already exist in the city or community? What action is being taken to reduce violence
from firearms?
• Does the city have a strategy for responding to firearms-related criminality and
firearms trafficking (specific policies or initiatives relating to armed violence or
trafficking; awareness campaigns about trafficking, hotlines to report illicit firearms;
voluntary weapons collection campaigns)?
Capacities of relevant stakeholders
• What are the capacities (financial, technical, human) of police, local government
departments/agencies, and other relevant stakeholders to prevent and address
firearms-related criminality?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices can most effectively reduce
violence from firearms in the city or the community? How can these be expanded?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices are less effective at
addressing violence from firearms in the city or the community? How can these be
improved or replaced?
• Is the strategy well-implemented, adequate, and effective? Why or why not? How
can it be improved?
Positive change/resilience factors
• What can be done to reduce firearms-related criminality in the city or community?
Are there any ways in which the local community could contribute?
Priorities for further action
• Are there are any new policies that could be implemented to prevent the use of
firearms? Who would be responsible for implementing these policies?
• What are the priorities for action for each relevant stakeholder?
• Where do priorities between stakeholders overlap? Where do these priorities differ?
IV (j): Violent Extremism
Potential stakeholders: local community, police, security agencies, justice agencies,
state/local counter-terrorism policy agencies, relevant civil society organisations,
former/current persons convicted of terrorism offences.
Main concerns
• Have there been any terrorist attacks or other incidents of violence attributed to violent
extremist groups in the city in the last five years?
• What have been the methods for committing terrorist acts in the city, if any?
Risk factors/drivers
• What were the main reasons for joining a terrorist organisation/committing terrorist act?
• Were any family or friends already involved with the terrorist organisation?
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• What are the main means of spreading violent extremist messages and recruitment in
the city or community (in person by political, ethnic or religious leaders, family members
or friend groups, through social media platforms or other types of electronic
communication)? Are there any gender aspects in the recruitment?
Actors and their role
• Are there individuals who are known to have left the city for conflict zones in which
terrorist groups are active (i.e. potential returning “foreign terrorist fighters”), or to have
returned from such conflict zones?
• How have any terrorist activities in the city been financed?
• What is the demographic profile of the arrested and/or charged individuals (gender, age,
nationality, religion, neighbourhood, education level)?
• What was education level and employment status at the time of joining the terrorist
organisation?
• Who recruited you to the terrorist organisation? What was the method by which you
were recruited? Did you commit any crimes before you joined or became involved with a
terrorist organization? Did you interact via social media with terrorist group members?
Hotspots
• Where in the city have terrorist incidents been most likely to occur?
• Are there known hotspots in the city for radicalisation and/or recruitment into terrorist
organisations (these could also be virtual)?
External flows
• What external flows impact violent extremism (including the flow of ideas)?
• Which actors are involved in facilitating these flows?
• Which stakeholders are responding to these flows (i.e. non-state entities, including
civil society organisations, private sector, academia, etc.)?
• What resources or stakeholders promote or inhibit safety through the management of
these flows?
Responses of relevant stakeholders
• Is there a community policing policy? If so, does the policy acknowledge the role of
women? Have local community members received training on this policy and on the
possible interaction between community and efforts to prevent violent extremism? Is this
training sufficient?
• Have law enforcement agencies and other security actors received training in preventing
and combatting terrorism acts in a rule of law and human rights compliant and gender
sensitive manner? Is this training sufficient?
• Have law enforcement agencies received training or guidance on community-oriented
policing? Is this training sufficient?
• Has the city conducted a vulnerability assessment of their risks in relation to potential
terrorist attacks? If so, how recently?
• How many individuals have been charged with terrorism-related offences in the city and
what are those charges? Have any of the charged individuals been convicted? (Police,
justice agencies, and relevant civil society organisations may be best able to answer
this.)
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• Has anyone been arrested in the city on charges related to terrorism related offences
(over the last five years)? How many individuals? Have any of the arrested and/or
charged individuals been convicted? Has anyone originating from the city been arrested
on terrorism-related charges in other jurisdictions?
• How are convicted terrorists imprisoned? Is there any risk assessment tool or procedure
for separating high-risk prisoners?
• Does the city have a strategy to address violent extremism and terrorism (specific
policies or initiatives relating to engagement with marginalised or otherwise at-risk
communities, human rights-compliant policing, a social media strategy or development of
counter-narratives and individuals identified as at risk for violent extremism)? If so, what
is the experience so far with its implementation? What have successes and challenges
been? How can it be improved?
• Does the city have a strategy to engage with any individuals returning from conflict areas
where terrorist groups operate? Does the strategy provide guidance regarding their
associated spouses, children and other family members?
• Does the city have a strategy to reintegrate individuals who have been released from
prison after serving sentences related to terrorism-related crimes?
• Is there a plan in place related to the security of soft targets located in the city?
• If so, what measures have been taken to ensure the security of soft targets?
Capacities of relevant stakeholders
• Do local governments have a role in preventing and/or countering terrorism and violent
extremism under national strategies?
• Are the city’s strategies well-implemented, adequate, and effective? Why or why not?
How can it be improved?
• What are the capacities (financial, technical, human) of police, local government
departments/agencies, and other relevant stakeholders to prevent and address violent
extremism?
• Is the city involved in national counter-terrorism coordination efforts? Does it have any
way to influence counter-terrorism policy making?
Positive change/resilience factors
• What can be done to reduce the spreading of violent extremist messages and
recruitment in the city or community? How can the local community (including family,
schools, religious organisations/leaders, CSOs and women’s organizations) contribute?
Priorities for further action
• Are there are any new policies that could be implemented to prevent violent
extremism? Who would be responsible for implementing these policies?
• What are the priorities for action for each relevant stakeholder?
• Where do priorities between stakeholders overlap? Where do these priorities differ?
IV (k): Corruption
a. Bribery in public service delivery
Potential stakeholders: local community, local government departments, justice agencies,
relevant civil society organisations, private sector
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Main concerns
• Have community members paid a bribe to a public official in the last 12 months?
• If so, on how many occasions in the past 12 months have community members paid a
bribe to a public official?
• What is the impact of bribery in public service delivery on the community?
• How was the bribe requested (explicit/implicit request from public official, third person
requesting extra payment, no request but considered normal to give extra payment)?
• What was the bribe composed of (cash, property, food and drink, valuables, other
goods, exchange of services)?
• What was the value of the bribe paid?
• When was the bribe paid (before the service, after the service, at the same time, partly
before and partly after)?
Risk factors/drivers
• Why was a bribe paid (to speed up procedure, make finalisation of procedure possible,
reduce cost of procedure, avoid payment of fines, receive information, receive better
treatment etc.)?
• Are community members informed about administrative procedures?
• Are community members tolerant/accepting towards corrupt behaviour? Which
behaviours are deemed acceptable/tolerated? (The assessment team should develop
examples of corrupt behaviours relevant to the local context).
• Have there been recent changes relating to bribery in public service delivery
Actors and their role
• Who was the bribe paid to (municipal officer, police officers, judges/prosecutors, tax
officers, land registry officers, customs officers, doctors/nurses, teachers/lecturers)?
• Do public officials engage in other economic activities in addition to their usual
employment? If so, what kind of economic activity do they engage in?
Hotspots
• Are there any organisations/institutions where bribery occur most often? Least often?
External flows
• What external flows impact bribery?
• Which actors are involved in facilitating these illicit flows?
• Which stakeholders are responding to these flows (i.e. non-state entities, including
civil society organisations, private sector, academia, etc.)?
• What resources or stakeholders promote or inhibit safety through the management of
these flows?
Responses of relevant stakeholders
• Are there mechanisms in place for reporting requests for or incidents of bribery? If so,
are they sufficient? Are community members aware of these mechanisms?
• Are public officials tolerant/accepting towards corrupt behaviour? Which behaviours
are deemed acceptable/tolerated? (The assessment team should develop examples
of corrupt behaviours relevant to the local context).
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• What are the perceptions among public officials regarding the motives of staff in their
sector for behaving dishonestly/in a corrupt manner (low salary, greed, following
example of colleagues/superiors, lack of clarity on administrative rules)?
• What regulatory policies, programmes, and practices relating to bribery in public
service delivery already exist in the city or community? What action is being taken to
reduce bribery in public service delivery?
• Does the city have a strategy for responding to bribery in public service delivery
(specific policies or initiatives relating to bribery; whistle-blower channels; awareness
campaigns about acceptable behaviour, administrative procedures, whistle-blower
channels)?
Capacities of relevant stakeholders
• What are the capacities (financial, technical, human) of police, local government
departments/agencies, and other relevant stakeholders to prevent and address bribery
in public service delivery?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices can most reduce bribery in
public service delivery in the city or the community? How can these be expanded?
• Which regulatory policies, programmes, and practices are less effective at reducing
bribery in public service delivery in the city or the community? How can these be
improved or replaced?
• Is the strategy well-implemented, adequate, and effective? Why or why not? How
can it be improved?
Positive change/resilience factors
• Have community members refused to pay a bribe in the last 12 months? If so, why
(moral reasons, too expensive, etc.)?
• Have any community members who paid a bribe reported their bribery experience? If
so, who was it reported to? Was any follow-up action taken?
• If not, why was it not reported (common practice, benefit received from the bribe, fear
of reprisal, lack of trust in authorities, lack of information regarding whom to report to)?
Priorities for further action
• Are there are any new policies that could be implemented to prevent bribes? Who
would be responsible for implementing these policies?
• What are the priorities for action for each relevant stakeholder?
• Where do priorities between stakeholders overlap? Where do these priorities differ?
b. Corruption in public procurement
Potential stakeholders: private sector, local government departments, justice agencies,
relevant civil society organisations, private sector
Main concerns
• What is the minimum content of an invitation to tender?
• What is the minimum content of tender documents?
• Is a procuring entity only allowed to enter into a contract on the basis of predisclosed
criteria?
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• Is there any obligation to set out the manner of application for the selection and award
criteria in the invitation to tender or the tender documents?
• Is there any obligation that minimum, selection, and award criteria must be relevant
and appropriate in light of the subject matter of the procurement?
• Are the minimum requirement and the terms and conditions of the procurement
required to be disclosed in advance?
• What is the minimum deadline for the submission of requests for proposals (in a two-
stage tender procedure) and submission of bids?
Risk factors/drivers
• Are the existing laws, regulations and policy guidelines on public procurement publicly
available?
• Do contract opportunities have to be publicly published? If so, are there any restrictions
for low-value procurement?
• Is there a default method of procurement?
• Is there any obligation to justify reasons for using procurement methods other than
open tender procedures?
Actors and their role
• Is it permissible to enter into a contract without any prior call for competition? If so,
under what circumstances?
• Who can file an application for review? Does it include any supplier who has, or has
had, an interest in a particular contract? If so, are suppliers aware of this?
• Do bidders have the right to request clarification of tender documents? Do bidders
have the right to attend bid opening sessions?
• Are procuring entities permitted to make use of electronic communications?
• Is it permissible to negotiate the contract during the tender procedure? What are the
prerequisites for such negotiations?
• Is the procuring entity required to disqualify a tender if the bidder offers to bribe or
bribes any public official of the procuring entity?
• Is the procuring entity required to disqualify a tender if the bidder is convicted by final
judgement of corruption or fraud?
• Is an application of review of a public procurement decision heard by a body which is
independent of the procuring entity?
• Can a contract be renegotiated after the contract award? If so, are there any limits as
to what extent a contract may be subsequently changed?
Hotspots
• Are there specific neighbourhoods where corruption in public procurement occurs most
frequently? Least frequently? Why?
External flows
• What external flows impact corruption in public procurement?
• Which actors are involved in facilitating these illicit flows?
• Which stakeholders are responding to these flows (i.e. non-state entities, including
civil society organisations, private sector, academia, etc.)?
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• What resources or stakeholders promote or inhibit safety through the management of
these flows?
Responses of relevant stakeholders
• What are the existing laws, regulations and policy guidelines on public procurement?
Are these followed in practice? Are they sufficient?
• Does the city (or specific procuring entity) have a strategy in place to address
corruption in public procurement (including mechanisms for civil society monitoring
and/or whistle-blowing)?
• Is the supplier required to pay any fees to file a complaint and to have a review body
decide? If so, what is the amount of such fees?
• Are there any screening procedures regarding procurement personnel? If so, do such
screening procedures apply during the selection of personnel and/or throughout their
employment?
• Are procurement personnel trained in awarding contracts in line with relevant public
procurement legislation and relevant anti-corruption laws?
• Are procurement personnel required to declare any interests in a particular public
procurement (e.g. due to a particular conflict of interest)?
• How is the involvement of a bidder in the preparatory stage of a public contract dealt
with?
• Are there any rules regarding non-responsive tenders?
• Does the procuring entity list grounds for the rejection of tenders? Are these grounds
based on national legislation?
• What is the procedure if no responsive bids were submitted?
• Who are the administrative or judicial authorities responsible for review in public
procurement?
• Is there any obligation to provide reasons for the rejection of a tender?
Capacities of relevant stakeholders
• What are the capacities (financial, technical, human) of police, local government
departments/agencies, and other relevant stakeholders to prevent and address
corruption in public procurement?
• Is the procuring entity allowed to cancel a procurement procedure? If so, does the
procurement legislation list possible grounds for such a cancellation?
Positive change/resilience factors
• Are procuring entities required to keep a record of each procurement? If so, what is
the minimum content of such records? How long must procurement record be
preserved and who has the right of access to these records?
• Which decisions of a procuring entity are subject to review?
Priorities for further action
• Are there are any new policies that could be implemented to prevent corruption in
public procurement? Who would be responsible for implementing these policies?
• What are the priorities for action for each relevant stakeholder?
• Where do priorities between stakeholders overlap? Where do these priorities differ?
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Appendix V: Risk and resilience factors for violence against women and girls
A range of factors at multiple levels intersect to increase the risk of violence for women and
girls, including:
• Witnessing or experiencing abuse
as a child (associated with future
perpetration of violence for boys and
experiencing violence for girls)
• Witnessing or experiencing abuse
as a child (associated with future
perpetration of violence for boys and
experiencing violence for girls)
• Substance (including alcohol) abuse
(associated with increased
incidences of violence)
• Women’s membership in
marginalised or excluded groups
• Low levels of education (for boys
associated with perpetrating
violence in the future and for girls,
experiencing violence)
• Low levels of education (for boys
associated with perpetrating
violence in the future and for girls,
experiencing violence)
• Low levels of education (for boys
associated with perpetrating
violence in the future and for girls,
experiencing violence)
• Attitudes and practices that reinforce
female subordination and tolerate
male violence (e.g. dowry, bride
price, child marriage)
• Presence of economic, educational
and employment disparities between
men and women in an intimate
relationship
• Conflict and tension within an
intimate partner relationship or
marriage
• Women’s insecure access to and
control over property and land rights
• Male control over decision-making
and assets
• Limited economic opportunities (an
aggravating factor for unemployed
or underemployed men associated
with perpetrating violence; and as a
risk factor for women and girls,
including of domestic abuse, child
and forced marriage, and sexual
exploitation and trafficking)
• Lack of safe spaces for women and
girls, which can be physical or virtual
meeting spaces that allow free
expression and communication; a
place to develop friendships and
social networks, engage with
mentors and seek advice from a
supportive environment
• Normalised use of violence within
the family or society to address
conflict
• Limited legislative and policy
framework for preventing and
responding to violence
• Lack of punishment (impunity) for
perpetrators of violence
• Low levels of awareness among
service providers, law enforcement
and judicial actors
43
However, there are also a number of resilience factors (also referred to as protective factors)
which can reduce women and girls’ risk of violence including:
43
UN Women, ‘Causes, protective and risk factors’, UN Women Virtual Knowledge Centre to End Violence
against Women and Girls, October 31, 2010.
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• Completion of secondary education
for girls (and boys)
• Delaying age of marriage to 18
• Women’s economic autonomy and
access to skills training, credit and
employment
• Social norms that promote gender
equality
• Availability of safe spaces or
shelters
• Access to support groups.
44
• Quality response services (judicial,
security/protection, social and
medical) staffed with
knowledgeable, skilled and trained
personnel
44
UN Women, ‘Causes, protective and risk factors’, UN Women Virtual Knowledge Centre to End Violence
against Women and Girls, October 31, 2010.
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Appendix VI: Safety Governance Assessment Report Template
The report should follow the general structure outlined below.
45
1. Introduction:
The introduction should begin by providing a quick introduction to the city and briefly explain
why the safety governance assessment was needed or how the assessment process came
about. This section should also outline the objectives of the assessment; methods used for
data collection and analysis; who was involved in the assessment process (both in terms of
steering the assessment and those who participated in data collection); and the composition
of the assessment team.
2. Summary of key findings
This section of the report should provide an overview of the evidence collected and summarise
the key findings from the assessment. It should focus on the priority areas identified and
highlight the main problems and concerns, current and past responses to identified challenges
(from both public and other non-state actors), and the available resources, strengths and
capacities of relevant actors (including local government departments, civil society, academia,
the private sector etc.) to address these challenges.
3. Urban context
The quantitative data gathered in Phase 1 of the data collection and analysis stage of the
assessment will be particularly beneficial for writing this section of the report. The purpose of
this is to provide readers with an understanding of the context in which the assessment took
place. This section should begin by describing the socio-demographic and socio-economic
profile of the city and highlighting significant future trends and patterns that are likely to have
an impact on urban safety and governance. This could include trends and patterns in urban
population growth, migration, unemployment, public infrastructure, public service delivery,
crime incidence, and range of other factors.
This section should also provide an analysis of the spread of local public service delivery and
highlight other actors or initiatives that are contributing to urban safety and governance. In
addition, it may also be useful to provide information on specific districts or neighbourhoods,
vulnerable groups etc. investigated during the assessment, including a discussion of their
physical, economic, and social environment.
Finally, this section should outline the governance and institutional context of the city, including
the various organisations involved in urban safety and governance, including non-state actors.
The section should describe the state and city’s governance system, outlining the
responsibilities and mandates of local government departments (particularly those involved in
public service delivery), law enforcement agencies and the judiciary. It is also important to
45
Adapted from the ‘Safety Audit Report Template’ developed by CSIR, South Africa and reproduced
in: Efus, Guidance on Local Safety Audits, p.28.
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describe the extent to which governance is decentralised and clarify which responsibilities fall
under municipal departments and which lie with national or regional governments.
4. Urban Safety Governance profile
This section should delve in-depth into the findings discovered through the assessment. When
outlining the detailed findings, they should be focused mainly on the priority issues identified,
and for each issue should relate to:
Nature of the issue:
o Crime, violence or corruption patterns by a unit of time (hour, day, season, etc., as
relevant and appropriate);
o Hotspots (areas with high crime/violence intensity or locations where risks are higher)
and routes of illicit flows;
o Actors involved – this could include the typical profile of offenders/perpetrators, victims,
most vulnerable groups, etc.;
o The impact and influence of external flows on crime, violence or corruption patterns;
o Linkages to other threats to urban safety and governance;
o The impact and social consequences on the community.
Risk factors:
The report should outline the various risk factors for each priority issue and describe the
relationship and interdependencies between various risk factors, as well as the relationship
between risk factors and specific crime, violence or corruption trends. Maps and other types
of visual representations of results can be helpful to portray these relationships,
interdependencies, and interlinkages.
Responses:
This section must also provide an evaluation what is currently being done to address
challenges to urban safety and governance, as well as examine what strategies were used
previously and assess their effectiveness. This should include:
o Current responses to safety and governance issues, including for example:
o legislative and institutional framework;
o actors involved in responding to challenges;
o actors involved in addressing risk factors;
o local resources and capacity to address challenges, including financial and
human resources, and technical capacity;
o policies, programmes, and practices of local government departments and
other relevant actors, including civil society, private sector, etc.;
o effectiveness of these policies, programmes, and practices in addressing
safety and governance challenges or reducing their impact.
It is also important to highlight in the report if there are significant differences between the
legislation and policies, and what actually happens in practice.
95
o Past approaches, strategies, or policies: where data is available, it can be very useful
to evaluate the impact of past approaches on crime incidence or good governance to
identify what has or has not worked in the past.
o Gaps identified in data collection: this could relate to the frequency and coverage of
data collection; the methods, platforms, and tools used for data collection and analysis,
and the reliability and validity of data collected.
Opportunities for response, prevention and building resilience:
In addition to identifying challenges, it is also important for the report to outline the
opportunities available for improving urban safety and governance. This could include:
o Available local (and national, as appropriate) resources and capacity to address urban
safety and governance, such as financial and human resources, and technical
capacity, including to collect, analyse and monitor crime, violence and corruption data.
o Potential adjustments or development of policies, programmes, and practices to
improve urban safety and governance.
o Points of resilience for the community: resilience factors could include individuals,
groups (or parts of groups), organisations (or parts of organisations), physical spaces,
as well as more intangible factors such as history, beliefs, values, and traditions that
shape a coherent local identity.
5. Recommendations
This section should identify priorities for intervention; key community assets to be capitalised
on for preventive activity, as well as recommendations for adjustment or development of urban
policies and programmes, including suggestions for improvement of the local (or national)
capacity to collect, analyse, and monitor crime, violence and corruption data and possible
activities that local authorities could conduct as part of their urban safety and governance
action plan.
When proposing recommendations, it is important for the assessment team to consider what
measures will be most appropriate and effective, as well as what is feasible given local
capacities and resources. It may be useful to separate recommendations based on the
timeframe, for example by categorising proposed recommendations into immediate, short-,
medium-, and longer-term interventions. Another logical way to categorise recommendations
is based on the type of risk factor they aim to address, for example, recommendations to
address environmental risk factors, such as greater coverage of street lighting or improved
sanitation facilities.
The recommendations proposed by the assessment team should address the priorities for
action, key stakeholders to address these priorities, and suggestions how this can be achieved
through the available resources and capacities, and how, or if, this can be achieved through
the available resources and capacities. In situations where there are not available resources,
the assessment team could propose a number of measures to improve resources and
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capacities, including reallocation of resources or training and other capacity building
measures.
6. Future action
Future action, after the assessment process, will involve developing a comprehensive city
strategy based on the assessment findings, through a participatory approach, and establishing
a monitoring and evaluation framework for local government officials to use to track progress,
as well as providing capacity building measures to improve data collection and analysis
capabilities of local government. This may include legislative changes and the establishment
of a new relationship of trust between local and national governments. This section should
also outline the timeframe for development and implementation of an urban strategy and
propose who should take leadership and how various actors will contribute to the strategy.
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Appendix VII: Additional resources
For an extensive list of Urban Safety and Good Governance tools and resources, please
visit the UNODC website.
Urban Safety Governance
• UNODC (2016) Governing Safer Cities – Strategies for a Globalised World
• De Boer, Muggah, Patel (2016) Conceptualizing City Fragility and Resilience
• Public Safety Canada (2019) Guidance on Local Safety Audits: A compendium of
International Practice
• UN Habitat (2007) Global Report on Human Settlements: Enhancing Urban Safety
and Security
• UCLG-OGP (2018) Building open, transparent, responsive and inclusive cities: White
Paper on Transparency and Open Government
• UN Habitat (2017) New Urban Agenda
• UNODC (1995) Guidelines for the Prevention of Urban Crime
• UNODC (2013) Training Manual on Policing Urban Space
• UNODC-UN Habitat (2011) Introductory Handbook on Policing Urban Space
Ethical and Safety Considerations
• Jewkes, R., E. Dartnall and Y. Sikweyiya (2012). Ethical and Safety
Recommendations for Research on the Perpetration of Sexual Violence. Sexual
Violence Research Initiative. Pretoria, South Africa, Medical Research Council.
• UNICEF (2013) Ethical Research Involving Children
• UNODC (2015) Resource Guide on Good Practices in the Protection of Reporting
Persons
• WHO (2003) Putting Women First: Ethical and Safety Recommendations for
Research on the Perpetration of Sexual Violence
• WHO (2003) Ethical and Safety Recommendations for Interviewing Trafficked
Women
•
Crime (General)
Practical Approaches and Norms
• ICPC-UNODC (2011) Practical Approach to Urban Crime Prevention
• UNODC (2002) United Nations Standards and Norms in Crime Prevention
• UNODC-UN Habitat (2009) Crime Prevention Assessment Toolkit
• UNODC (2017) Final Independent Project Evaluation of the project “Integrating
crime, corruption, drugs and terrorism related issues into the preparation of national
plans and processes”
UN Conventions, Declarations and Resolutions
• OHCHR (1990) United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency
(The Riyadh Guidelines)
• UN General Assembly (2002) ECOSOC Resolution 2002/13: Action to promote
effective crime prevention
• UN (2015) Thirteenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal
Justice
• UNODC (2016) Compendium of United Nations Standards and Norms in Crime
Prevention and Criminal Justice
• UNODC-The Doha Declaration (2017) Line Up Live Up Trainer Manual
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UN Handbooks
• UNODC-ICPC (2010) Handbook on the Crime Prevention Guidelines – Making them
work
• UNODC (2011) Handbook on Police Accountability, Oversight and Integrity
• UNODC (2014) State Regulation concerning Civilian Private Security Services and
their Contribution to Crime Prevention and Community Safety
UN Reports and Standards
• ICPC-UNODC (2008) International Report Crime Prevention and Community Safety:
Trends and Perspectives
Violence
UN Reports and Standards
• WHO (2002) World Report on Violence and Health
• UNODC-WHO-UNDP (2014) Global Status Report on Violence Prevention 2014
• WHO (2016) INPSIRE Seven Strategies for Ending Violence Against Children
Violence against women and girls
Practical Approaches and Norms
• UNODC (2010) Gender in the Criminal Justice System Assessment Tool
• UNODC (2014) Strengthening Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Responses to
Violence Against Women
• WHO (2016) INSPIRE Handbook: Action for implementing the seven strategies for
ending violence against children
Research
• UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2014) Guidelines for Producing
Statistics on Violence Against Women – Statistical Surveys
UN Conventions, Declarations and Resolutions
• OHCHR (1993) Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women
• UN General Assembly (2011) Strengthening Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
Responses Against Women
UN Reports and Standards
• UNODC (2010) Handbook on Effective Police Responses to Violence Against
Women
• UNODC-UN Women (2014) Handbook on Effective Prosecution Responses to
Violence Against Women and Girls
• UN Women (2015) Transforming Economies, Realizing Rights
• UN Women-UNDP-UNODC (2017) The Trial of Rape
Substance abuse
• UN General Assembly (2016) Our Joint Commitment to Effectively Addressing and
Countering the World Drug Problem
• UNODC (2016) Guidelines on Drug Prevention and Treatment for Girls and Women
• Hawkins, Catalano and Miller (1992) Risk and Protective Factors for Alcohol and
Other Drug Problems in Adolescence and early Adulthood: Implications for
Substance Abuse Prevention
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Drug production and trafficking
UN Conventions, Declarations and Resolutions
• UN General Assembly (2016) Our Joint Commitment to Effectively Addressing and
Countering the World Drug Problem
UN Reports and Standards
• United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs - UNGASS (2016)
Outcome Document of the 2016 United Nations General Assembly Special Session
the World Drug Problem
• UNODC-WHO (2015) International Standards on Drug Use Prevention
• UNODC-WHO (2016) International Standards for the Treatment of Drug Use
Disorders
• UNODC (2017) World Drug Report: Executive Summary, Conclusions and Policy
Implications
Organised criminal groups
UN Conventions, Declarations and Resolutions
• UNODC (2004) United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime
and the Protocols Thereto
Trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants
UN Conventions, Declarations and Resolutions
• UN General Assembly (2000) Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking
in Persons especially Women and Children
• UNODC (2000) Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air,
Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized
Crime
UN Reports
• UNODC (2018) Global Report on Trafficking in Persons
• UNODC (2018) Global Study on Smuggling of Migrants
• UNODC (2010) Toolkit to Combat Smuggling of Migrants
Firearms
UN Conventions, Declarations and Resolutions
• UN General Assembly (2001) Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and
trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition, supplementing
the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
Violent extremism
UN Handbooks
• UNODC (2012) Introductory Handbook on the Prevention of Recidivism and the
Social Reintegration of Offenders
• UN General Assembly (2015) Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism
Corruption
Practical Approaches and Norms
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• UNODC (2013) An Anti-Corruption Ethics and Compliance Programme for Business
– A Practical Guide
• UNODC (2015) National Anti-Corruption Strategies – A Practical Guide for
Development and Implementation
Research
• UNODC (2018) Manual on Corruption Surveys
• UNODC (2016) Revised draft self-assessment checklist on the implementation of
chapters II (Preventive measures) and V (Asset recovery) of the UNCAC
• UNODC (2016) Guidance to filling in the revised draft self-assessment checklist
UN Reports
• UNODC (2013) Good Practices in Ensuring Compliance with Article 9 of the United
Nations Convention against Corruption
• UNODC (2016) Procurement and Corruption in Small Developing States –
Challenging and Emerging Practices
UN Conventions, Declarations and Resolutions
• UNODC (2003) United Nations Convention Against Corruption
Spanish Only Resources
• Instituto Nacional De Estadística y Geografía (2018) Principales Resultados
• ONUDD Publicaciones – Oficina Colombia
• Auditoría Local de Seguridad en el Municipio de Querétaro
