Civil society urged to get involved to address the root causes of crime – Gayle

Dr Herbert Gayle, senior lecturer at The University of the West Indies, is underscoring the important role that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) can play in addressing the root causes of violence.

“The time has come for us to work together as a family and begin to focus and educate ourselves as to what to do. Non-governmental organisations can make a world of difference; you have access to resources. I beg of you to focus and let us see if we can save some lives, as the life we save might be our own,” he said, referencing Jamaica’s high crime rate.

Dr Gayle was addressing the Council of Voluntary Social Services’ (CVSS) recently convened sector meeting which was hosted in partnership with the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC) under the theme ‘Ignite CSO 2023 … Enhancing CARIFORUM’s Civil Society Capacity to Participate in National and Regional Development Programming and Policymaking’.

His presentation, titled ‘Violence Reduction – Do NGOs have a role to play in identifying the root causes?’, examined attaining Sustainable Development Goal No. 16, which promotes peaceful and inclusive societies.

Dr Gayle posits that only a small group of people in the population are creating mayhem, with statistics showing that there are about 40,000 inner-city males of the combatant age group between 15 and 34 years old; and only five per cent (2,000) are likely to commit homicide. He said that since only one of 200 are likely to kill professionally, there are only 200 full-time ‘shottas’ operating.

“However, these 200 young men can account for 53 per cent of our homicides. These murderers are in fact victims of abuse and violence themselves,” he said, attributing this to the poor structures of families in underserved communities. He suggested that the design of interventions must target the families and women, who often head these households.

“If we get serious, we can redeploy the combatants and we will see the miracle [transformation] in Jamaica,” he said, noting that intervention should be targeted at the secondary level, or even earlier.

PREVENT DUPLICATION The head of the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at The University of the West Indies suggested that NGOs should collaborate more frequently on initiatives, and communicate with each other consistently, to prevent duplication of efforts. He reiterated that NGOs must be careful to avoid undertaking projects that are unsustainable and with goals that are unrealistic. He lamented that too often, projects are left midway because the implementers fail to budget properly.

Nancy Pinchas, executive director of the CVSS, who also addressed the meeting, agreed with Dr Gayle that NGOs should work in a more unified manner. She said that this can be achieved if each organisation captures the data about what is being done, then others will learn and act accordingly.

The CVSS executive director said that civil society organisations have opportunities to reach troubled youth in communities, and, as grass-roots organisations, they have a special role to play to make a difference in these communities.

“What CVSS is all about this year is leaving no one behind. Let us ensure that these [troubled] young people are not left behind,” she said.

Ann Marie Kirlew, programmes manager at CVSS, said, “The CVSS, through these sector meetings, is creating the framework for ongoing capacity strengthening of civil society organisations, enabling them to deliver outputs that contribute to national development plans and increase their ability to advocate for marginalised groups, so they can impact policy at the national level.”