Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation

General Information About the CSVR

Background Information

The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) was initially launched in January 1989 under the name of the Project for the Study of Violence. The CSVR has since expanded to become a multi-disciplinary unit, engaging the services of sociologists, psychologists, criminologists, social workers, lawyers, educationalists, historians, etc. - all under one roof. The Centre currently has a staff of 40 full-time employees (26 of these are women), and accommodates a number of additional contract workers, interns and volunteers.

The CSVR is a multi-disciplinary institute concerned with policy formation, implementation, service delivery, education and training, as well as providing consultancy services. So although the centre functions with many different departments as outlined here, its strength lies in being able to harness the different skills and expertise from the different departments into delivering a comprehensive and integrated service to organisations and the community. The CSVR also operates its own Trauma Clinic providing counselling services for both victims and perpetrators of violence. As such, in its fields of violence, reconciliation and conflict management, and in its ability to integrate many different disciplines in this field, the CSVR is unique in the world.

The Centre's spheres of expertise relate to a wide range of forms of violence and conflict, including criminal, political, domestic and gender violence, violence against children, as well as violence within the educational sphere. The Centre focuses on violence that is generated during democratisation and looks at conflict which results from the reconstruction and development of impoverished communities.

The Centre translates its research into policy proposals and prioritises intervention strategies particularly in the spheres of trauma management and counselling, education and training, institutional change management, and socio-economic development. The Centre also plays a central lobbying and advocacy role.

The primary goal of the CSVR is to utilise its expertise in building reconciliation, democracy and a human rights culture within South African governance and society. As part of its reconciliation work, the Centre is active in generating policy in regard to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to deal with past abuses of human rights in South Africa. CSVR's work is rooted in an analysis of the shifting forms of conflict and violence within societies enduring a transition to democracy.

Through our work over the past years, the Centre has established contact and has developed working relationships with a number of organisations and institutions, such as trade unions, resource, service and professional organisations, legal and paralegal organisations, educational institutions, press and media organisations, victim-aid centres, peace structures and policing institutions, both in South Africa and abroad. These contacts have been essential in ensuring that the work of the Centre is tailored to the needs and developments of the broad South African community and have provided an ongoing exchange of resources and information. We believe that through our educational and training programmes, our research, our victim-aid strategies and our dialogue-generation and capacity-building enterprises, the Centre has begun to make a significant contribution in engaging with the problem of violence in South Africa. Through these programmes, it is our mission not only to service the process of transition, but to help generate peace and reconciliation so essential to the long term prospects of sustainable socio-economic development in South Africa and in the sub-continent.

Funding and Affiliation

The CSVR receives no financial support from the South African government. The CSVR is largely dependent on donations from foreign governments, NGOs, church groups and Foundations. Limited resources are also provided by the South African corporate sector and the activities of the CSVR are also partially supported by the consultancy and contract fees earned through our work. Over the past eleven years, the CSVR's supporters have included the following (this list is in alphabetical order and does not indicate the substantial differences in financial contributions made):

CSVR has received funding to do specific projects in partnership with government involving the following government departments:

 
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