News

Cross sector partnerships key to ‘anti-gang’ success

Tuesday 1st November 2011

Leap Confronting Conflict welcomes anti-gangs strategy but reminds Government to ensure there’s joint working between the voluntary sector, local businesses and statutory agencies

Today, the Government announced its cross department strategy ‘Ending Gang and Youth Violence’. It focused on three key areas to tackle gang-related violence – providing support, prevention and pathways out of violence. Work will be led by a 100-strong anti-gangs taskforce.

Over £11m will be invested in the refreshed strategy that highlights the importance of cross departmental partnerships between police, schools, health professionals and social workers to tackle the causes of gang-related violence. As highlighted by the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV) programme in Scotland, of which Leap was a full partner, multi-agency working is essential to achieve the highest impact, and therefore the best value for money.

However, Leap warns that the role of the voluntary and business sectors shouldn’t be overlooked, and should be included in partnership with statutory agencies such as the police and schools. A holistic approach will ensure the underlying problems of each community are tackled, and done so by using local expertise and experience.

This is also demonstrated by Leap’s pioneering work around girls and gangs. Sexual violence and exploitation are often used as weapons against females who are caught up in gang violence, which is why Leap supports the promise of £1.2m investment in innovative schemes that are designed to tackle the hidden scale of gang-related sexual violence. However, these schemes need to explore understand and awareness around themes of positive relationships, self-worth and safer choices.

Early intervention is another key area the Government wants to focus on. This is particularly important to develop for the 120,000 most ‘troubled’ families. Young people have legitimate needs that are met through being a gang ‘family’ member, such as safety, status, belonging and self worth. Joining a gang becomes the easiest option; with young siblings being recruited. Therefore we welcome the Government’s approach to look at initiatives to help the family as a whole unit.

Thomas Lawson, chief executive of Leap Confronting Conflict, says “overall we welcome the focus and investment into initiatives that tackle gang related violence. Organisations such as Leap have proven that joint working between individuals and agencies is the most effective way to find solutions to the causes and consequences of violence.”

Jessie Ben-Ami, a Leap trainer, adds “The reasons young people engage with gang activity are complex and vary widely depending on the local context. Any successful intervention will need to bring together a range of partners with local expertise and understanding so that the response is geographically specific and information is freely shared. The tried and tested specialism we are able to offer at Leap involves offering young people a safe space to explore the costs and gains of gang membership so that they make informed choices about their behaviour.”