by VNU Madagascar

06 October 2004

Bonn, Germany: The densely populated areas in the southwest of Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital city, have seen a steady influx of immigrant populations in recent years. The resulting overcrowding has led to an upsurge of violence in this part of the capital.

Recognizing personal and tenure insecurity as one of the factors contributing to urban poverty, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme started a project in September 2002 to recruit local volunteers to help put an end to the violence. A team of UN Volunteers mobilized these ‘Volontaires de Quartier’ with the aim to improve safety in the volatile areas and to help marginalized youth regain their confidence and independence.

The Volontaires de Quartier, the majority of whom are women, were identified and recruited through numerous visits to local authorities, volunteer organizations and women’s groups. A number of volunteers, some victims of acts of violence themselves, signed on simply by hearing about the project in the streets.

To get at the root of the violence, the project team met with many community members to look at why the violence was happening. It was discussed, for instance, that the lack of informal meeting places hampered any form of exchange between neighbours. Youths identified the absence of sport and leisure facilities as a major problem and said that idleness was a big contributor to violence.

“Juvenile delinquents pick pockets, but there are also hold-ups and, even worse, violent attacks,” says Mireille Rakotondrabary, one of the local volunteers. “It is dangerous to walk the streets after 7 p.m.”

With 52 percent of the district’s 17,000 inhabitants under 18, she says many beg, wash cars, deliver newspapers or sell merchandise to earn a living for their families. If they have not made enough by the end of the day, many are afraid to go home because of punishment. She says a number of adolescents end up on the streets with no hope for a better future.

Through the support of the UNV team, the by now 160 Volontaires de Quartier formed community volunteer associations as a way to involve everyone in the project. Meetings with residents were held on a number of the issues at stake, such as providing facilities and activities for youth. With the help of the town council, the volunteer associations organized a number of youth events. This past summer, youth took part in a festival and parade where they carried banners inviting the public to put an end to the violence.

By partnering with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the project team organized for the training of police officers in community policing. Crime has since been reduced, as the officers now have better relationships with residents and community associations. “The people are more united and delinquents can no longer operate with as much impunity as before”, says Marie-Pierre Delclève, a French UN Volunteer.

To address high unemployment rates within the volatile areas of town, the project team and local council organizes counselling, vocational training and education programmes targeting various groups. Twenty young people are now doing apprenticeships with small businesses in the capital after taking part in a training course.

Through these initiatives, the community volunteers have demonstrated that volunteering is an effective way of facilitating grassroots communication to find effective and practical solutions to end urban violence. By involving the whole community in activities and initiatives aimed at tackling the community’s problems, attitudes change, ties are forged and more people voluntarily join in social and cultural activities.

To ensure this community exchange remains, UNV has organized training workshops for the local volunteers to help them foster an effective relationship with public institutions. It is the hope of the Volontaires de Quartier that municipal authorities, civil society organizations and residents will continue supporting their activities, as the volunteers have demonstrated the value of volunteerism in promoting local development.