Discussion on evidence-based policies for improve community safety in Latin American and African cities

The workshop Evidence-based policies for improve community safety in Latin American and African cities, organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) took place in Colombia. This workshop initiates the activities of a joint project between UNODC and UN-Habitat, which involves the authorities of the selected cities to implement Local Safety Audits. The cities selected for this project are Cartagena (Colombia), Durban (South Africa) and Querétaro (Mexico).

During the event, the participants reviewed the criteria for implementing Local Safety Audits, through the Center of Excellence INEGI-UNODC for implementation in Mexico, UNODC Colombia for the city of Cartagena, and UN Habitat for the city of Durban.

The adequate development of Local Security Audits requires the active participation of different stakeholders, such as local Governments, citizens, academia and the civil society. Both quantitative research based on official statistical information and qualitative research based on information obtained from primary sources within the community are essential to achieve the objective to develop evidence-based policies and encourage the participation of the community to reconstruct the social fabric from the local level, using international best practices.