Reports Reloaded: why we need to systemic change to tackle violence affecting young people

Where are we now in 2022

2021 has seen the worst year for teenage killings in London on record. The total of 30 teenage homicides has passed the previous peak of 29 in 2008. This is shocking and it’s not just statistics; these are people as young as 14 and 15 losing their lives with families and communities torn apart by trauma.

The issues that have led to increased levels of violence are complex, but the root causes lie in the inequalities faced by vulnerable young people day in, day out; early childhood trauma, high levels of deprivation, risk of long term unemployment, poor mental well-being, exclusion from education and lack of decent housing, and of course, the added impact of the global pandemic.  If we are serious about making systemic change to tackle these root causes, we must work together across all levels of civil society.

The ‘To Begin at the Beginning’ report outlined the need for systemic change to tackle the root causes of violence and included nine principles. These principles were:

• Listen: Embed the voices of young people and communities at the heart of our approach by engaging at every stage of the process
• Co-produce: Facilitate the genuine participation of young people and communities working as equals with power alongside other professionals, academics and policy makers
• Cooperate:Seek out opportunities to work in partnership, and support others to do this too, building on insight about what works
• Consider: Understand the context, needs and assets of people, communities and organisations before committing investment
• Learn: Develop work based on existing evidence and be responsive to new learning
• Commit: Recognise that the issues young people and communities face need long-term support and investment combined with immediate action
• Share: Contribute intelligence about future plans, the impact of current funding and learning from past work
• Support: Know that the people delivering this work need investment in their wellbeing and resilience too and this should be acknowledged in our funding programmes
• Recognise: Acknowledge that current funding practice is disjointed and can add to complexity tasking us to develop approaches that create transparency and clarity

These principles still stand as the basis of best practice to inform how funders work. However, we now need a change of gear, we need to dig deeper in terms of developing new responses to how and what we fund. It’s time to consider what will enable the funding community to meaningfully tailor how to fund work that can positively reduce violence that affects young people.

Moving from generalist funding models to tailored approaches is essential. There are several areas we could explore further:

• Language in funding applications could be more inclusive, accessible, and related to the public heath approach to reducing violence. It should be noted that the original report talked about Serious Youth Violence and this term is fortunately now redundant and most funders speak about Violence Affecting Young People.  
• The assessment process could be further tailored to enable applications from smaller local grass roots organisations. The process could also involve face to face interviews and enable funders to directly connect to communities impacted by violence. In addition, develop ways to build trusted relationships with local people who can be involved in the funding process
• Meaningful inclusion of young people who are often the recipients of programmes and projects. For example, giving young people true decision-making power in terms of how and what is funded
• Not being constrained by organisational or professional boundaries and funding more collaboratively
• Focusing on funding both long-term as well as short-term solutions
• Partnership and collaboration across a range of stakeholders to fund sustainably

We are in the midst of a long-term challenge that requires radical, brave and long-term thinking. We can revisit ‘To Begin at the Beginning’ and encourage a fresh response to build connections, change the conversation and create greater impact through unity of shared goals with the purpose of reducing violence affecting young people.