Page 121 - Violence Prevention Through the Engagement of Violence Producers

EFFICIENCY OF THE VIOLENCE INTERRUPTION PROGRAMME

Rating: Strong

The Peace Management Initiative is a non-government organization that struggles for

funding; and this is very obvious in the way the VIs are compensated. To illustrate, PMI East
receives five million Jamaican dollars per month from CSJP. They also receive 1 million per

month from the Ministry of National Security. They must run the VIP from this small sum, as
well as address overheads. This dependence on the CSJP cannot be overlooked in the

analysis of their effective functioning. Between April and June of 2018, they only gave
PMI East 7 million or 2.33 million per month, driving them into financial chaos. They also

received grants from international partners such as UNICEF and USAID; but these were not
enough to reduce the shock on VIs. As discussed earlier in the report, PMI East pays VIs a

stipend of 50,000 dollars per month; while PMI Western pays VIs 60,000. In other words, they
pay what they can afford. When PMI East was informed of the shortfall in cash it spoke

to its VI team and painfully all agreed to the 35,000 dollars that the Initiative could afford
until “better days come.” It is within this context that we conclude that the achievement

of 44 per cent reach of the highest risk youth is over-production or tremendous value for
money. The VIP could not be given an exceptional rating nonetheless, because its case

management aspect was too unreliable in instances. It certainly would have been more
efficient to train a set of VIs to do their own case management; or to have the CSJP

designate a group of CCMOs to dedicate their entire effort to the case management of
VIs’ participants. If that had been done the output would have been astonishing.

IMPACT OF THE VIOLENCE INTERRUPTION PROGRAMME

Rating: Strong

The impact of the VIP must be viewed at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels, as

discussed in the report. At the tertiary level the VIs have done exceptionally well in some
instances, but average in others. Their impact here also needs to be assessed in the context

of the immediate needs of the communities. For instance, in March Pen, Lakes Pen and 31
St. John’s Road the task was to create a ceasefire, then build relationships to maintain the

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