How the NICRO UK Trust is contributing to the extraordinary success of the South African programme that turns young people away from crime.

The story of South Africa’s transformation over the past decade has been remarkable in many ways. Its substantial economic investment across sub-Saharan Africa has made the country the economic powerhouse of the continent and an example to the rest of Africa and to other emerging economies.

However, in common with its neighbours, South Africa also faces the challenge of combating crime and its negative impact on the country’s ability to bring about sustainable social development. Particularly troubling for the young democracy is the increasing criminal activity involving young people. In South Africa, as in many other countries, most offenders are young people between the ages of 12 and 25.

An inevitable consequence of imprisoning very young people is the negative influence of their proximity to older inmates in overcrowded prisons.

NICRO - the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders – is a non-governmental organisation that has been working in the field of justice in South Africa since 1910. In the early 1990’s, the organisation pioneered the Diversion Youth Development programme to help turn the lives of young offenders around.

The programme works by steering young offenders away from the formal criminal justice system by making use of alternative sentencing options that are far more effective.

The programme works by steering young offenders away from the formal criminal justice system by making use of alternative sentencing options that are far more effective in preventing re-offending. NICRO’s Diversion programme moves away from punitive and retributive criminal justice measures by placing a focus on educational and development options that promote rehabilitation, reconciliation and healing.

The programme has shown remarkable success. During the 16 month period from January 2005 to April 2006 alone, 16,590 young people were involved in NICRO’s Diversion programmes. With a 93% success rate of offenders not re-offending within two years, NICRO has proved that its method works and can effectively reduce the number of children in South African jails.

This success, says Al Papps, Chairman of the NICRO UK Trust, "is because the deprived young people involved come from very impoverished and deprived backgrounds in the townships in South Africa and respond very positively to the personal interest and attention they are given for the first time in their young lives when participating in these programmes."

NICRO’s programmes work towards giving marginalized and socially excluded youth who are in conflict with the law a chance to acknowledge, understand and take responsibility for the consequences of their actions.

With a 93% success rate of offenders not re-offending within two years, NICRO has proved that its method works and can effectively reduce the number of children in South African jails.

By giving these vulnerable young people the opportunity of learning new skills and competencies and gaining significant insights, the Diversion programme gives them the vision and the tools to turn their lives around to become productive, responsible citizens.

The cost of sending one young person on a Diversion programme is around £350 and one of the challenges NICRO faces is attracting the funding vital to its continued success.

In 2002, a small group in the UK, with the interests of the new South Africa very much at heart, set up the NICRO UK Trust for a safer South Africa. The sole purpose of the Trust is to raise money in the UK to help fund the Diversion Programmes.

With overhead and administrative costs met by the personal generosity of one of the Trust’s founding Trustees, Charles Luyckx, and other Trustees claiming no expenses, all the funds raised by the NICRO Trust go straight to NICRO in South Africa.

South Africans in the UK can help to touch the lives of many young people in South Africa by donating to the Diversion programmes, says Lorna Johnston, NICRO UK Trust’s Fundraising Manager.

"So often, South Africans think that crime in South Africa is not a surmountable problem. NICRO offers people an opportunity to get involved and make a difference.

Our Youth Development and Diversion Programmes are diverting young South Africans away from the criminal justice system and ultimately away from a life of crime."

By touching the lives of 20,000 young South Africans annually, says Johnston, NICRO is proving that something is being done about crime, and that it works.

Getting involved can be through fundraising as well as through participating in the Trust’s events, says Johnston.

"In the UK we are always hosting exciting events to help us raise much needed funds for our Diversion Programmes in South Africa. We are busy putting together a NICRO UK Team for the Pick n’ Pay Argos Tour in South Africa. We hope that cycle enthusiasts will join our fun team heading over to South Africa in March 2009 to help us raise funds for the Diversion Programme."

As Al Papps points out, the organisation’s Youth Development programmes have a proven record in giving South Africa’s young people "the good fortune to avoid wasting their lives in prison."

"One of the most well known songs sung by Joan Baez, the American folk singer said "There but for fortune" and one of the most memorable verses in that song goes as follows ....

"Show me the prison, show me the jail,
Show me the prisoner whose life has gone stale,
And I’ll show you a young man with so many reasons why,
There but for fortune, go you and I."