Increasing communities' capacity to resist violence

Today I read the text of a speech given by Sherry Sykes, who works for the US Foreign Service, on four levels of intervention to combat violence.

In the speech, she discusses why she embarked on a year long fellowship to learn about the sources of violence, as well as solutions. One of her observations from her research, is how a focus on strengthening families has a ripple effect on reducing all forms of violence in a society. It was particularly intriguing to think about the role of resource inequality in generating a climate more prone to violence. She found evidence that less inequality results in less violence. 

Her project is very intriguing, and I think provides a context for thinking about why increasing awareness of ACEs and trauma-informed practice is so important. I'm including the link to the text of the speech, which is on her website. The website itself tracks her year long research. I'm also providing the link to a 22 minute video in which she highlights the organizations she visited around the world in order to deepen her understanding of violence. 

Here is a short excerpt from the larger speech:

"So, the forcible conflict or violence-suppressing devices so long employed such as disincentives such as prisons, peacekeeping, policing and hostile intervention would need to be replaced with other procedures which would not only control conflict and violence symptoms, but also develop the capacity of our homes, communities and societies to become a self-regulating systems capable of avoiding destructive aggression.

LINKS:

Website: http://understandingviolence.o...f-state-june-4-2015/

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtL6yD151lU