At a recent DGMT First Wednesday webinar, convened by Kgahliso Mangoale of Sukuthula!,a different picture emerged. Violence was not presented as something that happens occasionally or in isolation. It was described as something far more pervasive: a condition shaping how children grow, how families cope, how schools function, and how communities hold together.
A whole-of-the-ecosystem problem, requiring response from all sectors. For those working in communications across the impact sector, this shift matters. Because how we frame violence shapes how it is understood and ultimately, how it is addressed.
Moving beyond “issue-based” communication
One of the strongest insights from the webinar was the interconnected nature of violence. Violence against women, violence against children, and community violence are often treated as separate issues, each with its own language, campaigns and interventions. But in reality, they overlap in the same households and reinforce each other over time.
This raises an important question for communicators: are we still telling these stories in silos?
When communication mirrors fragmented programming, it can unintentionally narrow understanding. It can make violence seem like a specialised issue rather than a shared societal condition. For audiences whether funders, policymakers or the public, this limits the urgency and the scale of response.
There is an opportunity here to reframe. Instead of communicating violence as a category, we can communicate it as context. Not something that sits alongside development work, but something that but as something that can deter developmental outcomes. That shift alone can change how audiences prioritise the issue.
From awareness to understanding
The webinar also challenged a common assumption: that awareness alone leads to change.
In many programmes, communication around violence focuses on raising awareness, sharing statistics, defining types of violence, or highlighting the scale of the problem. While important, this approach can sometimes feel distant or overwhelming, especially when audiences cannot see where they fit into the solution, and can feel hopeless in their urgency to contribute to the solutions.
What stood out in the discussion was how grounded the insights were in everyday environments, schools, households, and caregiving relationships. Violence was not described in abstract terms, but through its impact on real systems and lived experiences.
For communicators, this is a critical shift. People engage more deeply when they can see how an issue shows up in familiar spaces. A story about a child struggling in a classroom because of trauma, or a teacher trying to respond without the right tools, does more than inform it. This is where communication becomes more than awareness. It becomes understanding.
Showing the system, not just the symptom
A recurring theme in the webinar was that violence is not only interpersonal. It is also structural and environmental.
Unsafe living conditions, lack of infrastructure, overcrowding, and chronic stress all contribute to environments where harm becomes more likely. Similarly, overwhelmed teachers, under-resourced schools and fragmented referral systems can limit how effectively institutions respond.
Communicating this complexity is not easy. There is always a temptation to simplify to focus on a single story, a single cause, or a single solution. But doing so can obscure the bigger picture.
Effective communication in this space requires holding both levels at once: the human story and the system around it.
When we show how a child’s experience connects to broader conditions, family stress, school capacity, community safety, we move audiences from empathy to insight. We help them see that violence is not random. It is patterned. And patterns can be changed.
Reframing prevention as everyday work
One of the most powerful ideas from the webinar was that much of the sector is already doing violence prevention, just not naming it as such.
Work that strengthens caregiver-child relationships, supports emotional wellbeing, builds safer school environments, or challenges harmful norms all contribute to prevention. But because these efforts are often communicated under different banners such as education, ECD, youth development, their role in preventing violence is not always visible. This is where communication can play a strategic role.
By making these connections explicit, communicators can help reposition existing work as part of a broader prevention ecosystem. This does two things. It reinforces the value of the work already being done, and it builds a stronger case for integrated approaches. Challenging siloed and fragmented efforts that currently exist.
It also shifts the narrative from “fixing violence” to “building conditions where violence is less likely.” That is a more constructive and actionable frame.
Engaging audiences in the conversation
Another subtle but important takeaway from the webinar was the emphasis on dialogue. The session itself modelled this through interactive questions, inviting participants to reflect on what an “integrated approach” looks like and how it impacts children, families and communities.
For communicators, this is a reminder that communication is not only about broadcasting messages. It is about creating spaces for engagement.
When audiences are invited to contribute to reflect, respond or share their perspectives, they become part of the conversation rather than passive recipients. This is particularly important for complex issues like violence, where there are no simple answers.
Framing communication as a conversation can also surface new insights, challenge assumptions, renew a connection to the issue and build shared ownership of the issue.
Why this matters for the impact sector
The implications of the webinar are not only programmatic. They are communicative.
If violence is a cross-cutting reality, then how we talk about development must reflect that. If prevention is embedded in everyday work, then our narratives must make those connections visible. If change requires coordination, then our communication must help bridge silos rather than reinforce them.
For communications specialists, this is both a challenge and an opportunity.
The challenge is to move beyond familiar formats, isolated campaigns, issue-specific messaging, and one-dimensional storytelling. The opportunity is to craft narratives that reflect the complexity of South Africa’s context while still being clear, human and actionable.
This means telling stories that connect rather than separate. Framing issues in ways that show both cause and consequence, both individual and organisational responsibility. Inviting audiences into the conversation, not just informing them. And consistently linking individual experiences to systemic realities.
A different role for communication
Violence in South Africa is not a problem that can be communicated away. But it is a problem that can be communicated more effectively.
The webinar offered a reminder that how we frame issues shapes how they are understood and what responses feel possible.
For the impact sector, communication is not only about visibility. It is about meaning-making. It helps define what matters, how problems are connected, and where solutions might lie.
If we begin to communicate violence not as a separate issue, but as part of the landscape shaping development, we open the door to more integrated thinking, more coordinated action, and ultimately, more sustainable change. That is not just better communication. It is part of the work. Remember, there’s a generation at stake – let’s break the cycle of intergenerational violence together.
Sukuthula!is a GBV initiative that represents a network of grassroots organisations, combating GBV, through prevention, response and advocacy activities. The initiative encourages breaking the silence on GBV and acting against violence.
Kgahliso Mangoale,the first Wednesday convener, is the Project Lead for Sukuthula! At DG Murray Trust, a Public Health and behaviour change Specialist.
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