Philippi Village, has joined forces with the Global Freedom Fellowship (GFF) to make communities safer in South Africa. How will this collaboration look like and who are the role players?

Guest: Bushra Razack CEO of Philippi Village.

This is a transformative platform for formerly incarcerated leaders from around
the world, to nurture changemakers, build solidarity, and combat stigma against
people who have been in prison. The partnership between Philippi Village and
the GFF marks a significant step forward in promoting positive change in South
Africa by bringing together visionary minds in the fields of criminal justice and
community development.
The GFF left behind a mural celebrating the partnership between themselves
and Philippi Village. The mural was produced by Cape Town based graffiti artist
Skubalisto. The objective of the mural was to have a permanent presence in a
physical way, depicting a child in the arms of a parent to represent safety. Art is
central to healing, and the GFF believes that art transcends language barriers,
and can be used to bond people across borders. Its powerful because the
people involved aren’t claiming to be community safety experts, but they are
using art to translate what safety means to them in a visual sense.
Philippi Village and Global Freedom Fellowship join forces to build safer South
African communities through art, music and lived experiences
Philippi Village, an innovative and dynamic community development hub in
Cape Town, has joined forces with the Global Freedom Fellowship (GFF) to
make communities safer in South Africa. The partnership was solidified during
the fellowship’s trailblazing tour of Philippi Village in March, which brought
together music, art, and drama to explore critical issues surrounding
community safety.
As a transformative platform for formerly incarcerated leaders from around the
world, the GFF aims to nurture changemakers, build transnational solidarity,
foster a shared sense of struggle and success, combat stigma against people
who have been in prison and instigate innovative justice work worldwide.
The partnership between Philippi Village and the GFF marks a significant step
forward in promoting positive change in South Africa and beyond. By bringing
together some of the most visionary minds in the fields of criminal justice and
community development, this extraordinary tour sparked vital discussions,
ignited creative solutions, and instilled hope for a more equitable and just
society. The aim of the partnership is to elevate the message of building safer
communities in South Africa and to change the narrative on how safety is
talked about.
By leveraging the power of music, art, and drama, the event challenged
traditional approaches to community safety and laid the groundwork for a new
era of collaborative and innovative safety and security work.
The fellowship happens annually, and going forward one fellow will be selected
every year to be a Philippi Village visionary. This person will be housed at
Philippi Village and spend a year exploring different elements of building a
safer community. The GFF will also have international residents coming every
year to work in collaboration with Philippi Village.
The GFF’s main program is the Incarceration Nations Network (INN) which
supports, instigates, and popularises innovative prison reform and justice
reimagining efforts around the world. INN is a partner-led organisation that is
globally minded but locally grounded, attuned to problems but driven by
solutions, focused on systemic change, and committed to transnational
solidarity and intersectionality.
The GFF and Philippi Village believe that investing in communities and trusting
leaders who have lived experiences are key to building safer communities.
The work being done by Philippi Village and their partners including the GFF is
a demonstration of some remarkable steps toward their own integrated
approach to creating a safer Philippi. They are taking matters into their own
hands and working with a variety of partners. This type of collaboration means
dealing with broader societal conditions that contribute to violence and crime.
These include high levels of inequality, poor service delivery, limited access to
employment and education opportunities, alcohol and drug abuse, and a lack
of social cohesion etc.
“We know that the success of Philippi Village is directly connected to the safety
of the community we operate within. Philippi Village is excited to be working
alongside the GFF to explore ways to better understand our role and what we
can do to improve the social, cultural, economic, and political conditions that
give rise to risk in the community. We are learning from so many partners and
agencies who do this better than we do,” said Bushra Razack, CEO of Philippi
Village.