We believe that peace, justice, and security are vital to social development and human progress. We are committed to the promotion of peaceful societies, access to justice for all, strengthening law enforcement, and improving security conditions throughout the hemisphere. We oppose corruption, abuse of power, and illicit economies.
PADF believes that it is possible to improve the safety of our communities. We believe that well-designed, technically sound, data-driven, and evidence-based policies that target the root causes of crime and violence can have a major impact in reducing crime indicators. Through collaboration between state authorities, civil society organizations, and the private sector it is possible to reduce the fear of victimization, ensure respect of human rights, and promote social cohesion and holistic social and human development.
In order to create lasting peace, we need to ensure participation of all stakeholders, particularly women and youth. Local actors—especially those with a high level of local legitimacy—have a pivotal role to play, especially in defining the strategies and goals that should be pursued as well as how to achieve longer-term sustainability. There are many examples in the region that showcase that progress is within our reach and that by mixing the necessary ingredients, we will see authorities, communities, and businesses partners continuously improve the public safety of their surroundings.
PADF designs and implements projects that are tailored to each of the contexts where citizen security challenges are present. Nonetheless, PADF relies on a set of core working methodologies that are a part of our DNA.
The first element is community engagement. PADF has a track record of collaboration with local stakeholders and grassroots organizations, which allow local voices to inform and shape program implementation and policy making.
We consistently tailor our training and education materials used in workshops and courses to local contexts, we believe that “off the shelf” solutions have limited ability to promote effective organizational and individual change.
We also focus on providing capacity building assistance to national organizations to ensure sustainability upon project completion. All of our projects are results oriented and measurable, have a strong knowledge management component, and include public-private partnerships.
We constantly focus on activities that enhance trust and collaboration among all relevant parties who are involved in citizen security and justice programming at the country and local levels.
Each of our projects has an embedded learning agenda that allows PADF not only to track progress towards desired outcomes and learn from our successes, but also learn from any failure that occurs and refine strategies, allowing the projects to adapt when needed.
Violence Prevention
At-Risk Youth Programming
Restorative Justice
Criminal Justice Reform
Transnational Organized Crime
Roberto Obando
Thematic Director – Peace, Justice, and Security
Email: connect@padf.org
Citizen Security for All (English)
Seguridad ciudadana para todas las personas (Spanish)
