What works in Cape Town
All catalogues · South Africa profile
Quality scores are 0–100 rubric scores; “strong evidence” reflects study design; adoptions count documented replications elsewhere. Know more
Evidence snapshot for Cape Town
Cape Town has implemented multiple evidence-based urban interventions. The Cape Town Central City Improvement District has reduced CBD crime by 34% over a year, with shoplifting down 80% and business break-ins down 50%, while seeding over 50 replica improvement districts citywide. Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading in Khayelitsha paired infrastructure upgrades with community safety work and achieved a 34% reduction in reported interpersonal-violence exposure in nearby households. SmartCape's municipal library programme grew to 670 public terminals across 104 branches serving over 500,000 registered users with free daily internet access and digital-skills training.
Drawn from: ABALOBI — Co-Designing an Offline-First Digital Toolkit With South Africa's Small-Scale Fishers · SmartCape – Cape Town's Municipal Library Digital Access and Skills Programme · Working for Water (South Africa) · Cape Town Central City Improvement District — 25 Years of Levy-Funded Urban Turnaround · VPUU — Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading in Khayelitsha, Cape Town · WHO mRNA Technology Transfer Programme — Afrigen's Cape Town Hub-and-Spoke Vaccine Network · South Africa's Women's Budget Initiative — Parliament-led gender analysis of the national budget (1995–2000) · UCT Research Contracts & Innovation — University of Cape Town's Technology Transfer Office
Generated from this place's cited practices only. Always check the linked sources.
Strengths & weaknesses vs peers
Strengths
Water & soil — retention, infiltration, erosion control +52 pts 100 here · 48 average
Evaluation evidence +51 pts 100 here · 49 average
Fire resilience — risk reduction, evidenced +38 pts 44 here · 6 average
Equity & inclusion +33 pts 83 here · 50 average
Biodiversity — conservation / improvement, evidenced +29 pts 78 here · 48 average
Curator validation +27 pts 100 here · 73 average
Documented learning +26 pts 100 here · 74 average
Evaluated outcomes +21 pts 100 here · 79 average
Transparency, ethics & data protection +20 pts 67 here · 47 average
Evidence of impact / measured results +16 pts 73 here · 57 average
Achievement / evidence +12 pts 100 here · 88 average
Multi-stakeholder collaboration +11 pts 85 here · 74 average
Gender-mainstreaming embedding +11 pts 100 here · 89 average
Inclusiveness / equity +9 pts 52 here · 43 average
Weaknesses
Demonstrated reach -9 pts 67 here · 76 average
Evidence of learning impact -10 pts 17 here · 26 average
Sustainability (ongoing) -12 pts 67 here · 78 average
Carbon — sequestration / storage, evidenced -16 pts 11 here · 28 average
Effectiveness -18 pts 50 here · 68 average
Impact on gender equality -21 pts 50 here · 71 average
Transparency, fairness & accountability -54 pts 0 here · 54 average
Score profile vs peers
Coloured bar: Cape Town. Grey bar: peer average across the corpus. Both on a common 0–100 scale.
Points compare this place's average on each dimension with the average across all evaluated places, on a common 0–100 scale. Know more
Top good practices here
ABALOBI — Co-Designing an Offline-First Digital Toolkit With South Africa's Small-Scale Fishers · 96
SmartCape – Cape Town's Municipal Library Digital Access and Skills Programme · 96
Working for Water (South Africa) · 87
Cape Town Central City Improvement District — 25 Years of Levy-Funded Urban Turnaround · 86
VPUU — Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading in Khayelitsha, Cape Town · 86
WHO mRNA Technology Transfer Programme — Afrigen's Cape Town Hub-and-Spoke Vaccine Network · 81
UCT Research Contracts & Innovation — University of Cape Town's Technology Transfer Office · 76
Each number is the practice's overall 0–100 quality score against its catalogue's rubric. Know more
Recommended to adopt or replicate
Transferable practices from elsewhere that address this place's gaps.
Ciudad Mujer — El Salvador's Integrated Women's Services Programme · fit 100/100
- Rated highly transferable
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Already adopted in 3 other places
SASA! Community Mobilisation Programme against Intimate Partner Violence — Uganda · fit 100/100
- Rated highly transferable
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Already adopted in 4 other places
Karya — Fair-Wage AI Data-Work Platform Bringing Digital Income to Rural India · fit 100/100
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
safe+natal — Comadrona-Designed Smartphone Checklist for Maternal Risk Screening in Rural Guatemala · fit 100/100
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Digital Green — Video-Mediated Agricultural Extension · fit 100/100
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Kartu Prakerja – National Digital Skills and Financial Inclusion Programme · fit 100/100
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Rwanda's Land Tenure Regularization Programme — Titling Land in Women's Names · fit 90/100
- Rated highly transferable
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
- Rated highly transferable
- Backed by strong evidence
- Addresses this place's weak dimensions
Already adopted in 6 other places
Fit estimates how well a practice matches this place, 0 (poor) to 100 (excellent); the list is ordered to favour practices that address this place's gaps. Know more