Freedom House, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), implemented a two year social cohesion and anti-collective violence program within 16 at-risk communities in six provinces throughout South Africa. In partnership with the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS), University of Witwatersrand and the Safety and Violence Initiative (SAVI) University of Cape Town, Freedom House undertook rapid conflict assessments in each of the target areas. These rapid conflict assessments were the foundation of the project and gave Freedom House insight into the dynamics of each community which enabled them to develop individual social cohesion profiles and peacebuilding teams in the targeted at-risk communities.

SaVI was the research partner for 6 of the 16 sites. These were De Doorns, Dunoon, Khayelitsha,and Masiphumelele in the Western Cape; as well as Grahamstown and Motherwell in the Eastern Cape. The research project was coordinated by Dr Guy Lamb and SaVI associate Laura Freeman. The research team consisted of SaVI researchers Azwi Netshikulwe, Ncedo Mnqgibisa, and Lauren October, as well as previous SaVI researchers Neo Petse, Lovemore Mawere, and Leandri Pretorius. This formed part of SaVI's social cohesion project. The findings from this research were amalgamated into a new report titled "Xenophobia and outsider exclusion: Addressing frail social cohesion in South Africa's diverse communities". The full synthesis report, as well as the individual site reports can be found here.