The Africa programme was intended to identify and follow through on potential networks and establish working relationships with key organisations in South Africa. By November 2002 the programme had not been implemented due to delays in funding. However, certain areas of work had emerged, one of them being the Refugee Desk. No material about further projects of the Africa programme has been received.

The Criminal Justice Policy Unit provided research, policy development and training to the different sectors of the criminal justice system. The Unit was instrumental in the initial stages of drafting a Safety and Security White Paper for South Africa. Other areas of focus were Youth and Violence, Correctional Services, Community Policing and Policing Policy.

The Education & Media Unit (EMU) created educational multi-media for radio, film, drama and print, generated from the research and policy work of the CSVR. The media aimed at increasing public awareness around issues of violence, reconciliation, crime, human rights and democracy. Part of the aim was to also include these types of issues in curricula for educational institutions.

The Gender Unit was established in 1998, initially as part of the Criminal Justice Policy Unit. In 2001 it started to function as a separate unit, the Gender and Violence Project, later Gender Unit. It served to more comprehensively incorporate a gender focus into all of the Centre's activities. It aimed to engage in research, monitoring or evaluation of interventions in the field of violence against women, and come up with a range of educational strategies for a public awareness and education on gender violence in South Africa.

Through this project the CSVR worked closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the National Consortium for Refugee Affairs and the National Campaign against Xenophobia, facilitating processes of partnership-building. Areas of work related to provision of psychological services for refugees, research, advocacy and training. It was instrumental in founding the Gauteng Refugee Forum, uniting NGOs working in the interests of refugees and asylum seekers.

The Transition and Reconciliation Unit (TRU) actively engaged with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and with relevant institutions beyond its life, so as to ensure that human rights abuses do not occur again, that a human rights culture is built in South Africa and that the victims of Apartheid abuses gain maximum benefit from their engagement with the TRC. The core of the work involved building sustainable reconciliation programmes, victim-empowerment programmes, policy development and research that can assist in achieving lasting reconciliation in South Africa. By 1999 the unit had streamlined its work into the Advocacy, Evaluation and Monitoring Programme and the Reconciliation and Victim Intervention Programmes.