The Youth Department was involved in various projects and studies looking at violence in Johannesburg schools, projects on sexual violence in schools, support for school communities affected by HIV/Aids, and others. The Safe Schools Programme was a pilot project seeking to create a model to deal with the spiralling rate of crime and violence in schools in South Africa. The programme formed part of the project "Violence and Crime: Greater Johannesburg Schools", carried out together by the Youth Department and the Criminal Justice Policy Unit.