Teenage gang members from Wandsworth could be taken on a hard-hitting trip to South African shanty towns to confront them with the realities of extreme poverty and crime.

Organisers of the Battersea initiative hope exposure to the grim living conditions and endemic crime could shock gang members into turning their backs on their current lifestyle.

Under the plans, a group of 10 teenage members of Battersea gangs would be taken with police officers and community workers for one or two weeks in Cape Town. They would carry out voluntary work with HIV-infected children and share experiences with reformed South African gang members.

Organisers at Wandsworth Community Empowerment Network and Battersea single mums group Storm are still in the early stages of planning and no money has yet been raised. They have, however, made links with South African community groups and hope to take their first group of teenagers away in late autumn.

Malik Gul, a development worker for the network, said the project could help gang members come to terms with the emotional problems which drive their lifestyle.

"We need a radical approach," he said. "If you say gangs are just a criminal problem and gang members should be given an Asbo, you won't solve it because the roots are very deep."

Storm co-ordinator Marie Hanson said: "This will be a wake-up call to the teenagers to see what poverty is really like.

"We want to rehabilitate them so they mentor other gang members and we can move on to the next generation."

But anti-gang campaigner Isaac Attram, dad of former Ernest Bevin pupil Eugene, who was killed in a gang brawl last year, was sceptical about the scheme.

"The majority of these young ones involved in gangs see themselves in a society where they are calling the shots.

"For people like that, going to South Africa would just be a jolly ride."

"For some this will be of benefit but for others it will be a waste of money. The organisers will have to be very careful who they take," he added.

The idea has been supported by police borough commander, Joe Royle: "There is a risk with this idea. But it is risk worth taking, if we can save one life from being taken by a knife or a gun."