Family Violence Initiative

COMPENDIUM OF PROMISING PRACTICES TO REDUCE VIOLENCE AND INCREASE SAFETY OF ABORIGINAL WOMEN IN CANADA – COMPENDIUM ANNEX: DETAILED PRACTICE DESCRIPTIONS

INTERACTIONS WITHIN COMMUNITIES

Raising Awareness in Broader Community

Program name:

Community Coordination for Women's Safety Program (CCWS)

Organization:

Ending Violence Association of B.C.

Location:

Vancouver, British Columbia and surrounding communities

Target Group:

Everyone.

Contact Name:

Tracy Porteous

Phone:

604-633-2506

Email:

porteous@endingviolence.org

Website:

www.endingviolence.org

Program Overview
History:

The Community Coordination for Women's Safety Program (CCWS) is a result of the work of local and provincial women's organizations, the British Columbia Ministry of Community Service (now the Ministry of Housing and Social Development) and the British Columbia Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General. The CCWS program is the end result of several years of consultation and coordination by the Ending Violence Association of BC with groups across the province seeking to improve their community response to violence against women. The CCWS program began in 2002.

Program Description
Goals & Objectives:

To assist communities in the development or improvement of models of cross-sectional coordination concerning violence against women. The program strives to facilitate the development of an effective and consistent community response that enhances assaulted women's access to the justice system; provides support to communities for the implementation of violence against women policies; assists communities to identify and bring forward issues that need to be solved at the provincial level; and increases a community's ability to analyze issues related to women's safety.

Traditional/Indigenous ways:

N/A

Components of program:

The program identifies barriers to women's safety that are common to communities across the province and works with the provincial government and leaders in all sectors to reduce or eliminate those barriers. It also supports the development of solutions and strategies at the local, regional and provincial levels that address assaulted women's access to the justice system and other relevant response systems. The program provides communities with an analysis of key issues that may be affecting the safety of women in that community. Training is also provided to the community, as are resource referrals related to the coordination needed to overcome the issue of violence against women.

Services/How they work:

Services are provided on site in communities that have requested access to the service.

Funding:

Funding is provided by the British Columbia Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General.

Relationships and Stakeholders
Involvement of Target Groups:

Communities contact the CCWS program for support and services to facilitate the development or enhancement of coordination initiatives on responses to violence against women.

Partners:

N/A

Other relationships:

Over 200 funded anti-violence programs throughout BC are members of the Ending Violence Association of BC. The CCWS program, through coordination, brings together different sectors in a community – counselling centres, transition houses, police, hospital, crown, child protection, Aboriginal services to ensure that all services work together as effectively as possible.

Details of Program Evaluation
Evaluation:

No evaluation has been completed.

Highlights of Evaluation Findings:

N/A

Program Outcomes
Measures of Success:

Success is measured against the coordination of work accomplished across the province, requests for service and the response to community issues.

Achievements:

A recent accomplishment includes the publication "Increasing Safety for Aboriginal Women; Key Themes and Resources May 2011". This publication followed community engagement and relationship building between First Nations Communities and anti-violence programs, discussion groups held in Aboriginal communities about increasing safety for Aboriginal women and children, and the regional gathering Sharing, Gathering, Honouring: Increasing Safety for Aboriginal Women, Youth and Communities held in Terrace in March 2011. This has been a most important "launching pad" for work on violence against Indigenous women in the North.

Challenges:

N/A

Things to Know to Replicate
Replication Advice:

The program is considered replicable. CCWS has developed many resources and background materials about violence against women that can be used by other jurisdictions to develop coordination activities and services.

Resources:

Sufficient funding and staffing would need to be acquired for the program to be successful.