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Public Awareness of Family Violence Through Community Partnerships
in New Brunswick
Many initiatives to educate the public on family violence
have been implemented across Canada over the past few years.
Such initiatives have been developed by the federal and provincial
governments, by non-profit organizations, women's groups,
service providers, crisis intervenors and others. Unfortunately,
they are often done in a sporadic and piecemeal fashion. Organizations
in one community are often not aware of the best practices
developed by other communities or organizations. And victims
may be the last to find out about existing interventions.
In New Brunswick, a provincial Steering Committee on Public
Awareness of Family Violence Through Community Partnerships,
which is comprised of community organizations and government
representatives, came together in 1993 to try to plan and
implement a coordinated community approach to inform and educate
the public about family violence problems and solutions. They
asked a simple question: Can community groups and government
work together to motivate grassroots public awareness initiatives
throughout the province? The answer was a resounding "Yes!".
The Steering Committee, which is co-chaired by government
and NGO representatives, submitted a successful funding proposal
to Health Canada. They also secured funding from the provincial
Victim Services Fund and received in-kind support from the
provincial Department of Justice. The YWCA provided their
"No Excuse For Abuse" kit for distribution to communities.
They named this provincial initiative "Caring Partnerships:
Communities Against Family Violence". By January 1995, a project
coordinator was hired and two extremely dynamic pilot projects
began in Woodstock and Shediac. Currently, several additional
communities are starting to implement campaigns as well.
Both pilot communities have accomplished impressive results
in a short time. This article will not present an overview
of their public awareness campaigns, rather it will deal with
the following:
- the value of community partnerships to educate the public
about family violence;
- the challenges of working collectively to set common goals.
The Value of Community Partnerships
The value of community partnerships for dealing with family
violence may seem self-evident. Family violence is a problem
that should concern the entire community. It is not just the
business of one agency or particular government department.
It is certainly not an issue only for women's groups or social
workers or service providers of victims. It is not something
that only involves police or transition house workers or educators
who work with our youth. We are all stakeholders.
Working together, people in local communities can develop
grassroots solutions to this complex and costly problem. Only
local communities can generate the necessary widespread in-kind,
financial and moral support of the residents, businesses and
professionals of the community. This is the only way to make
a massive public awareness project a success.
Clearly there are many individuals in any community who
may have an interest in participating in a public awareness
campaign. These might include existing service providers,
health care and mental health workers, social workers, counsellors,
teachers, parents, lawyers, police, women's groups, businesses,
town officials, service clubs and any interested individual
who might play a role in sensitizing the community to family
violence issues and solutions.
But there are just as many people who say, "What can I do?
How could I possibly make a difference? The problem is too
complex and immense for me to tackle." People may feel uneasy
when asked to participate in family violence awareness events.
They may think that talking about family violence is something
that must be done by communications experts, public speakers
or professionals who work in the area of family violence.
But these local people are the very ones that the community
respects and will listen to. We must assure everyone that
their involvement is important.
When people were approached to become involved in a family
violence awareness campaign in Woodstock and Shediac, we asked
only that they have a commitment to dealing with family violence
issues in their community. We wanted to mobilize a diverse
core group of individuals and organizations from the community
to spearhead the initiative and develop a coordinated grassroots
action plan. These are the people who would accept responsibility
for planning and organizing a campaign. Frontline service
workers should not bear the entire burden of speaking out
against family violence, nor do they have the time or resources
to do so.
The people who came together initially in the pilot sites
agreed:
- to form the core of the group which plans, organizes and
develops a caring partnerships project.
- to prepare an action plan for a family violence awareness
campaign.
- to consult with the community at large and show sensitivity
to their needs by seeking community input.
- to promote and foster community partnerships with local
businesses and others who may not actively participate on
the committee, but who may display support in countless
other ways.
- to oversee the implementation of the action plan and keep
activities on track.
- to identify persons to help in the implementation stages
of various initiatives.
- to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the campaign
and share their experience with other communities.
The Challenges of Working Collectively
The process described above probably sounds routine. It
makes perfect sense to bring people together and develop a
communication strategy and grassroots public awareness campaign.
However, the need for coordination, cooperation and pooling
of resources, calls attention to the challenges which arise
in bringing diverse groups and individuals together. Anyone
who has been a member of an association or planning committee
which is comprised of individuals from different backgrounds,
disciplines and experiences is familiar with the complexities
of working collectively. It is not as simple as it appears
and when the problem to be tackled is family violence the
challenges can be immense.
While it is possible to share "best practices" by describing
the kinds of campaign strategies which worked for Woodstock
and Shediac, it is just as important to share information
about the process of developing those strategies. The following
reflections on "how" local committees reached consensus on
their campaign goals may help other communities meet the challenges
of working collectively to develop a community based awareness
campaign.
1. Open Dialogue - Deal with differences: Once people
start working together they quickly discover that there are
indeed differences between them. Not everyone holds the same
views even in rural communities. These differences might relate
to differences in understanding of the nature of the problem,
the kinds of strategies that should be put in place and so
on. Unless we only invite like-minded people, we will have
to deal with these differences. It is important for those
involved in developing a public awareness campaign to meet
several times and brainstorm ideas.
The opportunity to present one's views in a non-confrontational
manner is essential. Participants must feel that they can
put everything on the table and that various options will
be considered without criticism.
2. Develop Mutual Understanding: It may take considerable
time and energy for people on a planning committee to develop
a mutual understanding. However, this is a key to success.
Any group that wishes to implement a public awareness campaign
must strive for a mutual understanding before it tries to
put an awareness campaign in place. It is difficult to develop
and implement any project if those involved do not agree on
the nature of the problem. However, if the group developing
an awareness campaign does not resolve underlying disagreements
over what the problem really is, they will certainly have
disagreements over strategies later on. It is important for
any group with a diverse membership to develop their goals
and strategies collectively.
3. Be Inclusive: People who come together initially
must consider who else in the community to involve and how
to get them interested. Clearly each local situation will
determine which members of the community to invite initially.
An important feature of the development of an awareness plan
is to talk about and define what is meant by "community".
Communities may correspond to a natural geographical area
or a political jurisdiction. How big or small is the community?
Defining the community may also help participants to determine
which people to involve in developing an action plan.
4. Define the Problem: There are many definitions
of family violence but each community should feel free to
use the terminology and language that is relevant and appropriate
to how people in their community talk about the problem.
5. Listen and Try to Reach Consensus: There is no
easy formula for reaching consensus. But taking the time to
find common ground in the early stages of planning will reduce
disagreements among members over time. A successful coordination
of a community-based awareness campaign can only emerge once
the organizers have listened to one another and sought creative
approaches to their differences. This very sensitivity will
help the group to avoid confusion when it comes time to reach
out to the wider community, talk to the press or implement
any component of the awareness plan. If those involved in
organizing a family violence awareness campaign present their
plans to the public or the media in a way that suggests there
is divisiveness or lack of clarity, the project is likely
to flounder.
Organizers need a clear collective vision of what they want
to accomplish. Only when consensus is reached should organizers
take their ideas and framework for action directly to the
community to get broad public input and commitment. In Woodstock,
despite a range of opinion on the scope of the problem a consensus
was reached eventually that the campaign would deal with positive
"self-help" skills for victims, friends and neighbours rather
than focus on the negative effects of abuse.
Conclusion
Although the mandate of any public awareness campaign is
the same - to draw attention to family violence issues and
solutions - people in each community must come together and
assess their own situation, resources, and needs in order
to set their own goals. This can sometimes be a difficult
task. Ultimately, a community based approach will provide
the flexibility to develop creative and appropriate strategies
for addressing family violence issues.
To help motivate other local communities to develop grassroots
awareness campaigns, the Steering Committee has developed
the following three products:
1) A "community development handbook" which deals with the
issues discussed here. It provides an overview of the pilot
sites and offers concrete suggestions for developing and implementing
an awareness campaign.
2) A "Media Guide" which will help people with the "nut
and bolts" skills they might need when they are ready to submit
press releases, hold interviews with the media and deal with
the press in any other fashion.
3) A video called Reaching In, Reach Out which responds
to the concerns expressed by the general public when they
are asked to become participants in family violence awareness
campaigns or other complex social issues. The video is intended
to inspire people to be part of the solution.
In keeping with the underlying principle of promoting and
supporting community-driven initiatives, the provincial government
will soon relinquish the co-chair position and administrative
duties. Although government will remain a vital partner, negotiations
are underway to transfer the ongoing administration and implementation
of this initiative to the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Foundation,
a provincial charity whose mandate is to eradicate family
violence through action research and public education. Through
partnerships and community coordination, New Brunswickers
are finding a vehicle which is enabling entire communities
to become part of the solution to family violence.
Deborah Doherty, Executive Director, PLEIS-NB
and Member of the Steering Committee on Public
Awareness of Family Violence Through Community
Partnerships
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