Ethnic Communities Violence Prevention programme
The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) has recently established The Ethnic Communities Violence Prevention work programme, which is an initiative aimed at addressing violence within ethnic communities. This programme aligns with MSD’s commitment to Te Aorerekura, focusing on Action 23: Developing prevention programmes for ethnic communities.
The programme focuses on leading a “by ethnic communities, for ethnic communities” approach to preventing family violence and sexual violence for the ethnic communities of Aotearoa.
The two year Ethnic Communities Violence Prevention programme uses evidence collected from engagement with ethnic communities during the development of Te Aorerekura, MSD’s own work, engagement with other Ministries, and key literature and evidence across the years.
To set the foundations of the work programme, the Ethnic Communities Violence Prevention team engaged in workshops with communities across the motu. This was to better understand family and sexual violence in ethnic communities and the solutions that may work for them. A report is being developed which captures community voices throughout the workshops.
The work programme includes two significant initiatives, the South Asian Auckland trials and the Ethnic Communities Innovation Fund.
Theory of Change and Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning (MERL)
MSD is working with learning partners to create a theory of change, which will identify the underpinning approaches for the Ethnic Communities Violence Prevention work programme. This theory of change will outline the detailed outcomes for this work programme.
The team is also working to develop a Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL) framework. This is to be utilised across the South Asian trials in Auckland and Ethnic Communities Innovation Fund workstreams to understand their impact.
Developing a team and community approach
As a new programme, the Ethnic Communities Violence Prevention team is working alongside members of the community to establish an approach that reflects the communities it intends to serve.
‘Our Culture, Our Pride: No Excuse for Abuse’ – Ethnic communities family violence booklet.
As part of the Ethnic Communities Violence Prevention work programme, the team has worked in partnership with Te Puna Aonui's Ethnic Communities Network to redesign and update an existing family violence booklet related to ethnic communities.
The revised booklet is currently available in English; however, it is in the process of being translated into nine other languages for our diverse ethnic communities with different language needs.
If you are interested in ordering free booklets for your community, please get in touch with the team at ecvp@msd.govt.nz. Alternatively, you can download a digital copy of the booklet here.
