Supporting NGO and Iwi participation in coordinated responses to family violence

MSD is working with our community partners and The Centre for Family Violence and Sexual Violence Prevention towards greater integration of family and sexual violence sector decisions and responses in communities throughout New Zealand.

Funding for NGO participation at SAM tables

MSD funds family violence specialist providers to participate in 46 Safety Assessment Meeting (SAM) tables across New Zealand.  

SAM tables are generally established by the Police and operate under varying models, such as the Family Violence Interagency Response System (FVIARS) or Whāngaia Ngā Pā Harakeke. The purpose of SAM tables is to assess risk and make safety plans for people currently experiencing family violence. 

This work programme aims to reduce family violence harm by ensuring decisions made at SAM tables are informed by family violence specialists, alongside government agencies. MSD is a main funder for many family violence providers and we're working closely with Police family harm teams who understand local SAM (or similar) processes, to implement this programme. 

Having family violence specialist NGOs participating at SAM tables provides a range of benefits including: 

• Enabling family violence expertise to be used to effectively assess risk and plan the most appropriate safety plans 
• Ensuring everyone who experiences family violence gets access to the best local service – for them, and 
• Building an essential system foundation for future work to come. 

Funding iwi and NGO participation in regional governance

Regional family violence governance groups operate in the 12 police districts and have different structures and meeting times through the year. These governance groups work to reduce family violence by bringing together diverse efforts, knowledge, and local expertise, to provide high level strategic oversight. This includes discussions on recent trends, approaches, and high-risk and high-profile cases, to inform effective strategies to reduce family violence in the community.

The regional family violence governance meetings generally occur monthly and are often chaired by Police or iwi.