Social Change
‘Changing community attitudes is a process, not a single event. Successful, effective projects are based on an understanding of how people and communities go through the change process by providing a systematic approach with a long term vision.'1
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White Ribbon Action Team Story
Canterbury and Bankstown Councils – "It's Time to Talk" Program, Western Sydney |
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An assessment project identified Family Violence as one of the major issues affecting Canterbury and Bankstown communities in 2006. A DoCS Domestic Violence Response Unit was created and after advocacy and lobbying from Council and the community sector, Bankstown City Council was offered $40k from DoCS to coordinate a community awareness campaign on the issue of domestic violence. |
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Both the Canterbury and Bankstown Domestic Violence Liaison Committees were consulted on developing the program and it was agreed that the best approach would involve both DV Liaison Committees coming together for the first time to establish a joint project to tackle the issue.
International awareness campaigns were researched and the It's Time to Talk program from the United States was identified as an ideal model for the community.
Bankstown City Council, Canterbury City Council, the DoCS Violence Against Women Unit, Canterbury and Bankstown Domestic Violence Liaison Committees all joined the partnership. Bankstown Council has had the role of convenor and administrator since its inception. |
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Change in your community can occur in many different ways and there is no exact path to follow. By considering the following five factors, you will improve your chances of achieving a successful outcome.
1. Community Assessment
2. Raising Awareness
3. Taking Action
4. Integrating and Evaluating
5. Moving Forward
1. Community Assessment
Finding out what resources and projects already exist in your community and what is needed is the most important step to developing your project.
Questions you may like to consider:
· Who can you involve?
· Which local experts – eg domestic violence and sexual assault services – can you talk to or work with
· What is already happening? Can you join an existing project? Try to avoid duplicating projects.
· Who are the key contacts? (eg council, media, community organisations, business)
· Which areas are the most significant? (eg schools, sporting groups, men’s groups)
· What statistics are available for your area? (eg police, council, media)
· What information is in the media?
· How can you publicise your project? (eg local newspapers, radio, community noticeboards)
· Is there any funding available?
· Are there any White Ribbon Ambassadors in your community who can help?
It’s also important to understand the scale of the problem – visit our Fact Sheets to learn more.
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White Ribbon Action Team Story
Canterbury and Bankstown Councils – "It's Time to Talk" Program, Western Sydney |
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1. Community Assessment
The issue of Family Violence and Violence against women in general was consistently raised in local consultations as an area of significant concern in the community. After initial consultation with the wider community, family violence service providers including social workers, police, health workers and community support workers provided much of the feedback for project development. |
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It was integral to the success of the campaign that representatives from both Canterbury and Bankstown LGAs were committed to shared outcomes and that the awareness raising was presented equally across both communities.
Evident from these initial meetings was the commitment and common purpose of the committee that the message should focus on the wider community and take the onus of responsibility from the “victim” to the whole community, with the emphasis on the major culturally and linguistically diverse communities of both areas. |
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2. Raising Awareness
Who to involve?
Comprehensive and integrated violence prevention at the local level requires effective partnerships between local government and community organisations.
Effective partnerships can be imagined as four legs of a table. If the four legs are stable and strong, it can provide a great basis for effective work. The four legs are:
1. Political leaders and champions such as mayors, business leaders or media figures, who ensure that ideas are accepted and implemented by decision makers and communities
2. Administrative leaders such as managers of local community health services or police, who deal with those affected by family violence and can offer advice about services and programs that are available.
3. Community leaders such as those involved in Rotary, Zonta, neighbourhood centres or churches who can advocate for progress within their community groups.
4. Research support can assist in community surveys and support in evaluating the success of programs. 1
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White Ribbon Action Team Story
Canterbury and Bankstown Councils – "It's Time to Talk" Program, Western Sydney |
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2. Raising Awareness
When the It's Time to Talk committee formed in 2006, an information review indicated there were extensive resources available for victims of family violence. However there were insufficient resources available to assist family, friends, workplaces or general practitioners respond to the issue. The brochure was developed to target these groups and give information on how to support victims. |
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We created professional development seminars to provide up to date, relevant information to family violence workers on industry changes and initiatives. Some have included presentations from the Education Centre Against Violence, Housing NSW, Legal Aid and Police.
We held a GP Forum in June 2009, specifically targeted at raising awareness with medical professionals, with GPs indicating they found the seminar highly relevant to their work.
As we plan for 2010, we are looking to target violence-prevention education in faith based communities, to school counsellors and provide further GP training.
Awareness raising has also taken place within the general community and various professional sectors (i.e. social and health services, law enforcement, teachers, religious communities, etc.) of domestic violence and its negative consequences on women, men, families and community life. |
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3. Taking Action
Taking action can start with a single public event and develop as a community’s commitment to preventing violence against women grows. As community organisers refine their networking and partnerships, the capacity for mutually reinforcing programs, campaigns and events improves.
For ideas on how to take action as an individual, go to the White Ribbon Champions page.
To learn more about expanding your campaign, go to the White Ribbon Action Teams page.
If you are ready to develop your campaign into a community-wide movement go to the White Ribbon Communities page.
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White Ribbon Action Team Story
Canterbury and Bankstown Councils – "It's Time to Talk" Program, Western Sydney |
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3. Taking Action
Canterbury Bankstown’s goal is to build networks of support within the general community and various professional sectors that empower and enable individuals to take action and make change.
Public awareness-raising campaigns such as Bus Banners, Adshels, drink coasters distributed to pubs and clubs and an SMS campaign were targeted at high visibility awareness-raising. The aim was to take the stigma from family violence and encourage conversation to influence social change. |
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The It's Time to Talk brochures are also designed to encourage conversations about family violence. The brochures outline different forms of violence, give local facts and figures and suggest conversation starters. It also includes information about where to get help and local contact information. |
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4. Integrating and Evaluating your Action
Measuring changes in attitudes and behavior as a result of your community action is the only way to determine whether your action had an effect.
Various factors must be measured prior to launching your project so that an effective comparison can be made. Things that can be measured and evaluated include:
· Community attitudes – take polls or interview key community figures;
· Media saturation – use a data monitoring service to find the number of media mentions of violence-related issues;
· Facts and figures – use data from police or health organisations to learn about reporting rates and incidents of violence;
· Community involvement – how many councillors, school principals or business people are involved in community action?
· Attendance at community events;
· White Ribbon Ambassadors – how many men in your community are registered as Ambassadors?
· White Ribbon sales – how many retailers stock White Ribbons in November?
If you have useful evaluation tools or results, please share these with us so that White Ribbon and other community action groups can benefit. In this way, more effective methods will be shared, programs are not duplicated, and broader, nationwide outcomes can be analysed.
Questions to ask yourself:
- What worked, what didn’t work?
- What objectives are enduring and should be maintained?
- How could we have done it better?
- Could anyone else be involved?
- Can we increase the impact of the work being done?
- Are we relying on a few individuals who may move away? Or is the program embedded in the community for the future?
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White Ribbon Action Team Story
Canterbury and Bankstown Councils – "It's Time to Talk" Program, Western Sydney |
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4. Evaluation
The ultimate goal of It's Time to Talk is to raise awareness of domestic violence in the community. Therefore an increase in reported incidents of violence after the project occurs this could actually be seen as a positive outcome, indicating increased reporting of violence rather than an increase in the crime itself. |
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Each year new performance measures have been developed for the individual components of the project. For example:
- At the launch of the project in 2007, the aim was to bring together the two DVLCs, therefore the level of collaboration between the two areas was seen as an important performance measure in the project.
- The project incorporated a major advertising campaign so media saturation levels and public response was also measured through community surveys.
- Individual awareness-raising and professional development events have been measured by attendance, participant surveys and flow-on referrals to support services.
- At the 2009 GP Seminar, participants were asked to indicate if their learning objectives had been met – increased knowledge of DV, utilising referral pathways and knowledge of the legal ramifications of DV – 90% of GPs who attended indicated all three learning objectives had been entirely met, 10% indicated partially met.
- The distribution of drink coasters to local licensed premises was evaluated through patron surveys 6 months after the campaign to see if they remembered the coaster and the message.
- The Committee receives statistics outlining use of the website, how many people are accessing the resources and how they found the site.
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5. Consolidating and Continuing Your Efforts
Now that you have an action plan, you are on the road to creating major social change. It is vital to maintain momentum and enthusiasm and to keep your supporters involved. Share your work on the White Ribbon website and help other communities become White Ribbon Communities too!
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White Ribbon Action Team Story
Canterbury and Bankstown Councils – "It's Time to Talk" Program, Western Sydney |
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5. Moving forward
The program is regularly reviewed, and recognition is given to the importance of embedding anti-violence values and actions into the community for the future.
Each event is evaluated based on performance measures set prior to the campaign. Due to the success of the partnership between the two DVLCs the It's Time to Talk campaign has become an annual campaign across the two areas. Although the committee has reduced in numbers, the current steering committee contains key members of local family violence services covering both LGAs. |
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When the committee meets to begin planning the next campaign, feedback from both DVLCs is incorporated into developing a project that will cater for the needs of both LGAs. Committee members regularly feedback information to the DVLC for input and promotion. |
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Download this page in PDF format for printing.
Further Reading
Please note these are links to external sites not managed by White Ribbon.
Raising Voices Resource Guide
Published in 2003, this Resource Guide from Uganda describes a long-term, community-based social change approach to violence prevention.
The publication, originally designed for use in this region, has been requested by organizations in 28 countries in Africa, 11 in the Americas, 2 in the Middle East, 10 in Europe and 12 countries in Asia and the Pacific Islands. The approach it describes has been highlighted as good practice by the UN Division on the Status of Women, WHO, USAID and Women and Cities International.
New Zealand Community Kit
This valuable resource provides plenty of step-by-step and how-to guides for taking community action. It include very helpful information on strategic planning tools, project management and operational planning.
Maribyrnong City Council’s Preventing Violence Against Women Action Plan 2007/2008
A comprehensive community-based plan.
1 Mobilising Communities to Prevent Domestic Violence, Michau, L & Naker, D, Raising Voices, Uganda 2003.
2 Information derived from Fact sheet #1 www.abp.unimelb.edu.au/research/funded/glove