Waimakariri District - Re-designated as a World Health Organisation Safe Community

Leaving Christchurch, heading north across the flat Canterbury Plains, you reach the Waimakariri District. Currently the population is approximately 42,000 people, but the area is rapidly growing with a strong rural urban mix with the main townships being Kaiapoi and Rangiora.

Waimakariri was the second district in New Zealand to be accredited as a World Health Organisation Safe Community in 1999.  Last month, the District was the first region in the country to be re-designated. 

The Safe Communities concept began at the First World Conference on Accident and Injury Prevention held in Stockholm, Sweden in September 1989. The Manifesto for Safe Communities states that "All human beings have an equal right to health and safety." This is a fundamental aspect of the World Health Organisation's Health for All Strategy and for the Global Programme on Accident Prevention and Injury Control.

The Waimakariri Safer Communities Project began to take shape in 1996, when the Waimakariri District Council Community Team was formed. This team bought together existing organisations that were working in the injury, crime and road safety fields to create a joint synergy and a co-ordination of effort in the Waimakariri District. Every subsequent year, new programmes and projects have been initiated to continue to provide direct benefits to the extended community. The team has now expanded to include restorative justice and health promotion, due to the identified community need.

Since their inception, the programmes have had strong community support from a variety of sources including health, education, government agencies, Police, and community members.  These strong relationships and partnerships are essential for the community development model to be successful.

And successful it has been. Over the past decade the Waimakariri District has achieved significant successes. These include:

• Having the lowest fatality rate in New Zealand, with 21.8 deaths per 100,000 people in the period 2000-2001
• Receiving increased funding for community safety initiatives and also expanding the number of agencies and organisation working in community safety
• Improving  awareness of the preventability of injury and an increasing the number of quality interventions
• Inclusion of community safety in key community documents and representation on national and international committees by community members.

Furthermore, Woodend School in the Waimakariri District was the first school in New Zealand to be accredited as a World Health Organisation Safe School. This led it to be recognised by the New Zealand Community Safety and Injury Prevention Awards.

Since 2003 the New Zealand Injury Prevention Strategy has provided a framework for enhanced collaboration and combined planning by the Safe Waimakariri Community Team. The use of the Strategy has assisted with improved linkages to other community groups around New Zealand and government agencies to further promote this community development model.
 
This model recognises that those who live in that community are the people most able to solve their problems. Key factors for the success of a community development model are:

• Needs are identified by the community;
• Strong, effective partnerships between community, non-government organisations, local government and central government;
• Co-ordination of effort through a dedicated Co-ordinator or team; and
• Community involvement, via Advisory Groups, in decision making and budget allocation.

Since the beginning of community safety work in the District, the Waimakariri District Council has played a very active role.  Acting as the umbrella organisation for each of the community safety programmes, the Council has shown leadership and commitment to making Waimakariri a Safe Community. The Council holds contracts with government agencies for the delivery of community based programmes, actively seeks to work in partnership with the community to develop solutions and has funded overall co-ordination through its Community Team Leader role. 

Waimakariri District Council clearly recognises its obligations under section 10 of the Local Government Act 2002 to promote social, economic, cultural and environmental wellbeing.  The Council has included ‘safe communities’ in its vision and has included safety as one of its six community outcomes.