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Findings from the 2009 ISC Evaluation

ACC Commissioned UMR Research to conduct an evaluation of the Safe Communities Accreditation programme as part of ACC’s 2007 - 2010 contract with the Safe Communities Foundation NZ (SCFNZ).

The final report provides an overview of a sample of Safe Communities currently operating in New Zealand. It also provides an assessment of the work of SCFNZ from a range of stakeholders including Government organisations and agencies, Local Government and those working or allied to a Safe Community.

The main findings from this research were:

  • The safe communities model supports both the New Zealand Injury Prevention Strategy and ACC injury Prevention
  • The Safe Communities foundation of New Zealand (SCFNZ) is performing well in supporting communities to become accredited and promoting the ISC model to local councils
  • SCFNZ has good relationships with those involved at the operational level of Safe Communities
  • ACC Injury Prevention Consultants are supporting Safe Communities

The main issues identified by the research are:

  • Lack of quality data to establish initial benchmarks and also evaluate achievement in reduction of incidence and severity of injuries
  • Lack of long term funding
  • Lack of succession planning
  • SCFNZ at risk due to business size and its funding model
  • Changing strategic direction for ACC affecting relationships

Research recommendations:

  • ACC clarifies where Safe Communities best fits within ACC
  • Roles of ACC IPCs in relation to Safe Communities are clarified and communicated to Safe communities
  • ACC widens its view on what evidence is important in measuring outcomes of Safe communities. ACC should consider providing guidance in the defining and gathering of data and analysis of statistics.
  • SCFNZ considers developing a business plan that addresses the risks to their services
  • The SCFNZ uses the outcomes model developed as part of this evaluation to work with Safe Communities in meeting more of the intermediate outcomes

For more information, and to read the full report, see "A Qualitative evaluation of the International Safe Communities model operating in NZ and the work of the Safe Communities Foundation of New Zealand" (PDF 4MB)