Porirua "Safe As!" City Accreditation
This page describes the Porirua "Safe As!" safe community accreditation process and provides a link to the full document.
Porirua City achieved international recognition as a safe city on 1 September 2008 when it was designated a World Health Organisation (WHO) International Safe Community putting it in the company of Calgary in Canada, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Melbourne in Australia.
The safe community designation is recognition that Porirua has made a commitment as a community to work together to resolve the safety issues it has with regards to Injury Prevention, Crime Prevention, Emergency Management and Road Safety.
The celebrations to mark Porirua's achievement were followed by an official ceremony at Pataka when the Safe City accreditation was handed to Mayor Brash by Dr Carolyn Coggan, Director of Safe Communities Foundation of New Zealand, representing WHO.
The achievement was particularly celebrated by the seven community agencies that worked together over the previous 3 years to meet the Safe Communities Foundation's strict criteria. Those organisations were Housing New Zealand Corporation, Kapiti-Mana Area Police, Regional Public Health, Accident Compensation Corporation, Porirua City Council, Porirua Healthy Safer City Trust and Porirua Community Guardians. They have since been joined by Porirua Chamber of Commerce, Water Safety NZ, Capital and Coast DHB and Porirua Fire Service.
To achieve accreditation we had to demonstrate that Porirua City had:
- An infrastructure based on partnerships and collaborations, governed by a cross-sectoral group responsible for safety promotion in the community
- Proven long-term sustainable programmes for injury and crime prevention;
- Projects targeting high-risk groups and environments;
- Comprehensive and reliable data collection systems;
- Good monitoring and evaluation
- Participation in national and international Safe Communities' networks
Porirua City's application used a number of case studies to highlight successes, including the Porirua Community Guardians, a programme of local volunteers who work together to improve safety in Porirua, and the Porirua College Drive Force Programme, which involves Year 13 pupils in safe driver training. City safety projects have also included tackling graffiti vandalism, improving pedestrian lighting, promoting safe city design and street makeovers.
Dr Carolyn Coggan was one of twelve national and international experts and observers who visited Porirua City to assess what they called an "outstanding" application. They were impressed by the commitment of the community organisations and agencies who worked together and their agreement to produce an Annual Action Plan. It was an excellent model for other communities to consider, she said in her report.
WHO re-accreditation must be sought every five years to maintain its Safe City status. We are due to apply for re-accreditation of our safe community status during 2013.
The Safer Porirua Strategic Group began a process of reviewing its documentation as well as its aims and objectives during 2010. The Group produced the Porirua City Community Safety Strategy 2011-2021, which focusses on four key priority: Injury Prevention, Crime Prevention, Road Safety and Emergency Management. Using Result Based Accountability,each priority will have a Result Card that covers the following:
- Result/outcomes desired
- Target population
- Indicators of success we have chosen
- What the baseline data tells us and the story behind that data
- Who we will work will
- What we intend to do and how we will work together
The outcomes from these Result Cards will be monitored regularly and the Result Cards update according to the changing priorities and needs of our community.
The Safer Porirua Strategic Group continues to meet regularly on a monthly basis as a Steering Group but also works in Subgroups to continuously improve the Result Card priorities. Porirua Safe As! is also obliged to report on its progress on an annual basis to the Safe Communities Foundation NZ which monitors the overall progress of safe communities in New Zealand.
Porirua City Council has made a commitment to work collaboratively with its government, non-government agencies and wider community to continuously improve on its ways of working as well as focus on safety issues affecting its community.
Link to more information