Launch of Auckland Humanity Project and Regional wānanga on preventing violence

An Auckland-based collective of service providers, communities and government agencies launched a new initiative on 1 March 2017.

The Auckland Humanity Project is a crowd-sourced social media campaign.

The website explains:

Auckland is a vast, diverse and changing place. It shares similar challenges to many large cities of our world: homelessness, poverty, inequity, violence and crime. We are also home to 1.4 million humans, who exercise extraordinary yet simple acts of humanity toward ourselves and each other every day.

We hope that by growing this humanity we can in turn grow opportunities for kindness, compassion, empathy and hope, encourage healthy relationships, safer communities, and more connection and caring in our neighbourhoods, workplaces, schools and homes.

The collective has produced a Humanity Toolkit with links, resources, actions and case studies. Individual stories are also shared on the project website and social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).

Each month the project will ask Aucklanders a question and share the responses via social media. The first questionis "Tell us about the last meal you shared with someone…"

The project is supported by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC).

Primary prevention wānanga

Auckland Council is hosting a Regional wānanga on primary prevention of family violence and sexual violence – from theory to practice on Friday 24 March 2017 at Hoani Waititi Marae, Oratia, Auckland. For details see the Event listing. RSVP required.

The wānanga is for people working or interested in healthy relationships, gender equity, social connection and/or celebrating diversity and will include opportunities to:

• Hear Dr Leland Ruwhiu and Dr Moana Eruera speaking on primary prevention and te ao Māori, case studies from E Tu Whānau and more inspirational stories
• Participate in a short workshop on activating community-led primary prevention
• Be part of the Auckland Humanity Project.

The wānanga is being held with the support of the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC).

This second regional wānanga is an action of the multi-sector action plan to prevent family, whānau and sexual violence in Auckland, developed in 2015.

Related information on primary prevention

A number of new international resources on the primary prevention of family and sexual violence were published last year from Australia, the United States and United Nations. Aotearoa New Zealand resources include:

• Champions campaigns toolkit from the It's not OK campaign (2016)
• Making a Difference: Sexual Violence Primary Prevention Toolkit from ACC (2016)
• Presentations and resources from the symposium Creating change: Mobilising communities to prevent family and whānau violence (2015)
• NZFVC Issues Paper 8: Creating change: Mobilising New Zealand communities to prevent family violence (2015)
• It's not OK Campaign Community action toolkit (2007).

For more information on the Government's work in primary prevention, see the Family violence & sexual violence work programme from the Ministry of Justice.