Violence Prevention Initiatives
Since July 2020, we have been supporting ethnic community groups across Aotearoa New Zealand, to develop their skills to prevent sexual violence within their communities. We support the creation of resources by each community we work with. This allows each ethnic community group to start conversations with a medium that the community is familiar with and that is made with their peers.
We support interested ethnic groups with:
- Initial training on approaches that have proved to work in preventing sexual violence worldwide
- Six months of ongoing support in the creation of a project that addresses sexual violence and how to prevent it in their community
- 2000 dollars to support the elaboration and dissemination of the creative project
- Introducing the community to a national network of ethnic people working on this topic. In this network, we support the groups by offering connections between the communities and continued learning.
This year has been incredibly busy. We have continued supporting groups to expand their projects in Christchurch, Tauranga, and Hamilton, while also working with new groups in Auckland, Whangarei, and Queenstown. All the groups have developed innovative and culturally relevant ways to initiate discussions in their communities about healthy relationships, consent, active bystander interventions, and keeping children safe from sexual harm.
Among these projects are community workshops conducted in native languages, murals where community members engage in conversations about what healthy relationships look like in their culture, poster campaigns, and video projects. We are proud to witness the dedication of volunteers from diverse communities who are deeply passionate about preventing family and sexual violence and supporting the well-being of their communities.
In Christchurch:
On March 8th, a multicultural group organised a hybrid (online and in-person) national launch event for the poster campaign they created at the end of 2021. They invited members from Shama’s prevention network to the online event, while the Christchurch-based group that initiated the campaign hosted an in-person gathering with ethnic community’s members and government officials. The group used this space to commemorate International Women’s Day, share their work, and explore potential financial support to continue the campaign. Attendees will also receive the posters, ensuring that the campaign continues to spread across the country.
In Queenstown:
On February 22nd, a group of Latin American women in Queenstown hosted an activity at Kiwi Fest, a festival that attracts over 1,000 attendees. Their goal was to engage the broader community in a conversation about what healthy relationships look like in the Latin American community. Using a mural and creative painting, the group facilitated discussions on this important topic. The space had a very positive response from the community as lots of different people interacted in the space during the day: elderly people, men, women, children. They all did their contribution and had conversations with the group. The event also provided an opportunity to inform the community about family violence and sexual violence services available for ethnic communities. Following the festival, an NGO expressed interest in hosting the mural in their space to continue these conversations with diverse communities.
In Auckland
A Burundian community group organised an event to commemorate International Women’s Day. There was dance and laughter, but also a call for reflection, activism, and action.
In Tauranga
The Latin American group De Mujer a Mujer recorded a video about consent, as part of their campaign to prevent sexual abuse in Latin American parties. Working with DJs and party managers, they also developed a strategy for women to ask for help from bartenders at nightclubs.
Unfiltered Conversations: Chai & Chat – Launching Podcast for South Asian Youth
Shama is proud to introduce this platform, which gives young people a safe space to discuss relationships, culture, identity, and everything in between—the conversations we don’t always get to have at home or school.
As part of the South Asian Trials initiative, this podcast explores topics like family expectations, friendships, communication, and breaking cultural stigmas. Through honest discussions, guest insights, and interactive activities, we aim to empower youth with tools to navigate relationships in a healthy and meaningful way and to provide an insight to youth and what they’re thinking too.
Episodes drop weekly from April to June
Available on:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/31xnpzp2ky6rrwmwpgq2phfpypoa?si=f4fb24d0550141d1
PlanetFM: https://www.planetaudio.org.nz/
Follow them @chai._chat on Instagram for updates and competitions!
Encouraging Conversations
Other projects that we have supported
A group of Shama professionals in Hamilton created a workshop for the prevention of child abuse for ethnic parents. This material has been delivered with the Red Cross in Hamilton for the Burmese, Syrian and Afghan Refugee communities as a workshop with interpreters. The workshop was also taken to Invercargill where it was delivered to a multicultural group and a Colombian group.
Mituakiri, a Latin American organisation, created two animation videos about consent and healthy relationships for the Latin American community which you can see here
In Christchurch, we supported two groups from Women2Women, totaling 20 women from our ethnic communities.
One group worked on an animation video about the prevention of sexual abuse in adolescents using phones.
The second group from Women2Women created a poster campaign about “Parents as Protectors of Child Abuse.”
The ALAC Inc team (Aotearoa Latin American Community Inc) has created two videos to support their communities in preventing sexual harm.
A group of University of Waikato International students did the Clothing Line Project to talk about healthy relationships and consent.
The Yasmina Group worked on an Instagram page “Our Voices” to discuss healthy relationship and consent among Arab youth.
The Yasmina adult group (women from the Arab community in Waikato), created a booklet in Arabic as a didactic material to be used by Arab parents to protect their kids from sexual abuse.
A group in Oamaru created material for ethnic parents to help them understand healthy relationships and consent to have conversations with their adolescents.
A group of Korean Therapists in Auckland translated the prevention of child abuse training into Korean, and they facilitated an activity with Korean parents in Auckland.
