Prevention Initiatives
South Asian Trials Project
Shama, with the support of the Ministry of Social Development, is excited to present a program designed specifically for South Asian youth in Auckland.
This initiative is more than just a program; it’s a collaborative effort to create meaningful change by involving youth in co-designing solutions to challenges faced within their communities.
This program addresses the unique struggles faced by South Asian youth, providing a safe platform for them to share their voices and ideas. By working closely with the community, we aim to promote culturally relevant approaches to fostering healthy relationships and preventing family and sexual violence.
How Does It Work?
Stage 1: Co-Design Process
• We collaborate with youth aged 14-17 to identify the barriers they face in their day-to-day lives.
• Through focus groups, we discuss important topics such as cultural expectations, societal pressures, and support systems.
• Together, we create an inclusive and flexible program that’s shaped by South Asian youth for South Asian youth.
Stage 2: Implementation
• Using the ideas and feedback gathered, we’ll bring the program to life, ensuring it remains impactful, relatable, and community centered.
Why Should You Join?
This initiative is a chance to be part of a transformative journey. By participating, you can:
• Contribute to Change: Help address the challenges unique to your community.
• Learn and Grow: Develop a better understanding of healthy relationships and ways to build stronger connections.
• Make Your Voice Heard: Influence decisions and programs that directly affect South Asian youth.
Interested? Scan the QR code to sign up for focus group sessions and be part of meaningful conversations shaping your future.
Let’s work together to strengthen our community and build a space where every voice matters.
Prevention - Community 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.
Some of the 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 is creating a material for ethnic parents to help them understand healthy relationships and consent to have conversations with their adolescents.
We also have a group of Korean Therapists in Auckland working on the translation of the prevention of child abuse training that we have in Korean, and they will do an activity with Korean parents in Auckland this year.
Encouraging Conversations
Email crisis2@shama.org.nz to register your interest for prevention projects.
