The New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse
Tracy Anderson
Centre for Social Research and Evaluation
Ministry of Social Development
Abstract
The New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse is a centre for collating and disseminating information about family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand . It was created as part of the Te Rito New Zealand Family Violence Prevention Strategy. Materials held by the clearinghouse can be accessed or contributed online, at www.nzfvc.org.nz
The Clearing House
The New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse is a national centre for collating and disseminating information about family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand . Its purpose is to provide access to high-quality information for a wide range of users, including those working towards preventing and eliminating family violence. It was launched by the Minister for Social Development and Employment in July 2005.
The clearinghouse is the end result of an action identified in the Te Rito New Zealand Family Violence Prevention Strategy. The development of the Te Rito strategy has been well documented (Maynard and Wood 2002). The creation of the clearinghouse was a shorter journey than the overall Te Rito strategy, but no less challenging for those involved, both within and external to government.
The main challenge in developing the clearinghouse was the requirement that government engage in a formal contract with external parties from what is fundamentally an informal and diverse sector. A description and analysis of the tender process for the clearinghouse, incorporating the views of non-governmental organisations and academics who were involved in the process, would make a useful and interesting paper, but one that has yet to be written. Nevertheless, the outcome of the process was the development of an information mechanism for the family violence sector (and interested others) to use in disseminating and accessing family violence information.
The Te Rito strategy recognises that family violence directly affects the wellbeing of families/whānau and the extent to which they can participate in society. The rationale behind the clearinghouse initiative, therefore, is that access to high-quality information is critical in ensuring family violence prevention strategies and initiatives are effective and achieve the greatest possible success.
One of the nine principles that guided the development of the Te Rito strategy is that approaches to family violence prevention must be integrated, coordinated and collaborative. It is for this reason that the implementation of the clearinghouse was planned to be shared between government and non-government community and academic agencies. The bulk of the work in developing the clearinghouse was put out for tender and was won by Canterbury University ’s Te Awatea Violence Research Centre in partnership with the National Network of Stopping Violence Services, the National Collective of Independent Women’s Refuges and Child Abuse Prevention Services.
The New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse now comprises a website, www.nzfvc.org.nz hosted by Canterbury University , and a hard-copy repository hosted by the Ministry of Social Development’s Information Centre. The repository includes material from a variety of sources, such as research and studies undertaken by government and non-governmental organisations and academic institutions. Material can be borrowed or arranged to be viewed through a searchable database online. Clearinghouse staff are also actively networking with government and non-government agencies, researchers and practitioners to gather material for the database and the website.
Additional material will be progressively included in the website and content is regularly updated. Should you wish to access or add information to the site, please contact the clearinghouse team through the website.
