The momentum towards a systematic and coordinated approach to violence prevention was catalyzed by the World Health Organization’s World Report on Violence Prevention. The Global VPA was launched in January 2004. The VPA in Jamaica was launched in November 2004.

1.2 The Violence Prevention Alliance (VPA) is a network of government, non government, private and community based organisations working together to prevent violence in Jamaica. No country or community is untouched by violence and the VPA, through a partnership approach, is striving to  improve the quality of life for every citizen by eradicating violence in Jamaica. The VPA believes that violence is preventable and by working together it is possible to make communities safe for everyone.

1.3 Mission Statement: to create violence - free and safe Jamaica. All communications activity should underpin this Mission Statement.

Vision: to maximize the impact of violence prevention initiatives on the Jamaican population by promoting the use of best practices through the -

• Collection and analysis of available data.
• Broad dissemination of such data.
• Channelling of resources into initiatives that exhibit best (proven) practices.
• Lobby for systematic change at the policy level.

 

 

Objectives:

1. To support the promotion of primary prevention of violence, integrated community development and public education.
2. To increase collaboration and exchange of information between organizations on violence prevention.
3. To support the implementation and monitoring of existing programmes and to lobby for national action plans for violence prevention.
4. To lobby for the integration of violence prevention into social and educational policies, thereby enhancing the promotion of gender and social equality.
5. To promote the safe community concept.
6. To facilitate data analysis and application in order to identify and promote best practice.
7. To support the strengthening of systems/services for victims of violence.

Functions:

1. Promoting public health approaches to participant organizations in order to become more effective and systematic in the violence prevention activities they support and implement.
2. Data collection and analysis, sharing best practices for prevention programmes and victim services among participants’ institutions and groups that focus on different sub-types of violence.
3. Providing technical assistance to member organizations, sharing information, experiences and expertise among participants through the development of partnerships and other collaborative projects.
4. Developing the safe community concept paper and a system for its assessment.
5. Monitor the impact of the Alliance’s work and tracking developments in the field of violence prevention.
6. Maintain the Alliance through the establishment of secretariat.
7. Coordinating and managing of funds to support the objectives of the Alliance.

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Violence Prevention Alliance Structure

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MODE OF OPERATION

The Alliance participants work on the understanding that sharing information and experiences relevant to all types of interpersonal violence will benefit programmes concerned with specific sub-types of violence and the field as a whole. The Alliance participants are joined together because of their efforts to promote the public health approach by using it as a framework for their own violence prevention activities and those they support. They work together and as individual organizations to encourage uptake of this approach in the violence prevention field and to facilitate the implementation of the recommendations of the functions through the development of policies, programmes, and implementation tools.

Scope

The work within the Alliance will focus on interpersonal violence and the information systems, risk factors, prevention strategies, and victim services that are common to all sub-types of violence. The Alliance welcomes participants who share the vision and approach outlined in this document whether they concentrate on a specific sub-type of violence or more broadly on cross-cutting risk factors and prevention strategies. The measures necessary for promoting the prevention of collective violence are beyond the scope of this Alliance. The Alliance is a network for participants to achieve policy-level changes that are difficult for a single agency working in isolation to affect. The Alliance does not implement prevention programmes or deliver services, but encourages individual Alliance participants to conduct activities that are consistent with the Alliance's mission under their own responsibility and according to their respective policies, principles, and purposes.

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Violence Prevention Alliance Framework

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Names	Organization
Ambassador H. Dale Anderson	Consultant (Kingston)       (A)
Col. Anthony Anderson	Jamaica Defence Force(IA)
Angela Ramsay	Consultant (Kingston)         (A)
Anthony Harriott	University of the West Indies, Dept. of Government (A)
Barbara Johnson	Medical Association of Jamaica    (IA with reason)
Barry Chevannes	University of the West Indies/VPA Chairman   (A)
Bertrand Bainvel	UNICEF             (A)
Brian Schmidt	Media Representative  (IA)
Damien Hutchinson	Peace Management Initiative (A)
Dave Hazle;	Jamaica Council of Churches  (A)
DCP Jevene Bent	Jamaica Constabulary Force   (A)
Deanna Ashley	Health Management Consultant (A)
Denise McFarlane	Kingston Public Hospital        (A)
Dimario McDowell	Graphics  Artistes        (A)
Donna Parchment	Dispute Resolution Foundation       (A)
Dwayne Gutzmer	Youth Representative       (A)
Elizabeth Ward	Ministry of Health      (A)
H.G.Helps	Sports Fraternity      (IA)
Hilary Nicholson	Women’s Media Watch Jamaica Ltd  (IA)

For the Full List of members click here