Safe Community

What is the Mawson Lakes Safe Community Network?

Safe Community at Mawson Lakes
"Mawson Lakes Safe Community Network is A Member of the International Safe Communities Network.

Mawson Lakes, South Australia #226

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Monthly meetings and events Monthly Meeting and Events

Following a successful site visit in October 2010 attended by reprdesentatives from Safe Communities Foundation New Zealand and the Australian Safe Communities Foundation, on 12th December, 2010, Mawson Lakes became the 2nd community in South Australia and 226th International Safe Community to achieve designation.

The Mawson Lakes Safe Communities Network was established 3 years ago by Lend Lease to work collaboratively with other key stakeholders to further support the development of safety promotion and injury prevention.

The network has representation from many sections of the Mawson Lakes community, including, educational institutions, service organisations, SAPOL, local businesses, and residents.

Underpinning the work of Mawson Lakes Safe Community Network is its..

Vision:

“To make Mawson Lakes a safe place to live, learn, work and play.”

Mission:

“To provide leadership, promote best practice and build the capacity of the Mawson Lakes’ community to become a safer community.”

Values:

Safety is a fundamental human right.
People are at the heart of making communities, safer places in which to live, learn, work & play.
Everybody has a responsibility to promote and maintain their safety and the safety of others.

The International Safe Communities Network approach to safety promotion and injury prevention encourages greater cooperation and collaboration between non-government organisations, the business sector, federal and local government agencies, and creatively mobilises local community members to action.

The International Safe Communities model creates an infrastructure in local communities for addressing injury prevention initiatives through the building of local partnerships. It is a program that was initiated in Sweden in 1989 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre on Community Safety Promotion at the Karolinska Institute for Social Medicine (www.phs.ki.se/csp ).

Criteria to become an International Safe Community:

In order to be designated as an International Safe Community, of the WHO Safe Communities Network, communities are required to meet the following six criteria:

Develop an infrastructure based on partnership and collaborations, governed by a cross-sectional group that is responsible for safety promotion in their community.
Conduct long-term, sustainable programs covering both genders and all ages, environments, and situations.
Conduct programs that target high-risk groups and environments, and programs that promote safety for vulnerable groups.
Initiate programs that document the frequency and causes of injuries.
Develop evaluation measures to assess programs, processes and effects of changes.
Maintain ongoing participation in national and international Safe Communities networks.

After each meeting, the MLSCN will produce a newsletter to share its activities with the community.

Currently the group is developing a plan of activities for the next 3 years to address community safety issues and work towards an injury free environment for all sections of the community.

Where and when does the Mawson Lakes Safe Community meet?

The Mawson Lakes Safe Community Network meets on the third Thursday of each month from 1.00 – 2.00pm in The Mawson Centre to address a range of community safety and injury prevention issues.

Meetings are open to anyone in the community and people are most welcome to join the group.
If you can help in anyway, please contact Alan Peucker (Chairperson – Mawson Lakes Safe Community Network) on 0432 336 955.

A special ceremony formalising the acccreditation took place at the commencement of the Mawson Lakes Christmas Carols held in Mobara Park, Mawson Lakes, South Australia. Mawson Lakes forms part of the City of Salisbury. Mayor Gillian Aldridge said “The City of Salisbury is supportive of the Mawson Lakes Community’s commitment to best practice in the promotion and delivery of sustainable community safety outcomes.”

Dr Coggan, from the International Safe Communities Certifying Centre in New Zealand, officiated at the Ceremony and stated “The Mawson Lakes Safe Community Network is to be commended on their efforts to improve community safety.”

Particular strengths highlighted during the review process included the:

emphasis on lifelong learning
collaborative leadership and support provided by the City of Salisbury, Lend Lease, and the University of South Australia
extensive safety by design features
comprehensiveness of initiatives to improve safety for children and youth
strong emphasis on community engagement
comprehensive nature of the positive ageing initiatives for seniors
and the effective integration of workplace and community safety.

The collective commitment to share skills, time, energy, information and resources for the development of a positive safety culture and safer environments throughout the Mawson Lakes community was evident both in the International Safe Communities application and during the site visit.