To be able to address and eradicate domestic and sexual violence, we need a strong domestic and sexual violence sector. Across the province of Alberta, local domestic and sexual violence networks/collaboratives are critical to this work. These networks have been designed to enhance our province’s ability to address domestic and sexual violence and need to be innovative, resilient, adaptive, collect and respond to data, collaborative and consistent in approaches to addressing and eradicating domestic and sexual violence. Research shows that structured cross-sector coalitions are much more effective at addressing complex social issues or achieving systemic change than the isolated impact of working for change through a single organization (Kania & Kramer, 2013). Social Policy in Alberta reinforces the need for a strong, functional anti-violence sector.
The Building the Architecture to Eradicate Domestic and Sexual Violence content has been created to support networks and communities to engage in collective impact learning, growth and development. The goal is to increase capacities and engagement strategies across Alberta to eradicate domestic and sexual violence. Content has been divided into five core modules, which will support users to work through exploration and community engagement, to creation and piloting of initiatives and, finally, evaluating and maintaining initiatives.