Building the Architecture

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.   

The Five Modules

Module One: Community Engagement

In module one, we take a deeper dive into the building blocks of community engagement and the early conversations needed to move your collective impact initiative forward.

Module Two: Building Blocks of Collective IMPACT

In module two we look at the foundations upon which a solid collective impact initiative is built.   

Module Three: The Structure of Collective IMPACT

In module three, we review how to organize a collective impact initiative to ensure you are bringing people and information together in the way you intend to.  

Module Four: Skills and Tools

In module four, we discuss some of the most essential skills and tools required for building a collective impact initiative.   

Module Five: Evaluating and Measuring Change

In module five of the Building the Architecture series, we explore how to evaluate a collective impact initiative to meaningfully track its progress and make sense of your efforts.