Child Injury Prevention

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  • Phase 1 - Look at the problem
  • Phase 2 - Think and plan
  • Phase 3 - Act and implement
  • Phase 4 - Relect and evaluate
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  • What works
  • Goals, objectives and strategies
  • Who can help
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• References

Who can help

Stakeholders, champions, advocates and partners?

As identified in Phase 2 Think and plan a range of people, organisations, government departments etc need to work together in order to address the child injury problem.

What is a key stakeholder?

A key stakeholder is an individual or group who has an interest in a project/program or is positively or negatively affected [42] by it in some way.[43] Key stakeholders must be recognised and consulted from the outset. There are different types of stakeholders:

• People who will be affected by the project/program and can influence it but who are not directly involved with it.[42] (eg. Managers, Director of Child Health Nurses).
• People who are (or might be) affected by any action undertaken by the project/program [43] eg. parents, children, customers, owners, employees, associates, partners, contractors, suppliers etc.
• An individual or group with an interest in a group's or an organisation's success in delivering intended results and in maintaining the viability of the group or the organisation's product and/or service.[42] eg. a non-goverement organisation board member.
• any organisation, government entity, or individual that has a stake in or may be impacted by a given approach to a regulation, legislation or policy eg. Department of Housing and rental property owners would be affected by retrospective installation of hot water tempering valve.

Ongoing consultation with key stakeholders is important as interest and reactions change over time.

Stakeholders can play a various roles in your project/program. A champion or an advocate role can have a significant and positive impact on progressing child injury prevention.

What is a champion?

A champion is a person who defends, fights for, or supports a cause, another person or innovation.[42]

Champions will fight for your cause [42]; they usually have a position of power, are very motivated by the cause, or have been deeply affected by the problem.

Consider involving champions in your project/program as there is a lot they can do:

• lend their name to the effort [42] (e.g. Dr Fiona Wood, Honorary Chair of the Scald Prevention Program).
• speak at an event [42] (e.g. Paediatric Burns Surgeon does a presentation to plumbers).
• speak with the media (e.g. a parent whose child has experienced a serious child injury linked to your project (e.g. a scald) or who had a child die as a result of an injury).
• Provide a statement for a press release [42] (e.g. a doctor who treats children such as Paediatric Burns Surgeon or the Director of the Emergency Department).

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What is advocacy?

"Advocacy is as important for injury prevention as surveillance, epidemiology and program design". [42] Advocacy is an action not a service,[42] it is arguing on behalf of a particular issue, idea or person. Individuals, organisations, businesses, and governments can all for the purpose of policy and social change be involed in advocacy. [42] Advocacy does not have to involve confrontation or conflict [43] (eg. writing a letter to support a new legislation or a change in standards).

Types of advocacy may include:

• organising community meetings. [4] [44] [45]
• writing letters to the editor. [4] [44] [45]
• contacting political representatives. [4] [44] [45]
• distributing public education materials. [4] [44] [45]
• telephoning talk back radio. [4] [44] [45]
• attending community or council meetings. [4] [44] [45]

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What are partnerships?

The term partnership is now widely used when more than one organisation is involved in a project/program [46] and both parties agree to work together to achieve common goals.  Working together with partners is important, as no one agency will have the resources and expertise to adequately address child injuries alone.[34] Partners aim to achieve something together that they could not achieve alone.[45]

Some key aspects of partnerships include:

• pooling of resources.
• what will the partnership achieve.
• the structure of the partnership, the agreement and processes such as minutes.
• the people involved.

There are different types of partnerships and they range from networking to collaborating. [40]

A useful tool to help you work with partners and to assess, monitor and maximise the effectiveness of their involvement in your project/program is The Partnership Analysis Tool for Partners in Health Promotion.

When establishing and maintaining partnerships it is important for ongoing communication as well as public acknowledgement /recognition of contribution.

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