This site stores cookies. This is how we treat your information.

Good examples

About us

In our Safe Community Network there are more than 430 communities that are “designated” - with more than 100 million citizens. More than 20 “International Safe Community Support Centres” support the communities´ continuous improvements. Around twenty authorized active certifiers works are of crucial value in that quality improvement process.Injuries caused by accidents, violence or “self-inflicted” cause a lot of negative effects as human suffering or death as well as economic negative effects for individuals, states, communities and the business sector. In principle all injuries are preventable. Target oriented work and collaboration communities all over the world have shown that it is possible to decrease injuries by at least 25 % yearly.

There are five ground pillars for success

  • Injury prevention requires coordinated action in the community
  • Health sector have a crucial role in collecting information on injured people, injury patterns, causes of injuries and hazard situations
  • Local programs must include all citizens and focus on the most vulnerable
  • Evaluation both of the process and outcome of a safety promotion program is important
  • The work must be of high quality with countinous feed-back and improvements of programs

In our quality assurance program there are now more than 400 communities that are “designated” - with more than 100 million citizens – that are participating in our “Safe Community Network”. More than 20 “International Safe Community Support Centres” support the communities´ continuous improvements. Around twenty authorized active certifiers works are of crucial value in that quality improvement process.

From the beginning in 1989 The World Health Organization and Karolinska Institutet set up a “Collaborating Centre on Community Safety Promotion” in order to thoroughly develop the concept of “Safe Communities” and the practical work of helping communities to develop efficient program in a world-wide network. This co-operation ceases by September 2015 when the work has gone into an ongoing operative phase. The work is now replaced by all activities hosted by the “International Safe Community Certifying Centre”- all info in this home page! The organisation is established as an NGO (Non- Governmental Organization).

The initiative to “Safe Communities” was once and for all taken 3 to 4 decades ago by the World Health Organization. The future will show how formal co-operation should look like.

 

We who are working in our central administration are

Professor Reza Mohammadi, email reza.mohammadi@ki.se

General Manager Guldbrand Skjönberg, email guldbrand.skjonberg@isccc.global

Senior adviser Associate Professor Koustuv Dalai, email koustuv2010@hotmail.com

Senior adviser Head of division Chen Wentao, email cwt123@vip.sina.com

Economic consultant Barbro Moegelin, email barbro@moegelin.se

 

We have also a Think tank with our chairman during former period Professor Dale Hanson.

 

Members of the Board for International Safe Community Certifying Centre 

 

Chairperson

Reza Mohammadi (Sweden)

Vice Chairpersons

  • Barbara Minuzzo (Australia)
  • JoonPil Cho (Republic of Korea)

 

Board members

  • Yoko Shiraishi (Japan) 
  • NamSoo Park (Republic of Korea) 
  • Homayoun Sadeghti-Bazargani (Iran) 
  • Guldbrand Skjönberg (Sweden) 
  • Shi-U Geu (China) 
  • Lu Pai (Taiwan, Province of China) 
  • Alexander V Kudryavtsev (Russia) 
  • Maria Isabela Guitarez (Columbia) 

 

The Safe Communities concept was originally launched as an official World Health Organisation (WHO) term in their General Program in the end of the 1980’s. The co-operation between WHO and the Safe Community Movement started in 1986 and began its formal existence at the First World Conference on Accident and Injury Prevention held in Stockholm, Sweden in September 1989. In the Manifesto for Safe Communities, the resolution of the conference 1989 stated that the International Safe Community movement should work with “WHO Health for all” as a vision. The ground pillars in the Stockholm manifesto are:

  • All human beings have an equal right to health and safety
  • Accident and injury prevention requires coordinated action by many groups
  • Health sector have a crucial role in collecting information on injured people, injury patterns, causes of   injuries and hazard situations
  • Local programs must include all citizens and focus on the most vulnerable
  • Evaluation both of the process and outcome of a safety promotion program is important
  • An international development work for safe communities is necessary!
  • We need Safe ommunities that can serv as model for other communities

 

The Safe Community initiative differs in comparison to other injury prevention programs. In an International Safe Community, the community itself plays the leading role. The term Safe Community implies that the community work for increased safety in a structured approach, not that the community is already perfectly safe. Creative methods of education, physical planning and environmental change joined with appropriate regulations and enforcement are an important beginning for the safety of a community. An International Safe Community use the traditional means of control such such as economic, regulations and governing by objectives and visions. No single approach is sufficient for changing existing behaviour patterns. Heightening of public awareness is also very import.

Programs to prevent and control injuries and accidents must identify and characterise the injury problem and evaluate the effectiveness of injury control interventions. Though epidemiology is not the soul of the safe communities concept, the vital importance of it must be respected.

Characteristic for an International Safe Community is not only that the community and the leadership in the communtiy are mangening the Safe Community program. The program is also broad and include promotion and prevention of all kinds of injuries such as Injuries of accidents, violence and

suicide. It also embrace  prevention of the consequences (human injuries)

related to Natural Disaster. The program covers all age groups gender. It has a special focus on the most vulnerable.

According to investigations and research the injuries decrease by more than 25 % every year in Safe Communities.

While the movement was growing started a quality management programme leading to a peer review system where the leading communities were labelled International Safe Communities. Up to 2015 In the leading unit was connected to the Karolinska Instutut the WHO Collaborating Centre on Community Safety Promotion at Karolinska Institute Dept. Public Health Sciences. Gradually When Regional Networks and more International Safe Community Support Centres were established the network functions remained with those while The WHO Collaborating Centre on Community Safety Promotion (WHO CCCSP) was encouraged to focus on the quality aspects of the International Safe Communities. A process for quality control has been developed including training of International Certifiers in a one-year program leading to an international accreditation- now 48 are accredited.

Gradually the role for the WHO CCCSP has been developed to be a network organisation for the Safe Community Movement and an organisation for quality management development and less focus on own research. The Karolinska Institutet Dept. Public Health Sciences is therefore no longer a natural base for the WHO CCCSP.

At the 2014 years training course for international certifiers in Lidköping, Sweden, many of the key persons in the movement were present in the faculty and as students. A conclusion of the discussion about the development of the International Safe Community movement was that it is an absolute need to establish the Certifying function as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)- seeking formal linkage to the WHO.

The objectives for the International Safe Community Certifying Centre

 

  • To be responsible for the certifying system for International Safe Communities
  • Certify International Safe Communities
  • Formulate the Indicators for International Safe Communities and International Safe Community Support Centres
  • Training of International certifiers
  • Maintain the Website for the International Safe Community movement  
  • Publish good examples in certified safe communities  
  • Formulate Ethical rules and code of conduct for the international accredited certifiers  
  • Appoint organisers of the every second year held International Conference on Safe Communities