How to become an International Safe Community?
- A “Safe Community” can be a: Municipality; a County; a City or a District of a City working with safety promotion, Injury-, Violence- and Suicide- prevention and prevention of the consequences (human injuries) related to Natural Disaster, covering all age groups, gender and areas and is a part of an international network of accredited programmes.
- The Safe Community initiative differs from other injury prevention programs.
In an International Safe Community, the community itself plays the leading role.
The term Safe Community implies that the community works to increase safety through a structured approach, not that the community is already perfectly safe.
- Creative methods such as education, physical planning, and environmental change, when combined with appropriate regulations and enforcement, are an important foundation for community safety.
- An International Safe Community uses the traditional means of control, such as economic incentives, regulations, and governance by Goals and visions. No single approach is sufficient for changing existing behaviour patterns. Heightening of public awareness is also very important.
- 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, its vital importance must be respected.
- It still needs a comprehensive work to develop safety so that accidents and injuries decrease to an absolute minimum. We welcome all who want to participate, share experience, and be one of the models in our network
[ The Application process ]
1. The community starts the certifying process by filling in the "Letter of intent" signed by the Mayor. The letter of intent must be sent as a Word file.
2. Please send it to the Secretary General of the International Safe Community Certifying Centre (ISCCC). NamSoo Park/e-mail: namsoopark@isccc.global
3. The community gets an invoice of the administration fee to ISCCC, 800 EUR(*).
4. When the fee is paid, the community starts the certifying process by filling in the "application report" and sending it to the Secretary General by email.
- The community may request a type of site visit if desired.
1) Hybrid site visit 2) On-site visit - To facilitate effective communication, the ISCCC will use the Zoom platform for online meetings.
5. ISCCC appoints a Leading Certifier and Certifiers accredited by ISCCC.
1) Hybrid site visit: 1 leading certifier (On-site) and 2 Certifiers (online)
2) On-site visit: 1 Leading Certifier and 1 Certifier
Trainee/observer participation will be allowed without fee compensation.
6. If needed, discussions take place between the certifiers and the community about the application, and the application is revised. This discussion will be led by the leading Certifier.
7. When the discussion is finished, the Secretary General and the community decide on a site visit for 2 days.
8. Before the site visit, the community can nominate examples of good practice they would like to present, as well as any areas they would like to discuss with the certifiers for feedback and support.
The certifiers will also nominate areas they want the community to present to verify the application's content, identify good practices, and gain a better understanding of the safe community program.
9. During the site visit, the certifiers verify the content in the application and communicate with the Community(**).
A professional Interpreter would act as a conduit of communication between the certifier channel and the community.
Community members and invited observers from other communities in the same language may observe and use another channel for online meetings.
10. According to the recommendation from certifiers through site visit, the community may make some revisions in the application.
In that case, the community should send it to the Chair and the Secretary General for final clearance.
11. The Community receives the invoices for the Certifiers' fee (**) and pays for them.
12. The community and the certifier decide about day for designation.
13. The community organizes a seminar for politicians, non-governmental organisations, and local administrations, and also normally invites other International Safe Communities and communities that start their safety work, and other interested communities and organisations.
14. The leading certifier or one of the certifiers is expected to participate in the designation ceremony.
15. Generally, Re-Designation is conducted every five years.
If a community continues activity but delays re-application, it may be considered for Re-Designation: if inactive, the community may require a new designation process.
Whether the community is active or inactive can be assessed through ongoing contact or by reporting its activity to the International Safe Community Support Center in its region.
* Fee for Application and Site visit (Revised on May 5, 2025)
1) The administrative fee for all designations: 800 EUR
* Upon official request from the community and with Board approval, the reduced fees for low-income or small communities may be considered.
|
category |
Administration Fee |
Fee for Certifiers |
Total |
|
|
Designation Re-Designation |
800 EUR |
2,300 EUR |
3,100 EUR |
|
2) The leading Certifier will organize the fee for certifiers based on site visit type and the number of participating certifiers.
3) The community must cover the certifier's travelling costs, including airfare (economy class), accommodation, travel insurance, and domestic transportation related to the schedule for the site visit.
4) The fee is excluded from Brass Plaque and Safe Community Flags.
5) The new fee will take effect from January 1, 2026
** General Schedule for Site Visit will consist of ;
- Meeting with the Mayor
2. Visit the program place or meet with diverse community groups based on the discussion between Certifiers and community before site visit: Half day within 2 days
3. Presentation & Discussion
Preparation: Technical check for online meeting – 30 minutes
Opening and welcome remarks: Mayor, the leading Certifier, Certifiers
Session 1. Governance and Surveillance – 2 hours
- Introduction of the certifiers and the community
- the organisation and governance of the overall Safe Community program
- surveillance systems
- the inter-sectorial collaboration and support for the citizens
- The visions and objectives for the Safe Community program
- The program's priorities and key results etc.
Session 2 - 3. The Safe Community program and its projects - 4 hours
- presentations of projects as negotiated by the community and certifiers
- purposeful sampling of the overall program to ensure that all ISC indicators are covered
Session 4. Plans, quality improvement program and evaluation – 2 hours
- The quality improvement programs with examples of how this has impacted on program organization, design, and implementation
- The self-evaluation and reflections on the progress, plans for the next 5 years
- How the community plans to be a forerunner for its citizens and others
- Future engagement with the national and international safe community networks
Session 5. Wrap up the Site Visit - 2 hours
- a summary of the evaluation by the Certifiers
- the Mayors response and closure.