World Health Organization

International Safe Communities

The concept for developing a Safe Communities movement grew out of the First World Conference on Accident and Injury Prevention, held in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1989.

The Manifesto for Safe Communities defines the resolution of the conference and still stands as the key foundation document for the international Safe Communities movement, and for Safe Communities Canada.

Many people and organizations in communities all over the world already aspire to the goals of safe communities, and invest energy and resources to achieve these goals. The conceptual significance of the manifesto is that it encourages systematic collaboration of all organizations and people within a community to effect a change. The concept of a safe community recognizes that no single approach to issues of injury prevention and safety promotion can be as effective as a broadly understood and supported collaboration among community organizations and community members. This is where the concept of a safe community is unique: It recognizes that the leading role is played by the community itself, an entity that is larger than any of its component parts.

Communities that can document a systematic approach to defining local issues regarding injury prevention and safety promotion, a collaborative process in developing and offering programmes to address them, and a commitment to evaluate on a regular basis the effectiveness of those programmes, are eligible to be formally designated as a Safe Community by the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre on Community Safety Promotion. Throughout the world, from South Africa to China, from Iran to Australia, 268 communities, including 6 in Canada, have been officially designated as International Safe Communities.

The World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center on Community Safety Promotion has accredited Safe Communities Canada as an International Certifying Centre for communities that wish to receive an International Safe Communities designation. We also give Canadian communities that demonstrate the same aspirations our own designation as a Canadian Safe Community. The Designation Continuum chart describes the relationship between the two designations.

Detailed information on the designation process and application guidelines for communities interested in seeking designation as an International Safe Community can be found in Application Guidelines for International Safe Communities.

Use this link for more information in The International Safe Communities movement: http://www.phs.ki.se/csp/