Intimate Partner
Violence Prevention

As part of our Enhancing Gender Equity program, we have undertaken a project to address Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in Black communities in Alberta. The key partners in this initiative are the University of Alberta, PACE, PRAN, and Africa Centre. Together, we are addressing IPV through academic research (macro) and community (micro) viewpoints in African-descent communities living within Alberta. We are honored to have this vital research and initiative funded by the Women and Gender Equality of Canada. Under this project, we were able to undertake a literature review, engage community partners and front-line workers in a working group, create a logic model, and develop a framework to respond to IPV in Black communities in Alberta.

In approaching this project, we discovered that there was little research available on IPV in Black communities in Canada despite the unique nuances, layers, and root causes. This impacts service delivery–how we prevent and respond to IPV. We recognize that we need culturally-specific initiatives to respond to and prevent IPV. These approaches need to be accessible and should reflect the needs of the Black communities. Collaborating with various stakeholders through a working group, we are creating a framework of key messages to raise awareness on IPV. Additionally, we identified strategies for decreasing IPV in Alberta’s Black communities and are working to implement them. Our strategies also include disrupting stereotypical narratives about IPV in Alberta’s Black communities and anti-Black racism in Alberta, which prevent underserved populations from accessing services and support.

By integrating working group consultations with relevant findings found in our research, we identified four key areas that contribute to IPV in Black communities: Gender Relations, Financial Management, Parenting, and Training, Education and Employment. Thus, we have and continue to develop interactive sessions, podcasts, videos, pamphlets, presentations, and other items that seek to decrease IPV through addressing these four areas.