Restorative Justice Week 2009

Events

National Restorative Justice Symposium
"Communities Responding to Human Need"
and National Ron Wiebe Award Ceremony

Government and Community Collaboration in Restorative Justice

RJ Week 2009 National Symposium
St. John’s, Newfoundland

Jennifer Walker, M.Phil.
Tanya Rugge, PhD.

November 19, 2009

Overview

• Introduction
• Collaboration
• Examples of governmental-community collaboration
• Policies
• Implementation & assessment of reality
• Challenges
• Tips & practical suggestions
• Discussion

Caveats

• These are our experiences as people working in this field, not the official views of Public Safety Canada
• We do not have a panel member who is representing a community project and that would have made a more complete presentation
• We are “The Feds”
• We deal in the area of criminal justice only
• We strive to develop and implement evidence-based policies (e.g., see the value of using RJ in more serious crimes, with higher risk offenders)

The Goal

• Successful collaboration between governments and communities
• Successful collaboration = a mutually beneficial and well-defined relationship entered into to achieve common goals
• Excellent practices of collaboration exist for between communities and governments
• For RJ specifically, if RJ is shown to “work” and is deemed to be necessary by Canadians, then governments will be in a better position to support it ðcollaboration is necessary

G&C Collaboration: Ways we collaborate now

• Building relationships: Assisting communities in developing and managing their relationships with government
• Funding: Through developing fair, transparent and accountable funding practices, negotiating agreements which work well for all parties
• Evaluation: Working with communities to develop evaluations of restorative justice programs
• Knowledge and information sharing: Ensuring that community organizations have access to government priorities, and vice versa, information dissemination
• Collaboratively building best practices: By evaluating innovative ideas, and encouraging the use of existing best practices.
• Building capacity: In non-governmental organizations of all sizes, building capacity to receive funding, to have voices heard<

Voluntary Sector Initiative 2001

An Accord between the Government of Canada and the Voluntary Sector represents a commitment made by both groups to work together in more open, transparent and collaborative ways.

Based on the following principles:

• The value of the voluntary sector
• Sustainable capacity
• Cooperation and collaboration
• Innovation
• Equitable access and diversity
• Accountability
• Transparency and Consistency
• Efficiency and Effectiveness

Code of Good Practice on Funding (Government of Canada responsibilities)

• Use multi-year funding agreements to enhance organizations stability and capacity for long-term planning.
• Use flexible, allowable mechanisms such as advance payments, instalment payments or carry-over at year end payments.
• Within the proposed budgets, include integral costs such as IT, human resources, facilities and financial management costs (such as audits).
• Provide voluntary sector organizations with access to government planning processes and priorities so that they may respond with valuable proposals.
• Make application and accountability standards flexible enough to account for the different capabilities of large and small organizations.
• Facilitate joint funding agreements between different funders to minimize paperwork and maximize accountability.
• Ensure that voluntary sector organizations understand the Treasury Board Policy on Transfer Payments and how it applies to individual agreements.<

How can we enhance collaboration?

The important question!

• Evolving relationships
• Articulating each other’s needs
• Knowledge and information sharing
• Recognition of expertise within all parties
• Transparency
• Ongoing discussions
• Policies and guidelines
• …

Reality:  The State of Collaboration

• Funding – governments have funding (usually) and communities require it.
• Negotiating – in order to access funding, proposals must be developed that are accepted by governments/funders.
• Managing Agreements – projects can have a lifespan of years, and throughout this term relationships must be maintained.
• Advancing Innovative Ideas and Best Practices – in order to be on the same page and to move forward.
• Evaluation– both governments and communities need evidence that their restorative practices are working.

Nova Scotia Restorative Justice Project

• The Nova Scotia Restorative Justice Program has been an experiment in the institutionalization of restorative justice and I would argue that this is may be a good way for government and communities to collaborate successfully in pushing restorative justice further in Canada.
• By being government led, this model avoids many of the pitfalls we’ve discussed such as funding and proposal difficulties, capacity-issues etc… It also then allows the non-governmental organizations to do what they do really well, which is to deliver services.
• Rather than a grass-roots model, in which form restorative justice has typically taken in Canada, a community-based but government-led model may work better.

Challenges

To provide government funding while maintaining community-driven base

Debate over various tensions:

Who runs its?

• Government run?  Community run?
• Funding is government taxpayer money which the government is accountable for….
• Community developed, driven and implemented by the community ….

Who “owns” it? 

• Government owned because they pay for it?  Community owned b/c they develop it and it’s “their” program?

Standards?

• Policies?  Accreditation?  Who is the governing “body”?

Other Challenges

Working together through implementation issues

• Program Governance (importance of point person or smaller)
• Staff Turnover
• Altering the “Pilot” Model
  • Adapting to deal with low numbers
  • Engaging other parties (e.g., Crown, police)
  • Program drift
• Guidelines and Policies around Volunteers
  • Collaboration around volunteer responsibilities
  • Sharing of “potentially” confidential information
• Recognize various “phases” of implementation

Challenge Discussions….

Suggestions to address these challenges

• Need for as much flexibility as can legally occur, including things like reporting dates and project design before agreements are signed.
• The relationship between the evaluator and program development officer is key, and often having both parties meet the program staff and volunteers is effective and efficient.
• Most projects, especially larger ones benefit from a funded start-up period. i.e. year one of a 5 year project is start-up where a lot of the negotiation and evaluation training can take place.
• Recognize that signed agreements are legally binding.
• When working with researchers who are evaluating your program, they are doing so with the best intentions and changing program things like potential outcomes, or the way you are going to ‘do business’ in the middle of the project and evaluation will drive your researcher (and their forms) crazy.
• Need to be mindful of staffing changes in community programs.
• At the outset, build in expectations about program numbers.
• Get everyone together
• Identify common goals
• >Share “who you are” and “what informs you” – your perspective and your starting point
• Share knowledge, information, limitations (e.g., policies) with each other
• Recognize history, culture, expertise and shared visions in the room – an effective multi-disciplinary team
• Identify possible challenges at outset
• Incorporate various needs/wants
• Brainstorm with no limitations of judgement
• Take the time that is needed
• Use creativity and respect to develop an evidence-based multi-disciplinary plan that meets everyone’s objective as best possible
• Follow-up
• Continue the dialogue
• Assess along the way

General Tips and Tricks

• KNOW T&Cs:  Know the terms and conditions of the fund that you are receiving funding from (i.e., the rules under which your program officer is operating; these are available to you) this is where really fascinating rules like ‘stacking limits’, advance payment formulas, rules about ‘hold-back payments’ are laid out for all to see.
• DO YOUR RESEARCH:  If you are really keen, look up the Treasury Board’s Transfer Payment Policy section on grants and contributions.
• AWARENESS OF EVALUATION:  If you are being evaluated, ensure that every program staff member, volunteer, Board member, and participant are aware of their role in the evaluation and if you anticipate difficulties with ‘buy-in’ to the evaluation, work very closely with the program officer and researcher before papers are signed.
• THE TURTLE AND THE HARE:  Recognize that in many instances the government moves more slowly than community can.  A successful collaboration between the Government and community is honest about the time commitments required, and builds in the necessary amount of time into every step of the project process.
• KNOW YOUR “ TEAM ”:  Ensure that all parties are knowledgeable about the funding processes (e.g., they need to know all of the terms and conditions and aspects of the Transfer Payment Policy about where they can be flexible and where they cannot).
• KISS:  Keep it simple (e.g., it is not helpful to build complicated processes that are not built upon actual rules that you are held accountable to).

Food for Thought ….

• Government and community NEED to work together
• Although some argue that each party can survive without the other, we can THRIVE if we work together
• Share values of respect and we both believe in the restorative justice philosophy
• It is not “us” versus “them”
• Our shared values and outlook is a common starting point
• We also have a shared desire to address the “human need”
• Respond from different places, but to the same thing
• Questions & Discussion points….
  • What more can communities and Governments do to support and further restorative justice in Canada?
  • Is the spirit of the Voluntary Sector Initiative still alive and well?
  • Does the Nova Scotia model represent good collaboration?