Family Violence Initiative Evaluation, Final Report

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ANNEXE A: Data Collection Instruments

Interview Guide for Department of Justice Program Representatives

Good morning/afternoon/evening. My name is and I am calling from X Company. On behalf of the Department of Justice Canada, we are conducting an evaluation of your role in the Family Violence Initiative (FVI). As part of this process, we are conducting interviews with representatives of the Department of Justice Canada who have been involved in the FVI. Do you have time now to answer questions? The information we collect from you will be held confidential and will be reported only in summary form with the responses of other representatives whom we interview.

CONTACT INFORMATION

• Name
• Position
• Phone Number
• Region

A. ACTIVITIES AND OUTCOMES

• 1. Every year, Justice Canada receives $1.13 million in funding through the Family Violence Initiative to undertake a series of activities. In which activity or activities are you most involved?(check all that apply)

  • Legal policy development and law reform (review, develop and reform criminal and civil justice laws and policy)
  • Policy research (conduct research to develop family violence policy and laws)
  • Strategic coordination and partnership development (stakeholder meetings and events)
  • Funding pilot projects (project funding for community-based family violence projects)
  • Public legal education and information on family violence
  • Other ()
  • 1a. (If involved in legal policy development) The focus of the Department’s Family Violence Legal Policy development is to work with provincial and territorial counterparts and federal partners to review and strengthen the justice system responses to family violence.
    1. How has this activity been undertaken?
    2. In what areas has legal policy development been particularly successful in helping to strengthen the justice system responses to family violence? (provide examples)
    3. What further improvements need to be made to strengthen the responses of the justice system?
  • 1b. (If involved in legal policy development) In Canada, the Government of Canada has the constitutional authority to make laws in relation to criminal law and procedure. The provinces, however, prosecute most Criminal Code offences, but Justice Canada carries out prosecutions under all other federal laws, including drug offences. In the territories, Justice Canada conducts all criminal prosecutions, including those under the Criminal Code.
    1. In what areas has the federal and provincial/territorial legislation been particularly successful in addressing family violence and the needs of Canadians?
    2. What changes have been made (e.g., changes to the Criminal Code) that have improved the criminal justice response to family violence issues? How has the departmental component of the FVI contributed to these changes?
    3. What further improvements have to be made on the federal and provincial/territorial legislation to strengthen the response to the justice system?
  • 1c. (If involved in strategic coordination and partnership development) Responsibility for the criminal law and the administration of justice is shared between the federal, provincial and territorial governments. Accordingly, Justice Canada collaborates closely with its provincial and territorial partners in developing and implementing criminal policy and legislative reforms and best practices in the justice systems responses to family violence.
    1. What events or activities were successful in supporting this shared responsibility?
    2. What impact did these events have (e.g., what issues emerged, what lessons were learned, what progress was made)?
    3. What are the plans for building on the progress that was made? What’s next?
  • 1d. (If involved in research) The Department of Justice Canada is actively involved in producing social science research and statistical services for the Family Violence Initiative.
    1. What research has been particularly effective in increasing understanding of family violence issues? In what areas?
    2. What research has been particularly effective in increasing knowledge about effective interventions related to the prevention and reduction of family violence? In what areas?
    3. How have the research and the resulting knowledge helped to inform policy analysis, development and decision making?
  • 1e. (If involved in funding pilot projects and PLEI) The Family Violence Initiative is a special initiative under the Justice Partnership and Innovation Fund. The Initiative supports the development, implementation, testing and assessment of models, strategies and tools.
    1. What pilot projects or activities have been particularly successful in improving the justice system's response to family violence? In what areas?
    2. What pilot projects or activities have been particularly successful in raising public awareness of the issue and encouraging public involvement in responding to family violence? In what areas?
    3. What aspects of the pilot projects and PLEI have worked well and what needs to be improved?

• 2. Taken together, these activities could potentially generate a variety of different types of impacts. On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is no impact at all in that area, 3 is somewhat of an impact, and 5 is a major impact, how much of an impact do you believe that the departmental component in the FVI has had to date in terms of:

  Evaluation

  1. Strengthening capacity of the justice system to address family violence?

     • 1. No Impact
     • 2. 
     • 3. Somewhat
     • 4. 
     • 5. Major Impact
     • N/A
     
     

     (if 3 or more) What would you highlight as specific examples where the departmental FVI has strengthened capacity of the justice system to address family violence?

  2. Improving the availability and accessibility of public and professional legal educational materials and information on family violence?

     • 1. No Impact
     • 2. 
     • 3. Somewhat
     • 4. 
     • 5. Major Impact
     • N/A
     
     

     (if 3 or more) What would you highlight as specific examples where the departmental FVI has improved the availability and accessibility of public and professional legal educational materials?

  3. Increasing ability of stakeholders and communities to address needs of those affected by family violence?

     • 1. No Impact
     • 2. 
     • 3. Somewhat
     • 4. 
     • 5. Major Impact
     • N/A
     
     

     (if 3 or more) What would you highlight as specific examples where the departmental FVI has increased ability of stakeholders and communities to address needs of those affected by family violence?

  4. Enhancing public awareness and understanding of family violence and the justice system?

     • 1. No Impact
     • 2. 
     • 3. Somewhat
     • 4. 
     • 5. Major Impact
     • N/A
     
     

     (if 3 or more) What would you highlight as specific examples where the departmental FVI has enhanced public awareness and understanding of family violence and the justice system?

  5. Enhancing professional awareness, understanding and skills to address family violence?

     • 1. No Impact
     • 2. 
     • 3. Somewhat
     • 4. 
     • 5. Major Impact
     • N/A
     
     

     (if 3 or more) What would you highlight as specific examples where the departmental FVI has enhanced professional awareness, understanding and skills to address family violence?

  6. Improving responsiveness of the justice system to address family violence?

     • 1. No Impact
     • 2. 
     • 3. Somewhat
     • 4. 
     • 5. Major Impact
     • N/A
     
     

     (if 3 or more) What would you highlight as specific examples where the departmental FVI has improved responsiveness of the justice system to address family violence?

  7. Contributing to Canada's progress in reducing family violence?

     (if 3 or more) What would you highlight as specific examples where the departmental FVI has contributed to Canada's progress in reducing family violence?

• 3. What other impacts, positive and negative, have been generated by the activities of the Department’s FVI?

• 4. What major factors have contributed to the success of the Initiative?

• 5. What do you see as some of the factors or challenges that may have constrained its success to date?

• 6. What recommendations do you have regarding how the departmental component in the FVI could be more successful in achieving intended outcomes?

B. RELEVANCE

I would like to ask questions about the need for the Initiative and the need of those affected by family violence.

• 1. On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is no need at all, 3 is somewhat of a need, and 5 is a major need, how much of a need do you think there is for this type of DOJ Initiative?

  1. Not need at all
  2.  
  3. Somewhat of a need
  4.  
  5. Major need
  • 1a. What needs is the departmental component of FVI designed to address?

• 2. Would you say that the need for the departmental activities under the FVI has increased, stayed about the same, or decreased over the last 10 years?

  • Increased
  • Stayed about the same
  • Decreased
  • Other
  • Not sure
  • 2.a (If a change is noted) What factors have contributed to this change (provide examples)?

C. CONSISTENCY WITH GOVERNMENT PRIORITIES AND ROLES

The Family Violence Initiative (FVI) is an ongoing federal commitment to a long-term societal problem. The long-term goal of the FVI is to reduce the occurrence of family violence in Canada. The objectives of the current phase of the federal Initiative are to:

• Promote public awareness of the risk factors of family violence and the need for public involvement in responding to it;
• Strengthen the ability of the criminal justice, health and housing systems to respond; and
• Support data collection, research and evaluation efforts to identify effective interventions.

In its efforts to contribute to the objectives of the government wide FVI, Justice Canada reviews, researches and reforms criminal legislation and policy, funds community-based family violence projects, and provides public legal education and information support on family violence issues.

• 1. Are the objectives of the Department of Justice Canada component in the Family Violence Initiative consistent with:

  • 1a The strategic outcomes of the Department of Justice Canada?
    • Yes
    • Somewhat
    • No
    • Don’t know / Not sure

    In what ways are they consistent? In what ways are they not consistent?

  • 1b The priorities of the Government of Canada?
    • Yes
    • Somewhat
    • No
    • Don’t know / Not sure

    In what ways is it consistent? In what ways is it not consistent?

  • 1c. Are there particular documents that you recommend we review regarding departmental and/or government-wide priorities relevant to the Initiative?
    • Yes
    • No
    • Not sure/Don’t know
  • 1d. (If yes) Which documents?

• 2. Is the departmental role in the FVI aligned with the federal government roles and responsibilities with respect to addressing family violence?

  • Yes
  • Somewhat
  • No
  • Not sure/don’t know
  • 2a. In what ways is the Initiative aligned or not aligned?

• 3. I would like to ask you two questions about the partnerships within the federal-wide FVI. First, what do you see as the role of the Department of Justice Canada in the federal-wide FVI, relative to other federal partners?

  • 3a. Second, does the Department of Justice Canada continue to be a relevant partner and program in the federal-wide FVI?
    • Yes
    • Somewhat
    • No
    • Not sure/don’t know
  • 3b. Why do you say that?

D. EFFICIENCY AND ECONOMY

We are going to ask you several questions about the related issues of cost efficiency and economy.

• 1. The term cost efficiency focuses on relationship between Initiative outputs and costs (e.g., a program becomes more efficient if it is able to generate greater output with same or reduced level of inputs). In your opinion, on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is not at all cost efficient, 3 is somewhat cost efficient, and 5 is very cost efficient, how cost efficiently has the departmental FVI been delivered?

  • 1. No at all cost efficient
  • 2.  
  • 3. Somewhat
  • 4.  
  • 5. Very cost efficient
  • N/A
  • 1a. A program is said to be economical when the costs approximate the minimum amount that would be required to achieve the expected outcomes. In your opinion, on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is not at all economical, 3 is somewhat economical and 5 is very economical, how economical is the FVI?
    • 1. No at all economical
    • 2.  
    • 3. Somewhat
    • 4.  
    • 5. Very economical
    • N/A
  • 1b. In what respects is the Initiative particularly cost efficient or economical?
  • 1c. In what respects is the Initiative specifically not cost efficient or economical?

• 2. How could the cost efficiency or economy of the Department’s component of the FVI be improved?

E. DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

• 1. We have developed a series of statements related to the design and implementation of the departmental component of the FVI. For each statement, we would like you to indicate whether you strongly agree, somewhat agree, neither agree or disagree, somewhat disagree or strongly disagree that:

  1. The departmental FVI has been implemented (activities) as intended (2004-present)

     • Strongly Agree
     • Somewhat Agree
     • Neither
     • Somewhat Disagree
     • Strongly Disagree
     
     

     (if less than strongly agree) What changes or modifications occurred? What was the effect of the changes and modifications?

  2. The activities of the Initiative have been undertaken and outputs (policy and legal advice, policy-relevant research, reports, and draft family violence related legislation or regulations, stakeholder meetings and conferences funded projects, PLEI material) delivered as expected

     • Strongly Agree
     • Somewhat Agree
     • Neither
     • Somewhat Disagree
     • Strongly Disagree
     
     

     (If less than strongly agree) What expected activities of the Initiative have not been undertaken or outputs not delivered? Why did that occur?

  3. The mandate and objectives of the Department of Justice FVI are clear and understandable

     • Strongly Agree
     • Somewhat Agree
     • Neither
     • Somewhat Disagree
     • Strongly Disagree
     
     

     (If less than strongly agree) What aspects of the mandate and objectives of the Initiative are not clear?

     (If less than strongly agree) How could mandate and objectives been improved?

  4. The (departmental component of the FVI) governance structures, roles and responsibilities are appropriate and understood

     • Strongly Agree
     • Somewhat Agree
     • Neither
     • Somewhat Disagree
     • Strongly Disagree
     
     

     (If less than strongly agree) What aspects of the governance structure, roles and responsibilities are not appropriate or understood? Why is that?

     How could this been improved?

  5. The strategies in place to measure performance of the departmental component of the FVI are appropriate

     • Strongly Agree
     • Somewhat Agree
     • Neither
     • Somewhat Disagree
     • Strongly Disagree
     
     

     (If less than strongly agree) In what areas is the performance measurement strategy not appropriate? Why is that?

     (If less than strongly agree) How could the performance measurement strategy be improved?

  6. The Initiative has sufficient capacity to support ongoing performance measurement and evaluation?

     • Strongly Agree
     • Somewhat Agree
     • Neither
     • Somewhat Disagree
     • Strongly Disagree
     
     

     (If less than strongly agree) Why do you say that?

     (if disagree) What is needed to improve capacity?

  
  

• 2. Apart from what you mentioned already, what recommendations do you have regarding how the departmental component of the FVI could be improved?

• 3. Do you have any final comments you would like to make regarding the departmental component of the FVI?

THANKS FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION!

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