| Commissioned by | The Victorian Government and Respect Victoria for the Dhelk Dja Partnership Forum |
|---|---|
| Conducted by | Urbis in partnership with Karen Milward |
| Date | May 2023 |
Overview
The Dhelk Dja Partnership Forum connects Aboriginal community members to the Victorian Government, so that they can address family violence issues together.
This purpose of this project was to provide Dhelk Dja with an overview of family violence prevention initiatives targeting Aboriginal communities. The project mapped prevention initiatives delivered over the last five years to identify successes, challenges, gaps, and opportunities for future investment.
Key findings
The project identified and mapped 251 government-funded prevention initiatives. Most of these were delivered by Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations.
- Initiatives included workshops, cultural activities and events aimed at preventing family violence.
- Mapping showed prevention projects delivered across a range of settings. These include health, family and community services, sport, the arts, education and childcare.
- Outside of government-funded initiatives, community organisations are also leading their own prevention activities. Many of these activities address the drivers of family violence against Aboriginal people. This includes the ongoing impacts of colonisation, and the ways they interact with the gendered drivers of violence against women. Other activities strengthen protective factors against family violence, like connection to culture. This is true even for programs not specifically designed to prevent family violence.
- Community-controlled organisations take a holistic approach. They deliver activities across the prevention spectrum, from primary through to response.
- The report found that much of this work is being done with limited resourcing. Current funding is not commensurate with the size of the need and the time required to achieve prevention outcomes.
- Effective prevention requires ongoing or longer-term funding to community-controlled organisations.