VicHealth: Preventing Violence Against Women with Community Groups in Australia
Violence against women is a global issue and Australia is not immune. In 2015, on average, at least one woman a week was killed by a partner or former partner in Australia (Source, Our Watch). Violence against women has devastating effects — for women and for the social and economic health of our communities.
The National Community Attitudes towards Violence Against Women Survey (NCAS) was developed by VicHealth in partnership with The University of Melbourne, the Social Research Centre and experts across Australia, and supported by the Australian Government Department of Social Services as part of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010–2022.
We were commissioned to lead the development of a strategic plan, to raise awareness of the NCAS survey and its results with community leaders. Despite widespread media attention about the issue of violence against women in Australia, few organizations were aware of or using NCAS to inform their gender equality programs. Thus, our team set out to arm them with the latest research. Our work involved desktop research and qualitative interviews with leaders from various community organizations (including the Australian Football League).
In the short-term, the work promoted dialogue about NCAS across sectors, facilitated partner and stakeholder uptake of the NCAS evidence, and engaged community members. The longer-term impact of the work included: identifying strategies to reach targets, creating toolkits to prevent violence, and redesigning best practice protocols to prevent violence against women. Learn more about this work here.
