SSI’s Post

This is a worthwhile webinar, if you do nothing at all for #16Daysofactivism, plan to attend this webinar!!!

The Australian Government funded White Ribbon to deliver the “Engaging Communities in Sexual Violence Primary Prevention” project. White Ribbon Australia is proud to share our learnings with the sector, contributing to the benefit and growth of everyone involved in primary prevention through Community Action Groups (CAGs). ANROWS, the Australian National Research Organisation for Women's Safety, has evaluated the White Ribbon Community Action Group model and found that: 👉Community-led approaches are proving effective in raising awareness and deepening our understanding of violence against women, including sexual violence. 👉Flexibility is Key: Prevention models must be adaptable to the unique needs and contexts of different communities. 👉Prioritise Capacity Building: education and skill development is crucial for those designing and implementing interventions. 👉Invest in primary prevention interventions: vital as a long-term strategy. Read the full article: https://bit.ly/3XAScsA

I can’t agree with this more. When I hear evidence based - I always ask - “whose evidence?” For a long time we treated the deep systems knowledge of victim - survivors as irrelevant. We need to change the outcomes for people experiencing family violence but we still don’t really listen to what they want and we don’t talk to people who use family violence to understand their behaviour. We also don’t listen to therapists and practitioners working with people who use family violence who know a great deal and struggle to get heard. And then we don’t fund sector organisations to build evidence. So often we are stuck in what I call the evidence bubble. Where evidence is led by privilege and power, rarely designed in Australian communities for Australians. There is absolutely a place for traditional evidence but it’s only one piece and can’t be privileged over other forms. Jess Hill Dr. Zac Seidler Micaela Cronin Ray Griggs I celebrate your role on the national review and urge you to think about how we can engage with the lived experience of people using family violence and the experience of systems working with perpetrators every day.

Men in focus: National consultation report | Our Watch consulted with 50 stakeholders from across Australia to explore what’s needed to build more coordinated and evidence-informed approaches to working with men and boys and addressing masculinities nationally as part of primary prevention of gender-based violence efforts. The findings from this report highlight key opportunities and priorities for strengthening prevention infrastructure to support work engaging with men and boys and addressing masculinities as part of primary prevention of gender-based violence efforts in Australia. This will support Our Watch’s future scoping of potential activities for the Men and Masculinities in Primary Prevention project and can also be used by governments and the broader primary prevention sector to guide future projects. A huge congratulations to Claire Varley, Jasmine Duong, Cameron McDonald, Shane Tas (he/him), Hamish Clarke and many others on pulling this report together. https://lnkd.in/gsDmyTPi

𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐓𝐞 𝐀𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐤𝐮𝐫𝐚 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧 Te Puna Aonui is developing the next Action Plan to give effect to Te Aorerekura – the National Strategy to Eliminate Family Violence and Sexual Violence. This will build on the work of the first Action Plan, with actions focused on the parts of the system that require the collective effort of government agencies to make a difference. The first Te Aorerekura Action Plan concluded in December 2023, having built the foundations for longer term change, including the Outcomes and Measurement Framework to track progress and support everyone in Te Puna Aonui to learn. Te Puna Aonui has run targeted engagements to inform the next Action Plan through a Critical Friends’ Group of specialists and discussions with communities of interest, to test the direction for the next Action Plan. This has included tangata whenua, Pacific providers, LGBTQIA+ people, ethnic communities, disabled people, older people, and children and young people.   We’ll launch the Action Plan later in the year and look forward to working with all government agencies and with communities to enable its implementation so that family people impacted by family violence and sexual violence receive safe, integrated services.      To learn more about the National Strategy, Click here: https://lnkd.in/gGbbpXgn To learn more about the Outcomes and Measurement Framework, click here: https://lnkd.in/gnteN47V

May is Domestic and Family Violence Awareness Month – a community and sector-led initiative which promotes a shared understanding of domestic and family violence (DFV) and coercive control. 💜 While we know that not all DFV is bound by gender, DFV does disproportionately affect women in Australia and our region: our regional Women's Health Snapshot demonstrates that rates of DVO breaches have risen to 16%. Across North Brisbane, 77% of DVOs are enacted to protect females and 85% of breaches are perpetrated by a male. 🤝 The Women's Health and Equality Queensland Queensland Equal and Together Alliance (QuETA) is a partnership of organisations, businesses and networks working to build respect and equity across workplaces and communities. Brisbane North PHN’s internal QuETA Working Group meets periodically to discuss strategies to promote equity within our organisation and broader region. 🖱 Read more from our QuETA Working Group this DFV Prevention Month on the PHN Talk blog: https://bit.ly/3R2wUQO.

Violence against women and girls is one of the most pervasive human rights violations worldwide, with nearly one in three women experiencing physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, according to the United Nations. Gruppo San Donato is proud to support women’s health through six Bollino Rosa hospitals, recognized by Fondazione Onda ETS for their excellence in services tailored to women’s needs, including prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. The facilities awarded with Bollino Rosa this year include Policlinico San Donato, Ospedale San Raffaele and Ospedale San Raffaele Turro, Istituto Clinico Sant’Anna, Istituti Clinici Zucchi, Policlinico San Pietro, and Policlinico San Marco. This November, as part of the UN’s campaign to end violence against women, Gruppo San Donato is offering free psychological support at Policlinico San Donato. Victims can book confidential appointments with psychologists through a dedicated helpline. Together, let’s take a stand—because there’s no excuse for gender-based violence. #GruppoSanDonato #GSDHealthMag #ScienceBased #InternationalDayForTheEliminationOfViolenceAgainstWomenAndGirls #NoExcuse #WomensRights 

🚨 Global estimates suggest that more than half of the world’s children aged 2-17 experienced physical, sexual and/or emotional abuse during the past year, and that 1 in 4 children under the age of 5 live with a mother who has experienced intimate partner violence. We know that violence against children and violence against women are intimately connected in many ways - yet we don't know enough about what interventions can help prevent both of these forms of violence. This is why we partnered with the World Health Organization and the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) to ask policy makers, practitioners, advocates, and survivors from 50 countries: What kind of knowledge could help us simultaneously reduce violence against children and women and respond to survivors’ needs❓ Find out more about the shared global research agenda and the research priorities identified, here: https://uni.cf/43ijmpv Avni Amin, Elizabeth Dartnall, Claudia Garcia Moreno, Floriza Freire Gennari, DrPH, Anik Gevers, and Alessandra Guedes. #endviolence

Inspite of the fact that most programs and strategies working to end VAC and VAW have mostly developed separately, recent reviews and analyses have identified various intersections between VAC and VAW including: co-occurrence, shared risk factors, similar underlying social norms, common consequences, intergenerational effects, and the period of adolescence as unique period of heightened vulnerabilities to both types of violence. Accordingly, addressing the intersections between VAC & VAW is considered essential for a more effective prevention and response interventions.

I always feel a little concerned when the agenda is ‘evidence-based’ programs. ‘Gold standard’ RCT evidence based programs have proven difficult to implement to the same effect outside of the cultural and systemic context within which they were developed and have shown to be difficult to take to scale. We should be focussing more on ‘knowledge-based’ programs and solutions that are informed by academic and research knowledge AND cultural knowledges AND lived and living experience knowledge AND practice wisdom and draw on a common elements approach. In doing so we can find solutions that are culturally appropriate, contextually fit for purpose and co-designed with those whom we seek to serve.