Community awareness and outreach prevention activities
Responsible government
- Commonwealth
Fourth Action Plan actions
- Primary prevention is key
What are we doing?
Our Watch will deliver programs to increase understanding and acceptance from the broader community of the drivers of violence against women, and lead widespread change in community behaviours and attitudes that underpin this violence. This will include work to build on the success of the Doing Nothing Does Harm campaign, to develop an innovative new campaign, to reach and engage with diverse communities including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, refugee and migrant community and LGBTIQA+ people, and to better understand and address the drivers of violence against specific population groups, including women with disability.
For more information, go to the Our Watch website.
- The Commonwealth Government will provide $15.1 million between 2019–20 and 2021–22 to fund community awareness and outreach prevention activities.
What have we achieved so far?
- Our Watch launched bursts of No Excuse for Abuse in May and September 2020 to highlight the impact of non-physical violence and support the Government’s COVID-19 pandemic response in complementing the Help is Here campaign.
- Our Watch has finalised an evaluation of the No Excuse for Abuse campaign bursts.
- Our Watch developed new content and delivered a burst of the Doing Nothing Does Harm campaign in November to December 2020 to coincide with the 16 Days of Activism.
- A second burst of Doing Nothing Does Harm launched successfully in April 2021.
- Our Watch has completed a literature review and stakeholder consultation on the drivers of violence against women with disability.
- Our Watch has partnered with the South East Tasmanian Aboriginal Cooperation, Fijian Association of Victoria and Lebanese Muslim Association of NSW to engage in its Connected Communities project which will support the development of skills and expertise to understand the drivers of violence against women and encourage community-led or tailored approaches to prevention.
- Our Watch has delivered four National Campaign Expert Group Meetings in 2021, to facilitate coordination and knowledge sharing regarding prevention campaigns among state, territory and the Commonwealth government.
- Our Watch reinstated The Line on 9 September 2021, after a period offline to allow content to be reviewed and updated.
- Our Watch has developed concepts for a new campaign that aims to raise public awareness that gender inequality drives violence against women and ensure the broader community knows their role in combating it.
What is next?
- Our Watch will further engage and provide primary prevention support to diverse cohorts including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, migrant and refugee and LGBTIQA+ communities.
- Our Watch continues to undertake developmental research to develop an appropriate and effective prevention initiative for women with disability.
- Creative concepts for a new campaign that aims to raise public awareness that gender inequality drives violence against women are being tested and refined by Our Watch.
- Our Watch will continue to develop new content to share on The Line’s website and engage audience members through their social media platforms.
- Our Watch will complete evaluations of all activities, in line with Counting on Change – a guide to prevention monitoring.
What difference will we make?
- The intended outcome of these activities is that community members have a better understanding of violence against women and what drives this violence.
- Specifically, in targeted settings, the intended outcomes are that individuals are more willing and better equipped to challenge gender stereotypes and roles, and individuals have an improved understanding of positive, equal and respectful relationships.
- In the activity design phase, an evaluation framework and indicators were developed to align with Counting on Change – a guide to prevention monitoring.