One-off funding of $150,000 has been awarded to an Epping-based community agency to pilot a family violence project with the Farsi-speaking Iranian community.
Former Mental Health Minister Mary Wooldridge announced the funding on last Tuesday’s White Ribbon Day to coincide with the International Day of the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Whittlesea Community Connections has been chosen as the lead agency to deliver the program with partner organisations, including the Salvation Army Crossroads Family Violence Service and Women’s Health In the North.
Although the funding was announced just days before the state election, monies were signed off before the government entered caretaker mode. The funding was also flagged in the May state budget.
The scheme is one of two pilot projects funded through the national agency for the prevention of violence against women and children, Our Watch, as part of its prevention of violence against women in ‘culturally and linguistically diverse communities’ (CALD) project.
The other initiative will be rolled out in Brimbank and Wyndham to empower women and engage men in newly established Indian communities as advocates to prevent violence.
Whittlesea Community Connections chief executive Jemal Ahmet said the project would work with individuals and community leaders to build resilience in the Farsi-speaking Iranian community in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
“We’ll be raising their own leadership capacity, working with them to increase their own understanding of family violence and helping them become the experts in their community, rather than a top-down approach where we’re the experts,” Mr Ahmet said.
He said the timing of the announcement was a matter for the state government.
“The funding is very welcome,” Mr Ahmet said. “It doesn’t matter which government it comes from.”
The project is funded until November 2015 and will provide the basis for future family violence prevention efforts Australia-wide.
Whittlesea council also welcomed the funding, although mayor Ricky Kirkham
cautioned against assuming CALD communities experienced more family violence.
“It’s important we remember that CALD communities are no more likely to experience violence than other communities,” Cr Kirkham said.
“It’s very important that primary prevention projects and messages to promote and improve gender equality are tailored to all communities, especially in a community as diverse as Whittlesea.”
