Safer and Stronger Communities Pilot – Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District

This Pilot aims to build an evidence base for future investment and aligns with the Victorian Government’s Prevention Strategy which commits to developing new approaches for migrant and refugee communities so that we can better understand what works to prevent violence in culturally diverse communities.

Safer and Stronger Communities Pilot
Funded by the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Social Cohesion

The Pilot aims to build an evidence base for future investment and aligns with the Victorian Government’s Prevention Strategy which commits to developing new approaches for migrant and refugee communities so that we can better understand what works to prevent violence in culturally diverse communities.

In doing so, it will:

Support organisations working with migrant and refugee communities to build their internal organisational capacity to be workplaces that are actively engaged with the prevention of violence against women;
Build the prevention expertise of Pilot providers and their partners in the context of working with migrant and refugee communities;
Build community capacity to design and deliver innovative prevention activities using proven and promising methodology, to address the attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that lead to family violence, and violence against women;
Improve early identification of family violence and access to appropriate and safe referral pathways for migrant and refugee communities

How will the project make a difference?

The Safer and Stronger Communities Pilot will play an important role in building the evidence base for what primary prevention strategies and activities work best and why, so that we can continue to develop stronger and safer community programs for diverse communities across Victoria in the future.

The pilot will also support and strengthen local partnerships by:

Building primary prevention expertise of organisations, employees and partners working with people from migrant and refugee backgrounds
Engaging migrant and refugee communities and building their capacity to play a greater role in co-designing and leading primary prevention initiatives.

The Safer and Stronger Communities Pilot is a partnership between Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health and Our Watch and is funded by the Multicultural Affairs and Social Cohesion (MASC) Division of the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet.

Download a Brochure about the Safer and Stronger Communities Pilot

	The Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District acknowledges the Yorta Yorta People of the land which comprises the Goulburn Valley. We pay respect to tribal Elders, past, present and emerging and we celebrate their continuing culture and acknowledge the memory of their ancestors.
	The Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District is a peak body whose mission is to promote and represent the social, cultural and economic well-being of ethnic communities in the Goulburn Valley Region through the provision of quality and innovative settlement, refugee support, community development, and information and advocacy services.