2021-24 Grant Program - Supporting Multicultural and Faith Communities to Prevent Family Violence

Who can apply

This grant program is aimed at:

• organisations working with multicultural and faith communities in Victoria, including but not limited to:
  • ethno-specific organisations
  • faith-based organisations and institutions that are part of a multicultural community
  • settlement organisations
  • family violence primary prevention and early intervention organisations
• organisations with established experience in prevention of family violence and all forms of violence against women from multicultural and faith communities (for Stream 1)
• organisations with new or limited experience in the prevention of family violence and/or violence against women (for Stream 2).

Your organisation must:

• have a current Australian Business Number (ABN)
• have no outstanding accountability reports or final reports for any grant managed by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) or the Department of Premier and Cabinet (please contact the Office for the Prevention of Family Violence and Coordination if you are unsure if this is applicable to your organisation).

Your organisation must be one of the following entity types:

• incorporated associations (incorporated under state legislation, commonly have ‘Association’ or ‘Incorporated’ or ‘Inc.’ in their legal name)
• incorporated cooperatives (also incorporated under state legislation, commonly have ‘Cooperative’ in their legal name)
• a not-for-profit entity registered under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) or the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 (Vic)
• a social enterprise incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001

Stream 1

• demonstrated experience, capacity and capability to engage with multiple multicultural and/or faith communities in primary prevention and/or early intervention of family violence and/or all forms of violence against women
• comprehensive plan to work with multicultural and/or faith communities in primary prevention and/or early intervention of family violence and/or all forms of violence against women (outlining the needs to be met, benefits to the community and value for money in conducting the activity)
• plan for dealing with disclosures of violence and resistance and backlash
• proven track record in the effective design and delivery of of projects of similar scope, size and nature.

Desirable:

• plan to test and trial new and innovative prevention activities
• plan to partner with other relevant organisations and/or community groups, and/or
• plan to conduct highly regarded activity (as listed above).

Stream 2 (prevention activity)

• demonstrated willingness and readiness to engage multicultural and/or faith communities in primary prevention and/or early intervention of family violence and/or all forms of violence against women (for example, outlining experience in working with multicultural and/or faith communities to address and prevent complex social issues that may or may not involve family violence)
• comprehensive plan to work with multicultural and/or faith communities in primary prevention and/or early intervention of family violence and/or all forms of violence against women (outlining needs to be met, benefits to the community, and value for money in conducting the activity),
• plan for dealing with disclosures of violence and resistance and backlash.

Desirable:

• plan to partner with organisations with established experience in delivering prevention activities (outlining relevant established partnerships and the value in the proposed partnership)
• plan to conduct highly regarded activity (as listed below ), and/or
• experience in the effective design and delivery of a Victorian Government grant.

Stream 2 (capacity building)

• comprehensive plan to build the capacity of your organisation to work with multicultural and faith communities in prevention of family violence and all forms of violence against women (outlining needs to be met, benefits to the community, and value in conducting the activity)
• plan to partner with organisations with established prevention experience to assist in building the capacity of your organisation.

Projects we might fund

Organisations can propose any type of primary prevention of family violence and all forms of violence against women and/or early intervention activity with multicultural and faith communities.

Activity focused on the following will be highly regarded:

• the essential actions identified in the Change the Storyframework, such as challenging gender stereotypes and roles, and strengthening positive, equal and respectful relationships
• prevention of all forms of family violence, including coercive control, financial abuse, sexual violence and dowry abuse
• intersectional practice and inclusivity
• new and emerging multicultural communities, including migrants, refugees and temporary residents
• regional or rural areas in Victoria
• community-led initiatives
• youth-led activity and youth engagement, and/or
• multicultural or faith communities that have not received Victorian Government funding in family violence prevention and early intervention.

Key settings where this activity could occur include, but are not limited to:

• religious and faith-based settings
• sport and recreation settings
• youth settings
• arts and cultural settings
• legal and justice settings
• workplace settings, including those with strong engagement with clients and customers
• healthcare settings
• early childhood settings.

Examples of activities that could be funded include:

• community awareness and education programs, such as those focusing on the essential actions and intersectional practice, delivering community engagement activities using arts and theatre or sport to challenge stereotypes or engaging with men and boys in primary prevention
• online communication and engagement activities that are technologically and linguistically accessible and include written, audio and video communication (although activity focused solely on a communications campaign is not desirable)
• community mobilisation and strengthening programs working with community or faith groups (rather than individuals), including strengthening identified protective factors and addressing risk factors – this may involve creating opportunities for women to hold formal leadership roles or ensuring the opportunity for women to contribute to the design and delivery of interventions.
• economic empowerment activities focused on strengthening women’s financial literacy and business knowledge and skills
• peer education programs (including bystander skills training) supporting young people to engage and educate peers to challenge gender stereotypes and roles, and strengthen positive, equal and respectful relationships
• parenting programs building parents’ knowledge and skills in gender equal parenting
• connection-building between multicultural and faith communities and community groups and Victorian specialist family violence and sexual assault services, particularly for early intervention
• building practitioner understanding and capacity in family violence early intervention to effectively identify, respond to and refer victim survivors and perpetrators of violence to specialist family violence and sexual assault services, such as through the Identifying and Responding to Family Violence Risk accredited course, which is part of the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management (MARAM) training package

contributing to salaries or organisational costs that support proposed activities.

Stream 1 activities only:

• scaling up and/or embedding existing work in primary prevention of family violence and/or all forms of violence against women within various settings
• organisational development processes to identify, address and/or strengthen organisational structures, practices and policies contributing to gender inequality and violence against women and family violence.

Projects we won't fund

• family violence crisis response activities, such as case management of victim survivors and perpetrator accountability and behaviour change programs
• projects that are primarily focused on the training and development of specialist family violence, sexual assault services and universal services to provide culturally sensitive and inclusive services to multicultural communities
• standalone research or projects primarily focused on building the evidence base solely through research (employing research to guide activity is suitable – action research methodology)
• individual evaluation of an organisation’s activities (funding to support effective monitoring and the collection of data is allowed, as the OPFV will evaluate all funded activities in the program; as well as support communities of practice-related work through separate funding)
• activity already funded by the Victorian Government, including by another grant program (extending or adding to existing activity is suitable, if the need can be demonstrated)
• activities that are primarily for political or religious purposes
• advertising or fundraising activities
• travel outside of Victoria or funding for visitors from outside of Victoria.

How to apply

Step 1: check eligibility

Check that your organisation and project is eligible.

You can also contact the Office for the Prevention of Family Violence and Coordination about your project.

Step 2: read grant materials

More information will be added soon.

Step 3: prepare your supporting documents

Prepare the following documents and submit with your application (as required). If documents aren’t supplied, your applications may not be considered.

• detailed project plan using the project plan template provided on this page
• detailed budget using the budget template provided on this page and written quotes for items above $10,000 (for more information, refer to the Guidance for Applicants document provided on this page)
• most recent financial statement or annual report for your organisation
• evidence of the number of FTE employed and/or regular hours contributed by volunteers at your organisation
• evidence of your work (for example, program or activity report, copy of your organisation’s most recent publication, link to your website or Facebook page)
• letters of support from Partner organisations or agencies who are involved in the project that details their role(s) and responsibilities and names and contact details of representatives
• Copy of your Certificate of Currency for the organisation’s Public Liability Insurance
• details of any community consultation to support arguments for community need in your application.
• If documents aren’t supplied, applications may not be considered.

The following resources may help you to develop a strong grant application:

• How to write a grant application
• Technical jargon webpage
• Understanding in-kind contributions.

Community information sessions with the Office for Prevention of Family Violence and Coordination have now finished. You can view the presentation slides below:

You can email the Office for Prevention of Family Violence and Coordination grants team at prevention.grants@dffh.vic.gov.au