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Women with Disabilities Australia – WWDA

From WWDA Annual Report 2013-2014 - http://wwda.org.au/wwda-annual-report-2013-2014/

 

Women with Disabilities Australia – Stop the Violence Project

 

The Stop the Violence Project (STVP) was a major focus of activity for WWDA over the past 12 months, and an enormous step forward in WWDA’s efforts to address and prevent violence against women and girls with disabilities. 

 

RESOURCE COMPENDIUM: http://www.stvp.org.au/Resource-Compendium.html

 

The STVP emerged from WWDA’s long standing commitment to addressing one of the most pressing issues for our membership: violence against women and girls with disabilities in Australia. Managed and implemented by WWDA, in conjunction with a research team at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and a project team from People with Disabilities Australia (PWDA), the project was national in scope and aligned with the CRPD and the National Disability Strategy 2010-2020. It’s intent was to lay the groundwork for improved service provision by building the evidence-base for future reforms so that the service system is more responsive to the needs of women and girls with disabilities experiencing or at risk of domestic and family violence. The STVP formed one of the Council of Australian Government’s (COAG) Reform projects under the First Action Plan of the Government’s 12 year National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022 (the National Plan). The Project addressed two key immediate national initiatives under the First Action Plan, which were specifically focussed on women and girls with disabilities:

·         support for better service delivery for women and girls with disabilities through the development of new evidence-based approaches where existing policy and service responses have proved to be inadequate; and,

·         investigation and promotion of ways to improve access and responses to services for women and girls with disabilities.

 

 

A Project Steering Group (PSG) was established at the beginning of the Project, and included high-level representation from State and Territory governments. Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Ms Liz Broderick, chaired the PSG. An Expert Consultative Group (ECG) - consisting of a targeted group of experts in issues relating to violence prevention and responses for women and girls with disabilities – was also established to provide voluntary expert advice and feedback on key outputs. The Project Implementation Committee (PIC) led by WWDA, and comprised of staff from UNSW and PWDA, monitored implementation of the STVP to ensure that the project outputs were delivered in a timely and effective manner and remained in line with the contracted requirements.

 

In order to build the evidence base for the STVP, a range of strategies were used to gather information to identify current policy and practice which impacts on women and girls with disabilities who are experiencing, or are at risk of, violence. The evidence gathering strategies included:

 

·         Desk-Based Reviews - national and international research literature was reviewed to identify key issues relevant to understanding and addressing violence against women and girls with disabilities. Possible principles informing and exemplifying good policy and practice were collated. Additionally, existing legislation and policies were analysed to map structural and systemic issues in a rights-based approach to addressing violence against women and girls with disabilities.

 

·         Stakeholder Engagement and Consultations - regular consultations were held with the Project Steering Group (PSG), the Expert Consultative Group (ECG); and other key stakeholders from relevant fields of research and advocacy with interest and experience in issues relating to violence prevention and responses for women and girls with disabilities. Forums were conducted with women with disabilities to tap their experiences and expertise in identifying measures and strategies to enable women and girls with disabilities to be equal and active participants in violence prevention and response policy and practice.

 

·         National Survey - information was collected from service providers, representative organisations and policy makers through an online survey. The purpose of the survey was to map good policy and practice across the breadth and depth of stakeholders in relevant sectors (including human service, disability, violence and justice) and across jurisdictions. Invitation to participate (and to further distribute the survey through their organisational networks) was distributed via email to over 400 stakeholder organisations mapped with the assistance of the PSG and the ECG members. A total of 367 agencies responded to the survey. The Survey found, amongst other things, that violence is present in the lives of approximately twenty-two per cent of women and girls with disability who had accessed service support[1] in the preceding 12 months.[2]

 

 

The ‘Stop the Violence Project’ is receiving national and international acclaim and is being used widely by a range of stakeholders. WWDA’s long standing advocacy, coupled with the process and outcomes of the STVP, has resulted in the prevention of violence against women and girls with disabilities being prioritised in the Australian Government’s Second Action Plan 2013-2016 of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022, which will see the Australian Government “work with expert organisations including Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) to prioritise and implement key outcomes from the Stop the Violence project. This will include:

·         bringing together and disseminating good practice information on preventing violence against women with disability;

·         training for frontline workers to recognise and prevent violence against women and children with disability; and

·         providing accessible information and support in National Plan communications.”[3]

 

The outcomes of the STVP have also been instrumental in seeing the prevention of violence against women and girls with disabilities being prioritised in the research priorities of the Australian National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety Limited (ANROWS),[4] and in the core work of ‘Our Watch’ - the new Foundation to Prevent Violence Against Women and Their Children.[5] In addition, the STVP is having significant purchase at the international level – being utilised within various agencies of the United Nations, and as highlighted earlier in this report, coming to the attention of the World Futures Council, which expressed its high regard for the STVP and invited WWDA to nominate it for the World Future Council (WFC) Future Policy Award 2014.

 

In 2014, WWDA was delighted to advise our members and constituents that our ‘Stop the Violence Project’ Research Team from the University of New South Wales (School of Social Sciences) won the UNSW [Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences] Dean's Social Research Impact Award, for their work on the STVP. The team of Associate Professor Leanne Dowse, Dr Karen Soldatic, Dr Aminath Didi and Georgia van Toorn, worked above and beyond the call of duty on the STVP, showing extraordinary dedication and professionalism throughout all aspects of the Project.


 

The ‘Stop the Violence’ Project Reports were launched in 2013 and 2014. The STVP Background Report presents the outcomes of the evidence-building elements of the STVP. It provides information on the project context, activities and outcomes, highlighting six key issues and their implications that are considered a priority in addressing reform in the area of violence against women and girls with disabilities. The STVP Background Report was used to inform deliberations at the National Symposium on Violence against Women and Girls with Disabilities conducted in Sydney in October 2013. The STVP Background Report is available in PDF and Word versions on WWDA’s website.

 

The STVP Symposium Proceedings and Outcomes Report provides information on the outcomes of the National Symposium. It includes a message from the Prime Minister; transcript of the opening address from Senator Michaelia Cash; Introductory remarks from Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner; an introductory address from WWDA President Karin Swift on behalf of WWDA; the proceedings from the Symposium panels and plenaries, and future directions for reform under the following key themes: 1) Information, Education and Capacity Building for Women and Girls with Disabilities; 2) Awareness Raising for the Broader Community; 3) Education and Training for Service Providers; 4) Service Sector Development and Reform; 5) Legislation, National Agreements and Policy Frameworks; 6) Evidence Gathering, Research and Development; 7) Establishment and Development of the Virtual Centre for the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls with Disabilities; and, 8) Establishment of a National Women with Disabilities Expert Panel on the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls with Disabilities. The STVP Symposium Proceedings and Outcomes Report is available in PDF and Word versions on WWDA’s website.

 

The ‘Stop the Violence Project’ is receiving national and international acclaim and is being used widely by a range of stakeholders. WWDA’s long standing advocacy, coupled with the process and outcomes of the STVP, has resulted in the prevention of violence against women and girls with disabilities being prioritised in the Australian Government’s Second Action Plan 2013-2016 of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022, which will see the Australian Government “work with expert organisations including Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) to prioritise and implement key outcomes from the Stop the Violence project. This will include:

·         bringing together and disseminating good practice information on preventing violence against women with disability;

·         training for frontline workers to recognise and prevent violence against women and children with disability; and

·         providing accessible information and support in National Plan communications.”[6]

 

 

The outcomes of the STVP have also been instrumental in seeing the prevention of violence against women and girls with disabilities being prioritised in the research priorities of the Australian National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety Limited (ANROWS),[7] and in the core work of ‘Our Watch’ - the new Foundation to Prevent Violence Against Women and Their Children.[8] In addition, the STVP is having significant purchase at the international level – being utilised within various agencies of the United Nations, and as highlighted earlier in this report, coming to the attention of the World Futures Council, which expressed its high regard for the STVP and invited WWDA to nominate it for the World Future Council (WFC) Future Policy Award 2014.

 

In 2014, WWDA was delighted to advise our members and constituents that our ‘Stop the Violence Project’ Research Team from the University of New South Wales (School of Social Sciences) won the UNSW [Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences] Dean's Social Research Impact Award, for their work on the STVP. The team of Associate Professor Leanne Dowse, Dr Karen Soldatic, Dr Aminath Didi and Georgia van Toorn, worked above and beyond the call of duty on the STVP, showing extraordinary dedication and professionalism throughout all aspects of the Project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 



[1] Services included those in the disability, family violence and sexual assault sectors, housing/ homelessness sector, the youth services sector, child welfare, employment and training, health, aged care and the justice sector.

[2] The main types of violence experienced by the women included domestic violence (80%); emotional abuse (68%); sexual violence and abuse (63%); financial abuse (58%); the withholding of care (23%), and the withholding of medication (14%). Importantly, findings from the survey provided data only on women and girls with disability who had accessed services.

[3] Department of Social Services Second Action Plan 2013-2016 – Moving Ahead – of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022.

[4] More information is available at: http://www.anrows.org.au/

[5] More information is available at: http://www.ourwatch.org.au/

[6] Department of Social Services Second Action Plan 2013-2016 – Moving Ahead – of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022.

[7] More information is available at: http://www.anrows.org.au/

[8] More information is available at: http://www.ourwatch.org.au/