The National Indigenous Family Violence Grants Programme

The National Indigenous Family Violence Grants Programme is funded by the Commonwealth Government under the Partnerships Against Domestic Violence (PADV) initiative.

PADV is a collaborative effort between the Commonwealth Government and the States and Territories and the community. Initially funded for $25 million, the PADV aims to achieve more effective ways of preventing and responding to domestic violence across Australia. A second $25 million provided in the 1999 Budget is being directed to key priority areas, including a national Indigenous family violence grants programme.

Over $10 million of the $50 million for PADV is being directed to initiatives specifically addressing Indigenous family violence, including $6 million under the National Indigenous Family Violence Grants Programme. This funding has been allocated to assist grass roots Indigenous organisations to develop culturally appropriate and innovative solutions to family violence. Under the programme sixty-six community organisations have been funded for projects to test and develop new or better ways of responding and preventing family violence.

The Programme’s focus on grass roots Indigenous solutions recognises the need for community ownership and direction of the tools to address family violence. It aims to assist local communities to identify factors which are contributing to family violence and to develop a community strategy to address this problem. The strategies developed will aim to include holistic, sustainable and culturally appropriate responses which strengthen the capacity of individuals, families and the local community to reduce the level of family violence.

In the year 2000, 30 Indigenous organisations from across Australia were funded with $2.2 million to run projects addressing family violence (to view a summary of the 31 projects – see the programme booklet).

Successful projects so far include:

• A national community awareness campaign on Indigenous family violence, called Walking Into Doors, to provide information, support and inspiration for Indigenous communities. This program, led by Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter, held community events in 10 Indigenous communities across Australia in 2001.
• A highly successful Rekindling Family Relationships forum on Indigenous family violence held in April 2001. It was attended by more than 400 Indigenous community leaders and service providers.

View details of projects (PDF – 121KB) funded by the National Indigenous Family Violence Grants Programme for the period 2000-02.
View details of PADV Commonwealth projects (PDF – 25KB) focusing on Indigenous family violence.
View details of PADV State and Territory projects (PDF – 41KB) focusing on Indigenous family violence.

A comprehensive evaluation of the first phase of PADV to June 2002 will soon be released. The six volumes of the evaluation will include one volume on what has been learned about addressing and preventing Indigenous family violence.

The findings of the evaluation in relation to addressing and preventing Indigenous family violence include:

• Any response to Indigenous family violence needs to take account of the social, cultural and historical context of a community.
• Community dialogue and encouraging the development of strong, proud communities is seen to be the most effective way of addressing family violence.
• Crisis responses such as safe areas and night patrols are important supports for individuals and families as part of a whole of community response.
• Programs need to provide a more holistic approach to violence which deals with personal, social and political factors; prevention; treatment and rehabilitation.
• Indigenous communities are identifying community ownership and control of the issue of family violence as imperative.

There is a Partnerships Against Domestic Violence web site on which you can find more information about the Partnerships Against Domestic Violence initiative, including its priority themes, taskforce, the projects it funds, and its national evaluation. You will also find facts about domestic violence in Australia, the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse, publications and reports, links and media information. There is a specific area of the site devoted to ‘Indigenous solutions for Indigenous lives’ where you will find more information on the ‘Walking into doors campaign’ and the ‘National Indigenous Family Violence Grants Programme’.

The information on this page has been reproduced with the permission of Rosemary Calder and Robyn Waddington from the Office for the Status of Women.