Strengthening Respectful And Equal Relationship 2023

The number of Nepalese migrant communities in Victoria is projected to be more than 30,000 and is further predicted to increase. The migrant communities including the first generation are vulnerable to multiple aspects like Language, cultural shock, and settling in a completely new environment. This vulnerability exposes the migrant communities to domestic violence. Family violence in the Nepalese community is taboo and is not talked about. In addition, COVID-19 has added much to the family violence and abuse. Entrenched patriarchal values, victim blaming, lack of English skills, family and community pressure, social stigma, and lack of the awareness of law and support system deter victims/survivors from accessing early intervention support resulting in intervention by law enforcement (Police /Court) in crises. There is a need to educate the communities about the drivers of Family Violence to prevent violence before it occurs.

To address the issues explained above, this project with funding support from VMC completed three awareness-raising workshops entitled “Strengthening Respectful and Equal Relationships” in three locations (in the City of Casey Area, Wyndham City Council area and Bendigo). We screened DBSV’s produced short movie “Aba Ta Ma Bolchu” translated as “I will now speak” and “Change the Story; discussed the factors of self-respect and what leads to disrespect that escalates to family violence; explained the statistics of domestic violence and run group work asking participants the three key areas that they would think improves the respectful relationship.

A total of 160 participants were directly benefitted from the workshop conducted in three suburbs of Victoria.

Key highlights and major outcomes of the projects are:

1. Three workshops conducted in Eastern, Western and Northern suburb of Vitoria namely – The City of Casey Area, Wyndham Area and Bendigo area. The workshop was organized in 7^th Oct, 4^th Nov and 2^nd Dec 2023 in three areas in Victoria.
2. A total of 160 Nepalese Migrant Communities, age ranging between 18-70 years old, were directly benefitted from this project. Of the total participants 70% were female and 30% were male.
3. A total of 11 Group work in three workshops recommended 11 key actions to enhance and improve respectful relationship to help reduce domestic violence.