There is growing recognition and interest in the role of faith, faith leaders, and faith settings in the prevention of gender‑based violence. For many multicultural communities, faith spaces are trusted environments where values, culture, and support are shared, particularly during times of crisis. Building awareness of this role is important, as prevention initiatives are more effective when they are grounded in safe, culturally responsive spaces that communities already trust.
We’re excited to share a recording from our recent workshop on Engaging with Faith Leaders in Prevention, presented by Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health and Safe and Equal. The focus on strengthening engagement with faith leaders and communities is a necessary step to ensuring that all parts of our community are being supported to engage in primary prevention.
This recording features an opening presentation by Professor Cathy Vaughan, Director at the Nossal Institute, who shared the current research and evidence base in Victoria about key principles and recommendations to engage with faith communities and leaders.
Cathy was joined by experts from the Victorian Sikh Gudwara’s Council, Buddhist Council of Victoria, Board of Imams Victoria, and Jewish Care for our panel session. Our panellists provided practical examples of how the sector can improve engagement with faith leaders through their experiences, essential considerations when embarking on a project with a faith community as well as how we can prevent reinforcing gendered hierarchies or power. They also shared some excellent examples of how faith texts and values are being used to support prevention messaging.
We hope these insights and learnings can help support you with your engagement with faith communities and leaders.
More information
This workshop was delivered as part of the Connecting Communities program, a partnership program between the Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health (MCWH) and Safe and Equal to support the learning and professional development needs of a network of organisations working with multicultural and faith-based communities to prevent family violence, through the Victorian Government’s Supporting Multicultural Communities to Prevent Family Violence Grant Program.