On 17 May, VicHealth will be streaming a webcast discussing the results of this program. Click here to find out more.

Generating Equality and Respect was a three-and-a-half-year primary prevention of violence against women program carried out in Melbourne’s south-east.  The goal of the program was to build communities and cultures that are gender equitable, and value and support non-violent norms. Generating Equality and Respect signalled a new and exciting direction for prevention activity, bringing together a range of tried and tested primary prevention programs to a single location.

Trialing a site-based, saturation approach to primary prevention in Melbourne’s South-East, it aimed to reach people where they lived, worked, studied and played with the following goals:

• Build communities, cultures and organisations that are gender equitable and value and support nonviolent forms
• Foster respectful and equal relationships between men and women
• Realise sustainable primary prevention through strong collaboration with established and new partners
• Pilot an innovative model for the primary prevention of violence against women that is transferable and informs practice

Previous investments in preventing violence against women have traditionally focused on breadth, where many communities have received the same program activity, such as the Baby Makes 3 program being delivered through many maternal child health services. However, the Generating Equality and Respect Program focused on depth, with one community receiving many mutually-reinforcing program activities across many settings.

Key components included the three-way partnership illustrated through a cross-organisation project team, whole-of-workplace organisational change activities and embedded sustainability.

Planning and implementation

In 2012, partners commenced the 12 month planning phase for Generating Equality and Respect. At the halfway point of the 3.5 year program, activities were underway in four settings, including:

• Baby Makes 3 first time parent program is being delivered through Maternal Child Health Services
• Link Health & Community and Monash City Council undergoing organisational culture change to promote respect and gender equality within the workplace, and then extending this into the broader community through the programs and services they delivered
• A localised Monash Partners in Prevention Network actively supported youth practitioners to deliver good practice respectful relationships education and promote equality through their programs and services. Members of the Network included local teachers, police, school nurses, youth services and community organisations.

Other programs activities, including training and culture change in a male dominated workplace, commenced in 2014 and 2015.

Evaluation – a capacity building approach

Evaluation was built into every step of Generating Equality and Respect using a 'participatory capacity building evaluation model' which involved training for project workers as key evaluators of their own programs. This was led by the VicHealth Research Practice Leader and builds on the approach used in Respect, Responsibility and Equality and evaluated the processes and impacts of the program activities as part of Generating Equality and Respect.

Click here to read about the findings from the GEAR project.