EVALUATION OF THE ABORIGINAL FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION INNOVATION FUND 2018 - 2021

The Aboriginal Family Violence Primary Prevention Innovation Fund (Aboriginal Innovation Fund) was established by the Victorian Government to support Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) to design, trial and evaluate the effectiveness of a range of innovative primary prevention interventions across Aboriginal communities in Victoria. The Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) commissioned Karabena Consulting to evaluate the Aboriginal Innovation Fund, and to provide recommendations that will support the administration, monitoring and evaluation of funded projects, and inform future primary prevention policy and programmatic directions and investments. The findings of the evaluation will also contribute to the limited evidence base on what works to prevent both family violence and all forms of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

This report documents the findings from our independent evaluation of 10 primary prevention projects that were funded by the Aboriginal Innovation Fund and delivered by ACCOs across Victoria from 2018 to 2021. It also provides a range of recommendations for the DFFH to consider such as the need to practise culturally safe commissioning, to have programmatic changes for the family violence primary prevention sector and the DFFH, to use population and demographic data to expand where and how services are delivered, and to promote innovative family violence prevention strategies.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating effects on family violence rates worldwide, but it has also highlighted the opportunity and need for family violence prevention organisations to adopt and deliver more innovative strategies to communities. Moving forward, it is crucial for funded organisations, as well as the DFFH, to facilitate the implementation of innovative strategies, such as those recommended in this report, to address the family violence experienced by First Nations families.

Read an overview of this project with Karabena Consulting here.