Our Watch and the Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health (MCWH) are proud to announce a new two-year partnership.
The organisations will work together to strengthen the prevention of violence against women from migrant and refugee backgrounds.
Our Watch CEO, Patty Kinnersly, spoke of the importance of reflecting the needs of multicultural communities in primary prevention work across Australia.
“For women, children and communities from migrant and refugee backgrounds to live free from violence and discrimination in Australia, we need to address systemic racism alongside gender inequality.
“Our Watch and MCWH have a history of working together to strengthen the evidence base and reduce structural barriers facing multicultural communities in prevention initiatives.
“We recognise that this work should be self-determined and led by the deep knowledge and expertise of organisations working directly with communities and individuals within those communities.”
MCWH is a national, community-based organisation, led by and for women and gender diverse people from migrant and refugee backgrounds. MCWH has been at the forefront of prevention programs for 47 years, and built specialist, feminist and intersectional expertise to ensure that its work remains culturally respectful and responsive to the needs of migrant and refugee communities.
The breadth of MCWH’s work in the prevention of violence against women space spans research expertise, policy and advocacy, connections to community, project implementation, capacity building, communications and health education.
Dr Adele Murdolo, CEO of the Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health said:
“MCWH take a feminist, intersectional approach to primary prevention which means our programs and initiatives address the underlying gendered drivers of violence against women.
“For MCWH, intersectionality is not only a theory or framework, but a practice and way of working, shaping program design, method and analysis.
“MCWH’s feminist intersectional approach focuses on identifying and changing the systems and structures that generate gendered inequality, while taking into account the interaction between systems and the social and cultural context within which migrant and refugee women experience their lives.”
The joint project to prevent violence against women from migrant and refugee backgrounds will run until the end of 2026 and is funded by the Department of Social Services through the 2nd National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022–2032.
Media contact
Please contact media@ourwatch.org.au or call 0448 844 930.
If you cover this story, or any story regarding violence against women and children, please include the following tagline:
1800RESPECT is the national domestic, family, and sexual violence counselling, information and support service. If you or someone you know is experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, domestic, family or sexual violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, chat online via www.1800RESPECT.org.au, or text 0458 737 732. Men’s Referral Service: 1300 766 491.
Access guides for reporting about violence against women and their children.