Partnerships for prevention: the value of working in partnership to prevent gender-based violence

Maria is the Director of Advocacy and Stakeholder Engagement at Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health.

She has over 15 years’ experience in the not-for-profit and community sector, with particular experience in health equity and migrant and refugee women's health. She has led diverse teams across key areas including research, advocacy and policy, business development and communications and enjoy working collaboratively and strategically for impact.

Maria has skills in stakeholder engagement, advocacy, and qualitative research and has collaborated with community organisations, government agencies and research institutions in designing, implementing and evaluating projects. She is dedicated to advancing health equity through community-led research and advocacy. Maria has a PhD in Cultural and Gender Studies and a Master of International Development. 

Meghan is an experienced partnership broker and trainer with over 15 years' experience working in the prevention of gender-based violence and gender equity research, advocacy and evaluation in Australia and the Pacific.

She has developed her partnering practice through extensive experience as an internal broker supporting coalition and network building and managing complex collaborations with NGOs, community-based organisations, academia and government. She is currently the Interim Executive Director – Prevention, Advocacy and Social Change at Safe and Equal.

Melanie is Acting General Manager, Systems and Impact, within The Men’s Project at Jesuit Social Services.

She leads the impact and evidence functions (including the Adolescent Man Box research) and contributes to strategic partnerships and initiatives that strengthen violence prevention capability.

Melanie has a research background and has worked across government, community services and research sectors. Prior to joining Jesuit Social Services, she spent 10 years in Victorian Government with a focus on family violence reforms.

Jami (she/her) is the Program Lead at Rainbow Health Australia, part of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS) at La Trobe University. She is a senior leader specialising in LGBTIQA+ health, and translation of research into policy and practice.

Jami works at the interface of research, policy, and service delivery, partnering with government, community organisations, and mainstream services to embed inclusive, evidence-informed systems and practice.

She has extensive experience managing complex programs, supporting implementation across diverse service settings, and advising governments on policy and program design relevant to health equity, and prevention.

Professor Cathy Vaughan is Director of the Nossal Institute for Global Health and is Head of the Co-Design and Consumer Involvement Node in the Methods and Implementation Support for Clinical and Health research Hub. Her research focuses on the impact of intersecting inequalities on health, and in particular on how inequalities shape experiences of gender-based violence and the effectiveness of violence prevention and response initiatives. She has extensive experience using qualitative and participatory methods to work with communities and groups in relation to family violence, including migrant and refugee women, women with disability, faith communities and young people in Australia, Asia and the Pacific. 

Karla McGrady is a Gamilaraay/Kamilaroi woman living and working on the lands of the Yugembeh people on the Gold Coast.  Karla has been with Our Watch for the last nine years, during that time she co-authored Changing the Picture: A national resource to support the prevention of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and their children.  .Karla has led a team of 6 that has delivered on major primary prevention projects across the country in specific settings and contributed to organisational strategy and practice frameworks focused on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and engaging with community organisations to better understand primary prevention and gender equality. 

She is a senior executive with deep experience in systems change, policy influence and evidence‑led primary prevention, and has previously held executive leadership roles at Safe and Equal, the Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria, and the Victorian Student Representative Council. Krista is a trained partnership broker. She has also served as a Board Director with Girl Guides Victoria, YWCA Victoria and YWCA Australia, and contributes to national and international conversations on gender equality and social change.