Our Watch is leading the National Primary Prevention Hub (the Hub) with funding from the Department of Social Services under the Fourth Action Plan of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children.

Primary prevention of violence against women is an emerging area of work that focuses on stopping violence before it starts by addressing its deep-seated drivers and promoting gender equality. This is distinct from, but complements, early intervention and crisis responses to violence against women.

Primary prevention encompasses a diverse range of work at all levels of society, including with individuals, organisations and institutions. In Australia, we are beginning to build strong foundations for primary prevention, and promising work is progressing at local, regional, state and national levels.

The Hub will support information-sharing, enable connection and collaboration, and facilitate coordination among organisations designing and delivering primary prevention policies, programs and campaigns.

As part of the Hub, Our Watch will:

• host a series of online forums for those working in the sector to support the sharing of resources and information, enable connection and collaboration, and facilitate coordination among organisations working across different jurisdictions, sectors and communities,
• publish four national reports to identify key activities and opportunities, and
• convene a Hub Stakeholder Group, bringing together sector leaders from across the country.

Violence against women is a serious and widespread problem in Australia. Preventing such violence is a matter of national urgency and can only be achieved if we all work together.

However, prevention activity is often done in isolation and there are differences in priorities and progress across jurisdictions.

Evidence shows that primary prevention work will be most effective if it is done in collaboration to ensure efforts are consistent and mutually reinforcing, irrespective of funding source or implementation lead.

The establishment of the Hub is in line with the shared national framework for the prevention of violence against women, Change the story, which identified that mechanisms for coordination are needed to support prevention work across jurisdictions, sectors and communities.

Throughout the establishment of the Hub and at the first forum in December 2020, Our Watch has consulted with a wide range of stakeholders to understand what they want from the Hub.

Here is a summary of the key messages we have heard from stakeholders that they hope to see as part of the Hub:

• Enable stakeholders to increase their understanding of what primary prevention work is happening across the country and to share this information with their networks
• Facilitate connection and coordination across stakeholders working on preventing violence against women
• Support organisations working in primary prevention
• Provide opportunities to draw on the knowledge of people working on primary prevention activities to inform new and ongoing work
• Elevate the voices and perspectives of different groups of women, for example young women, the LGBTIQ community, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, and women with disability
• Provide opportunities to profile and highlight primary prevention work in different jurisdictions and regions across Australia
• Provide opportunities to profile and highlight primary prevention work in different sectors and settings, such as sport, education, media and workplaces
• Provide opportunities to access best practice examples of intersectional approaches to primary prevention
• Focus on the primary prevention of violence against women while also considering how this work relates to response and early intervention approaches.

You can engage with the Hub by:

• Participating in forums for people working on primary prevention across the country, including those working in government and non-government organisations at local, regional, state and national levels
• Reading and sharing forum summaries
• Reading and sharing the four national primary prevention reports published throughout the project

As part of the Hub, Our Watch has convened a Hub Stakeholder Group of key non-government organisations, peak bodies and alliances from across the country. This Stakeholder Group will meet regularly throughout the duration of the project and feed in views, perspectives, and examples from their members and networks across the country.

You can contact the Hub team for more information or with queries by email: primary.prevention.hub@ourwatch.org.au