GenWest's Project Sitara has received additional funding to be rolled out in Ballarat.
Developed by GenWest, Project Sitara is co-designed with community leaders. It has been successfully implemented across Melbourne's western metropolitan region to women from the Indian community. We're incredibly excited to build on this success and roll the project out to a new region of Victoria.
The project was also the winning entry at Safe + Equal's annual Partners in Prevention Pitch event, which showcases new and emerging ideas about what is needed to prevent family and gender-based violence.
How Project Sitara works
Family violence affects all communities. However, women from culturally diverse backgrounds often face additional barriers to seeking help. This can include language barriers, visa concerns, social isolation, and cultural stigma.
For many women, the first step in seeking help is confiding in a trusted community member.
Project Sitara provides knowledge and tools to community leaders, so that they can provide guidance and connect women with support services.
The Project supports community leaders to talk to others in their communities in ways that are culturally safe, and that increase understanding of what family violence is and where to seek support.
'Sitara' which means 'star' in Hindi/Urdu, reflects the project's mission to serve as a guiding light for women who may not know where to turn when facing family violence.
What's happening in Ballarat
GenWest are partnering with the Ballarat Regional Multicultural Council to deliver Project Sitara there.
The project has received funding from the Ballarat Women's Fund.
By working together, BRMC and GenWest are building stronger, culturally specific pathways to safety and support, ensuring that no one in Ballarat has to navigate family violence alone.
“Practitioners with deep cultural understanding developed Project Sitara, recognizing the vital, yet often unseen and unsupported, role of trusted community members in women's lives. Designed to bridge prevention and response, Project Sitara honours cultural values and empowers women as both beneficiaries and drivers of change. It is a step towards mobilising an army of champions leading the way to create a society free from gender-based violence”
Shweta Kawatra Dakin, Manager of Resilient Communities at GenWest
“For women facing family violence, turning to someone they trust within their own community is often the first step. This initiative strengthens those community connections while ensuring that women are linked to the right support services in a way that is safe and culturally appropriate.”
BRMC CEO Suzanne Ryan-Evers
