Government’s goodwill gesture

The Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence and Sexual Violence Marama Davidson has recently approved five funding grants to support national-level family violence and sexual violence prevention initiatives for LGBTQIA+ people, disabled people, older people, and new migrant communities.

Talking about the same, Davidson had said, "Local community initiatives are a key lever in reducing violence. The Government recognises that we need to better connect with and empower communities to prevent violence through culturally appropriate resources and programmes and proven ways of developing safe, healthy relationships. Community-based initiatives are proven to help prevent family violence and sexual violence. A total of $1.578 million will go towards developing resources, raising awareness, and expanding local programmes for people with different needs and experiences of violence in their communities."

The funding provides $399,000 for LGBTQIA+ centred violence prevention initiatives, $350,000 to mobilise disabled communities, $242,000 for new violence prevention initiatives for ethnic communities, and $200,000 to support the violence prevention needs of older people.

 “We have strong aspirations for the wellbeing of our nation and to address violence in our homes and communities. We have heard from many groups including Tangata whenua, LGBTQIA+ communities, ethnic communities, Pacific peoples, older people, male survivors, disabled people, tamariki and rangatahi that they lack visibility, services and supports. We will continue working to understand the issues for these population groups and identify solutions in partnership with communities,” he said

Indian Weekender spoke to the NGOs and individuals working for these causes to know the significance of this funding.

Silvana Erenchun Perez, Strategic Manager, Shama

We are very excited about this funding because it means we can continue - and grow – our work to prevent sexual violence in our ethnic communities in Aotearoa. Sexual violence inside ethnic communities takes different forms, and therefore, our recovery processes may be different. So, we really need to work together with ethnic community groups of all kinds to meet different needs.  Coming up, we will be developing a healthy relationships programme, listening to ethnic men's groups about how we promote healthy masculinities, and making sure that ethnic people, families, and communities know where they can go to get help.  We invite community groups or people interested in participating in preventing sexual violence to get in touch with us to collaborate on training or projects.  We want to support local community-led initiatives.

Sucharita Varma, Director, Sahaayta

It's a small start, way overdue, and I, for one, welcome it! For a long time, some of us in the ethnic sector have experienced being marginalized in the way funding priorities are set and implemented. We have been left to pull the weight that the Government is meant to lead.
Even today, a victim's safety and the response to their safety needs are prioritised by the Government based on their residency status. We have a long way to go before we break those barriers.
Any step by the Government to reduce family and sexual violence and support community-based initiatives will go a long way in preventing and eliminating family and sexual violence. Ka pai.

Pooja Subramanian, Executive Director, Rainbow Youth

We're stoked to be receiving this funding as a part of the Rainbow Violence Prevention Network. We know that LGBTQIA+ communities are overrepresented in sexual and family violence statistics, and we're excited to be able to have the resources to begin to change that.

The Rainbow Violence Prevention Network has been working tirelessly since 2018 to gain momentum in this work, and we're honoured to be a part of this collective of organisations. This funding is a massive win for us!

Ranjna Patel, Founder, Gandhi Nivas

This news is a step from the Government towards acknowledging that the issue of family and sexual violence exists in LGBTQIA+ people, disabled people, older people, and especially the migrant communities need attention. It is a welcome move, but the fact is that there is a lot that needs to be done for the ethnic communities, which contribute around 15 % of New Zealand's population. I hope the Government keeps supporting the ethnic communities.

Dr. Sripriya Somasekhar, author of “What will people think?”: Indian women and domestic violence in Aotearoa/ New Zealand and subject matter expert

It is very pleasing to see more targeted funding being made available for family violence and sexual violence prevention in diverse communities. These communities face unique barriers and therefore require tailored solutions in terms of addressing these issues. A critical impact of this announcement is that funding has been allocated for prevention-related initiatives (rather than focusing solely on the response). Prevention is a meaningful conversation to have, considering the level of taboo in some of these communities. These initiatives are likely to increase awareness of the support available on this issue, thereby potentially encouraging victims to come forward with complaints. While this will likely lead to an increase in reports in the short-medium term and will give us an accurate indication of the scale of the prevalence of these issues. This, in turn, will feed into evidence needed for the scale of the issue, which will help with informing future funding and resource requirements.  These issues are complex and will require sustained efforts to see a meaningful reduction in violence over time