Through the Loddon Mallee Collective Action for Respect and Equality (CARE) Partnership, and by centering the voices and experiences of rural and regional women, WHLM promotes gender equality and supports actions to address the key drivers of violence against women, girls, and gender diverse people.
Some of our past and present leaders reflect on highlights and challenges of working in Prevention of Violence Against Women in the region over the last 35 years.
Through the CARE Partnership 35 organisations are engaged in collective action to prevent gender-based violence in the Loddon Mallee. The CARE Strategy 2023-27 guides the work of CARE Partner Organisations to embed gender equality and engage in primary prevention activities to stop violence before it starts in a wide variety of workplaces and community settings.
The 2025 CARE Forum was an opportunity for CARE Partners and other stakeholders across the region to explore CARE Partner case studies, present the findings of the 2023/2024 Annual CARE Partner Survey, and unpack the key findings from the Willing, Capable and Confident- Men, Masculinities and the Prevention of Violence Against Women report.
The webinar event was facilitated by Tarang Chawla and featured a panel discussion with other leading violence prevention experts, including Hazel Donley (Respect Victoria) and Dr Innocent Mwatsiya (La Trobe University). Fifty attendees joined the live forum, with many more viewing the event recording.
Two in-person Community of Practice (CoP) sessions were held over the year, where participants reflected together and captured the advances, challenges, and opportunities for regional alignment in primary prevention of gendered violence and promotion of gender equality. The events were held in the Southern Loddon Mallee Cluster (Central Goldfields, Macedon Ranges, Mount Alexander Shire) and the Mildura Cluster.
WHLM also led a key stakeholder meeting in the Mount Alexander Shire, engaging 10 organisations and council to develop a new family violence prevention network in the shire. Participants explored opportunities, gaps, key issues and solutions to progress community driven primary prevention.
16 Days of Activism is an annual global campaign established by the United Nations to raise awareness and encourage communities to take action to end violence against women.
Women’s Health Loddon Mallee established the regional campaign theme for 2024 as We Can Change the Story Loddon Mallee. Choose Respect. Through the development of the regional toolkit, WHLM encouraged and empowered communities in the Loddon Mallee to lead and participate in events and activities as part of the campaign. The toolkit was accessed close to 1000 times via the WHLM website.
A suite of customisable campaign resources was developed and shared across the region, including a chalk stencil, email banners, virtual meeting backgrounds, social media tiles, pledge cards, and selfie frames.
WHLM’s online 16 Days of Activism events hub and calendar was widely used, with 47 events listed across the Loddon Mallee region.
In partnership with Greater Bendigo Against Family Violence and City of Greater Bendigo, WHLM hosted an online webinar as part of 16 days of Activism 2024: Together We Can Change the Story: Exploring Men’s Role in Building Respect and Equality
The discussion explored men’s roles in preventing gender-based violence and advancing gender equality, featuring guest speaker Tarang Chawla alongside local panelists Mark Hands and Mitch Nivalis.
155 people attended the webinar, with close to 100 viewing the recording after the event. Attendees came from a broad range of organisations, with representation from: women’s health, local government, Aboriginal health, youth services, sports, community health, education, crisis response, peak bodies, primary prevention, and the business sector.
WHLM developed a new workshop series aimed at CARE Partner Organisations, and other primary prevention practitioners. These bite-sized, interactive, lunch-time sessions were delivered to build participants’ capacity to engage in meaningful change in their communities by addressing the gendered drivers of violence:
Over the past 12 months, The Elephant in the Room was hosted in 12 different locations across Mildura to raise awareness, share support resources, and spark conversations about family violence.
WHLM has developed staff induction materials to support services and businesses displaying the elephant, equipping them to engage in informed, constructive conversations about family violence. Accompanying signage and community-facing information help explain the elephant’s purpose, highlight the impact of family violence, and guide people toward available support.
