CALD Community Ambassador Initiative

With funding from Multicultural NSW, WSCLC has established the CALD Community Ambassador Initiative (CCAI) to engage community leaders and workers around domestic violence in CALD communities so they can support community members and direct them to the relevant services at earlier stages of the domestic violence cycle. Community Ambassadors are active and trusted volunteers from migrant and refugee backgrounds.  They work collaboratively with the WSCLC team to co-design and produce resources that disseminates critical information about domestic and family violence in a COVID-safe, accessible, and comprehensible manner, particularly targeted at CALD men in the community to: 

1. Educate men about the domestic and family violence and the law
2. Encourage men to get help and know the appropriate services available
3. Engage cross-sector stakeholders to implement culturally appropriate solutions

On 15 December 2021, 15 Ambassadors came together for the Community Training and Collaborative Engagement Day held at Western Sydney University Parramatta CBD Campus. 

The first half of the day consisted of a series of workshops delivered by our training partners including Education Centre Against Violence (ECAV), Immigration Advice and Rights Centre (IARC), Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ), No to Violence (NTV) and Settlement Services International (SSI). Through the sessions, the Ambassadors were introduced to key practice principles for engagement and education with the men who use DV, gained awareness of the implications of immigration law on DV, the types of violence in CALD communities and the cycle of violence and learnt about primary prevention program and perpetrator intervention strategies and programs. Aside from the training and gaining further knowledge about how to address the underlying factors that cause DV in their communities, the Ambassadors were also given the opportunity to network, share ideas and different strategies and communications tools. 

The second half of the day was dedicated to co-designing and planning culturally appropriate and in language DV resources. The Ambassadors split into 3 groups – South Asian, African and Arabic-speaking communities, to discuss the key messages they wish to convey and the most effective modes of communicating the message to their communities. WSCLC facilitated this process with each group by linking them up with the relevant organisation who could assist them to produce their resources. The resources are currently in the process of being produced and will be distributed throughout these communities from mid-2022.

We thank all our training partners and community ambassadors for their contribution and engagement in the Initiative.