Desert Knowl­edge Aus­tralia has received $150k in grant fund­ing to devel­op a pilot pro­gram for pre­ven­tion prac­tices against domes­tic, fam­i­ly and sex­u­al vio­lence (DFSV). The fund­ing is under the ​“Safe, Respect­ed and Free from Vio­lence” Pre­ven­tion Grant from Ter­ri­to­ry Families.

Indige­nous pro­grams are most suc­cess­ful when they are com­mu­ni­ty-led, with com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers defin­ing their needs and design­ing and con­trol­ling the pro­gram (AIFS; CFCA Paper No. 32 – May 2015). DKA com­mits to ensur­ing Codes 4 Life: Women is com­mu­ni­ty-dri­ven to best respond to local needs.

The pilot program’s devel­op­ment has been divid­ed into three phases.

Codes 4 Life: Women will be built on prin­ci­ples guid­ing the North­ern Territory’s DFSV Reduc­tion Framework:

• Women and children’s safe­ty and well­be­ing is at the centre
• Shared respon­si­bil­i­ty, part­ner­ships and local responses
• Evi­dence and needs-based and out­comes focused
• Focus on long term social and cul­tur­al change
• Shared aware­ness and under­stand­ing of domes­tic, fam­i­ly and sex­u­al violence

View the North­ern Territory’s Sex­u­al Vio­lence Pre­ven­tion and Response Frame­work 2020 – 2028.