Qualitative assessment
|
Administered Item |
Performance indicators |
| Women’s programmes |
Quality: Extent to which
feedback from stakeholders, researchers and the general
public indicates that awareness raising and other activities
have been effective in reducing domestic and family violence.
Results of external evaluations of funded activities.
Administered expenses - $8.8m |
Qualitative assessment
Methodology
Formal and informal feedback - received from: the Prime
Minister’s Senior Adviser (Women’s Affairs); the Minister
Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women and her advisers;
the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister; the Deputy Secretary
of the Social Policy Group; and relevant stakeholders representing
women and women’s organisations, state and territory governments
and Australian Government departments - provides the qualitative
assessment of the department’s work on women’s programmes
administered under Output 2.2.
Feedback
OSW received positive feedback on its programmes from all relevant
stakeholders.
Ongoing evaluation of Partnerships Against Domestic Violence (PADV)
and the National Initiative to Combat Sexual Assault indicated
a positive community response to both programmes. OSW also received
positive feedback from members of the PADV taskforce and Australian
Government, state and territory ministers about the success of
the PADV initiative.
The Honouring Women programme continued to gain positive feedback
through its promotion by high-profile women acting as ambassadors
for the initiative, which aims to increase the number of women
receiving awards and honours.
OSW conducted evaluations of all projects funded under the Women’s
Development Programme (WDP), including a project to subsidise national
secretariats to represent women’s organisations, described
in more detail below. Findings indicated that the projects had
been successful and well received by women’s NGOs. Feedback
received from the national secretariats indicated that arrangements
were working effectively, contractual requirements were being satisfactorily
met and there was a commitment by the secretariats to progressing
priority issues under the programme’s recommended consortia
model.
Positive feedback received during the second national women’s
conference hosted by OSW, Australian WomenSpeak 2003, together
with post-conference evaluations, indicated a high degree of satisfaction
among delegates.
Feedback on the women’s data warehouse and internet portal
developed under the Informed Choices for Australian Women initiative
was very positive, in terms of both technical attributes and content.
Key results
OSW administers six appropriations, under the following headings:
- Partnerships Against Domestic Violence
- National Initiative to Combat Sexual Assault
- Informed Choices for Australian Women
- National Leadership Initiative
- Women’s Development Programme
- Other Women’s Programmes.
Key results for each appropriation in 2002-03 are described
below.
Partnerships Against Domestic Violence
The $50 million PADV initiative has been highly effective
in enabling OSW to gather knowledge about, and trial new ways of,
preventing and responding to domestic violence.
Through partnerships between Australian, state and territory government
departments, the community, the service sector and the business
sector, a national framework has been developed to:
- promote policies and practices that address prevention, early
intervention and crisis assistance issues
- promote the adoption of demonstrated good practice in national,
state, territory and local government
- facilitate the development of appropriate and comprehensive
community responses to violence
- raise community awareness, to reduce the toleration of violent
behaviours and to reduce the use of violence
- implement complementary strategies for men and boys and women
and girls, to prevent family violence and reduce the use of violence
in the community
- promote programmes and policies that address the needs of women
affected by violence, including their needs for recovery and
wellbeing.
In 2002-03 the $25 million second phase of PADV was
used to: implement an indigenous grants programme to build the
capacity of indigenous communities to find and implement solutions
to deal with domestic violence; reduce the effects on children
witnessing domestic violence; encourage men who use violence to
accept responsibility for their actions; improve women’s
services; provide funding for the Australian Domestic and Family
Violence Clearinghouse; and increase community awareness of violence
and its impact, on a national basis.
National Initiative
to Combat Sexual Assault
In the 2001-02 Budget, funding of $16.5 million was
allocated to the National Initiative to Combat Sexual Assault,
to help eliminate sexual assault and to build on the substantial
achievements of PADV. The initial focus of the initiative was the
establishment of a sound evidence base to ensure that the most
effective policy and service responses would be generated. To this
end, OSW commissioned:
- the Australian Bureau of Statistics to develop a sexual assault
information development plan - to identify existing sources
of data on sexual assault, identify gaps in available data and
propose strategies to address those gaps - due for completion
before the end of 2003
- a data analyst at the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC)
to work on criminal aspects of sexual assault - to date,
the data analyst has produced an international literature review
on the non‑reporting and hidden recording of sexual assault,
and work has commenced on a research paper examining recidivism
among sexual assault offenders
- the AIC to coordinate Australia’s participation in the
first International Violence Against Women Survey, run by the
United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute
- the Australian Institute of Family Studies to establish an
Australian centre for the study of sexual assault, to encourage
sharing of research and best practice across jurisdictions
- Elliott and Shanahan Research Proprietary Limited to undertake
research to gauge attitudes and beliefs about sexual assault
in the community - this research will be used to develop
a national community awareness campaign.
Informed Choices
for Australian Women
In the 2001-02 Budget the government provided funding of
$5.5 million, payable over four years, to develop a women’s
information strategy under the Informed Choices for Australian
Women initiative.
The women’s data warehouse, <www.windowonwomen.gov.au>,
was officially launched in February 2003. Window on Women is a
unique single reference point designed to provide free web based
access to integrated statistical data about women’s needs
and circumstances, through a data warehouse facility. It provides
statistical information on key areas such as work, income, health,
education and training. The data warehouse gives NGOs, students,
government departments and the community easy access to information
about women. It will also play an important role in policy development,
implementation and evaluation.
OSW launched the women’s internet portal on 31 March 2003.
The portal, <www.women.gov.au>,
provides a single point of access to government information for
and about women.
OSW produced a series of focus papers and monographs exploring
key issues affecting women. The papers were regularly distributed
to a range of interested parties, including NGOs, universities,
schools and libraries.
OSW hosted the second national women’s conference, Australian
WomenSpeak 2003, held in Canberra from 30 March to 1 April
2003. The conference sessions focused on a range of topics including
women in health, women at work, creativity, developing skills,
and women succeeding in business, agribusiness and other careers.
The Hon. Dame Margaret Guilfoyle DBE and the Hon. Susan Ryan AO
provided keynote addresses as ‘The Trailblazers - the
first women in Cabinet’ and were honoured at the conference
dinner as women of achievement.
National Leadership
Initiative
In the 2001-02 Budget the government committed funding of
$2.4 million, to be delivered over four years, to maximise,
sustain and promote women’s leadership potential and participation,
focusing on non-elite roles for rural, indigenous, marginalised
or disadvantaged women. The key components of the initiative are:
- the Executive Search service available through the AppointWomen database,
which assists the government to appoint highly skilled women
to Australian Government boards and advisory and decision making
bodies - over 390 candidates were presented for consideration
for various Australian Government vacancies in 2002-03
- the Honouring Women initiative, which encourages the nomination
of women for national awards and honours - the initiative
is sustained through the leadership of a number of high-profile
ambassadors, including the Hon. Dame Margaret Guilfoyle DBE and
the Hon. Joan Kirner AM as Lead Ambassadors
- projects to increase the participation of young women and indigenous
women in decision making activities, including the Sports Leadership
programme - in 2002-03, grants were made available
for 45 projects designed to encourage and support the full involvement
of rural and regional women and girls in all aspects of sport.
The projects focused on indigenous women in sport, women working
in disability sport and women in general sports leadership.
Women’s Development
Programme
In the 2001-02 Budget the government provided funding of
$5.6 million, to be delivered over four years, to improve
the status and position of women through the Women’s Development
Programme (WDP).
In 2002-03 OSW provided funding to four secretariats, collectively
representing around 45 national women’s NGOs, to encourage
women’s participation in government decision making. The
role of the secretariats was to nationally represent the diverse
views of women; to inform debate and discussion on policy issues
affecting women; and to operate as a conduit for their members,
relaying information about government programmes and policies.
The WDP provided grant funding to women’s NGOs to support
capacity building and projects that contribute to public policy
and are relevant to women’s issues. Thirteen projects were
funded in 2002-03 and are listed in Table 4, at the
end of this chapter.
Through the WDP, OSW also funded a research project on effective
marginal tax rates, and various training and mentoring projects
in the women’s non‑government sector, including projects
to develop capacity building resources.
Other Women’s
Programmes
In 2002-03 the government provided funding of $654,000 for
Other Women’s Programmes (OWP), which includes a range of
projects to assist and advance the status of Australian women.
Research activities commissioned by OWP in 2002-03 included:
- the third edition of Women in Australia, providing a
comprehensive range of statistics about Australian women’s
lives
- a Time Use Research Fellowship programme developed to encourage
and support original research based on time use data analysed
from a gender perspective - research from the fellowships
will be used to promote informed policy development and analysis
in relation to women and time use
- a study into the underlying reasons behind the fertility decisions
made by men and women, both as individuals and in couples
- an analysis of what housing and housing support services are
required to facilitate successful transitions out of homelessness
for women.
OWP also funded specific productions to commemorate the Centenary
of Women’s Suffrage, including:
- a series of publications to highlight historical milestones
in women’s struggle to achieve the right to vote and stand
in national elections
- a third edition of Every Woman’s Guide to Getting
into Politics, for distribution to schools and libraries.
A number of publications, events and awards were funded under
this programme, including:
- a regular newsletter for women
- a publication outlining the government’s achievements
for women
- celebrations held to commemorate International Women’s
Day
- the coordination of Australia’s observance of the International
Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
- sponsorship of a Migrant Women in Business Award, one of the
awards presented each year by the Australian Micro Business Network - the
award will raise community awareness and recognition of the important
role that migrant women play in the Australian business community.
Table 4 Grants to women’s non-government organisations
| Organisation |
Funding |
Project goals |
| All Australia Netball Association Limited |
$27,500 |
To develop the Netball Australia Strategic Business
Plan 2003 - 2006. |
| Association of Women Educators Incorporated |
$21,500 |
To increase the business and policy advising
skills of the executives, to enable the association to become
self-sufficient. |
| Association of Women Educators Incorporated |
$38,400 |
To promote effective practices to keep parenting
and pregnant young women at school. |
| Australian Breast Feeding Association |
$27,280 |
To develop the leadership and mentoring skills
of current high-calibre executives to enable the organisation
to plan strategically and to develop the leadership skills
of new and potential leaders through workshops conducted around
Australia. |
| Australian Women’s Motorsport Network |
$27,500 |
To develop and implement a mentoring programme
for women in motor sport and the automotive industry. |
| Breast Cancer Network Australia |
$26,510 |
To provide presentation and public speaking training
to Breast Cancer Network Australia advocates. |
| Catholic Women’s League Australia Incorporated |
$27,500 |
To increase the information technology skills
of a select group of members and to provide training and mentoring
to the executive and other members. |
| Foundation for Australian Agricultural Women |
$53,900 |
To provide advanced facilitation skills for female
leaders in rural Australia. |
| National Association of Services Against Sexual
Violence |
$41,450 |
To develop the National Association of Services
Against Sexual Violence website. |
| National Council of Jewish Women of Australia
Incorporated |
$49,717 |
To undertake a contextual study and report on
Jewish women balancing intergenerational family responsibilities
in multicultural Australia. |
| National Foundation for Australian Women |
$55,000 |
To increase the community’s awareness and
knowledge of the role played by women in Australian science. |
| Older Women’s Network Australia |
$47,257 |
To undertake research to obtain qualitative and
quantitative measures of social capital for older women and
develop pathways for public policy to take account of older
women’s contributions. |
| View Clubs of Australia |
$55,000 |
To assess how successfully the View Clubs of
Australia are supporting the development of the capacity and
status of Australian women and strengthen the View Clubs network
based on the findings of a demographic survey of members. |
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