Spotlight on GenWest
About GenWest
GenWest exists to create safer and healthier lives for individuals and communities in Melbourne's west. We deliver programs that improve health and wellbeing and promote gender equity among communities. GenWest provides services that help victim-survivors of family violence. We also partner with other organisations to advocate for equal rights and the prevention of family violence.
We work across seven local government areas in Melbourne’s west, Brimbank, Hobsons Bay, Maribyrnong, Melbourne, Melton, Moonee Valley and Wyndham.
Featured work: Our Community Our Voice: Resilience and Flood Recovery in Maribyrnong
On 14 October 2022 the Maribyrnong River broke its banks and the resulting flood devastated the surrounding community of Maribyrnong in Melbourne’s west. Over 500 properties were affected by flooding.
Research demonstrates that women experience poorer mental and physical health outcomes in times of disaster, often because of having prioritised the care of family members over their own self-care. In addition, migrant and refugee women face ongoing hardships in accessing culturally effective support before, during and after a disaster. The City of Maribyrnong has a higher than state average migrant population, with 38 per cent of people born overseas. This includes 9 per cent born in Vietnam.
In response to this, GenWest initiated ‘Our Community, Our Voice’. The project focused on identifying community needs, building capacity and confidence, and embedding lived experience to influence systemic change. It particularly focused on working with migrant and refugee women.
GenWest’s Multilingual Health Education (MHE) team recruited a Vietnamese community leader with strong existing community connections and supported her to lead the project. This was critical in establishing trust and connections with a community facing many challenging barriers to accessing support and feeling safe and heard.
Community Consultation and Program Design
GenWest listened to the experiences and concerns of flood-affected migrant and refugee women and supported them to access and understand vital recovery information. Community members told GenWest about the lack of knowledge of financial and legal support available to them and significant issues with accessing insurance, combined with ongoing displacement trauma. GenWest learned that in the short term, the most impactful action would be small, frequent events, to provide a casual and relaxed space for families to come together, without any agenda except reconnecting with their neighbours and friends. Longer term, there is a need for and interest in mental health and well-being support, especially for women with young children, and for children in primary school.
GenWest initially organised a series of reconnection events to gather parents and children in relaxed settings, providing them a safe space to share their concerns, connect with each other and with helpful information. These included an Easter event in April 2023, Mother’s Day Event in May 2023, Volunteer Week Event in May 2023, a Show Case event on 24th November 2023 and a 5-day Summer Holiday Program January 2024.
Findings
The program provided a space for the women to connect through community events and share their stories of disaster in a safe and empowering environment. It also provided appropriate mental health support pathways to support the community to recover from ongoing disaster displacement and trauma. Giving the community the right information at the right time, being responsive to and directed by their pace, need and readiness to engage has been key to the project’s success.
Community members said:
“This is the first time I have received language and cultural support where I am able to share my story and experience with you in my own language.”
“We appreciate GenWest for connecting us with organisations. They’re very supportive and very helpful.”
“GenWest’s events helps our children reconnect with the activities that they have not had for a while.”
“I enjoyed the activities and thank you GenWest for doing the school holiday program. Next time, I’d invite my friends to join.” (13-year-old boy)
What’s next for this work?
The stories and insights gained from interviewing flood-affected women in Maribyrnong offer an invaluable perspective on the effectiveness and gaps of disaster response and recovery efforts. GenWest have gathered these insights in the “Our Community, Our Voice: Lessons from the 2022 Maribyrnong Flood” report. Each chapter complements local community stories with evidence from research literature to show patterns and trends in peoples’ experiences of disaster, and how they can be addressed. The report will be launched at a community event at the end of March 2024 to thank community members for their involvement in writing the report, as well as creating another opportunity for the community to come together and reconnect.
GenWest will also host a series of events to build the capacity of local government, service providers, volunteer groups, policymakers and the broader emergency response and recovery sector. GenWest want to ensure the findings and recommendations in the report will contribute to meaningful change at local, state and national levels. Ultimately, GenWest want to improve disaster preparedness and resilience for diverse communities across Melbourne’s west.
