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eSafety DPO Grants Program: final evaluation report
The Dedicated Project Officer Grants Program was part of the Australian Government’s National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children. The program ran from December 2020 to June 2022.
The grant funding allowed Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to engage a Dedicated Project Officer to develop culturally appropriate resources and training for frontline workers who support women experiencing technology-facilitated abuse as an extension of domestic and family violence.
In July 2022, eSafety commissioned the Institute for Public Policy and Governance at the University of Technology Sydney to conduct an independent evaluation of the program.
The evaluation is part of eSafety’s commitment to continuous improvement and building the evidence base for online safety initiatives.
The evaluation aimed to:
- assess the suitability of the grant for different types of organisations
- understand how Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations used grant funds to achieve project goals
- review the grant-making model and recommend how the administration of the program could be improved.
Key findings:
The evaluation found that the Dedicated Project Officer Grants Program:
- enabled the development of culturally safe and appropriate services and resources
- increased awareness of technology-facilitated abuse and eSafety within Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and the communities they serve
- strengthened the capacity of organisations to respond to technology-facilitated abuse
- helped to build and strengthen community relationships.
The evaluation also found that the Dedicated Project Officer Grants Program addressed a significant and ongoing need for investment in helping First Nations communities deal with technology-facilitated abuse as part of the broader experience of domestic and family violence.
The Institute for Public Policy and Governance has made recommendations to inform the design of future rounds of the grants program, or similar First Nations-specific programs run by eSafety or other government agencies.
