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Our new collaboration and community focus

  • Writer: Monocle Data
    Monocle Data
  • Dec 4, 2019
  • 3 min read

As discussed in our previous blog, there is a need for better evaluation models that grassroots organisations can utilise when evaluating their domestic violence support programs. Limiting success of their programs to the number of women who leave an abusive relationship is inadequate and does not address the complexity of individual circumstances.


Here at Monocle Data, we focus on delivering data driven solutions to develop personalised evaluation models for every client. Domestic violence is an issue that is close to our hearts. Shabnam Mahabat, partner at Monocle Data, has a particular interest in women’s health and specifically the area of women at risk. As a board member of a women’s health centre, Shabnam has acutely aware that there is a crucial need to support grass-roots services by providing them with the tools to be able to evaluate the impact of their programs on the victims, their families and the wider community outside of a standard cost benefit analysis generally sought by funding providers to justify the money given to each organisation.


A purely cost benefit analysis does not take into consideration the social and personal impact of a program but seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of the program by assessing the cost associated with the outcome. This can result in future grants or funds being skewed towards programs that provide the least amount of costs per women accessing the program rather than programs that have a significant social and community impact.


Our services provide an evaluation framework to organisations that are looking for ways to evaluate their programs to highlight the non-financial and/or social benefits of their programs to justify the continued funding of the program.


We are excited to be able to work with Cumberland Women’s Health Centre (CWHC), a non-profit and community-based organisation providing health services and domestic violence response services. Their target population is all women within the Cumberland, Parramatta and Baulkham Hills government areas in Sydney, Australia, amounting to over 500,000 women.


They run a program called the Employment Boost Program, which is a co-funded program between community and the local government. The intention of the program is to empower and enable women to gain and sustain employment by identifying emotional barriers and gaining practical skills and experience. The key element of this program is the focus on economic empowerment, which thereby also includes increasing financial literacy of the participants, their self-confidence and economic self-sufficiency (Postmas, 2010).


On paper their program seems expensive as the total cost per participant is high but it is a comprehensive program that continues to provide support and mentoring to all women who complete the program for a period of up to one year post completion. The evaluation of such programs is essential to attain further funding and to provide the opportunity for replication of the program in other localities in Australia but as you can imagine, every participant’s journey and outcome are different.


This ongoing support and mentoring plays a significant role in nurturing the participants to move forward in their personal and professional development. Some women have never been or have been out of the workforce for a significant period of time.


Monocle Data has committed to evaluating the program and collaborating with the CWHC to facilitate greater transparency, peer review publications and capacity-building of their invaluable work. Work has already begun and as part of the process we have been able to involve the expertise of relevant academia leaders to consult on the project, including from Western Sydney University.


The program is currently in its third intake and previous participants have stated they felt it was valuable, empowered them and provided a support system to pursue employment.


Not only will our evaluation provide evidence-based improvements to the Employment Boost Program but will also assist in further defining a national ‘successful intervention’ and measuring its positive impact on victims, families and communities. We could use these findings nationally with the goal of improving domestic violence support services provided by other NGOs and even globally.


Stay tuned as we work on this project, we’re excited to share more with you as we go.


The Cumberland Women’s Health Centre: The CWHC is a women only space with Salwa Al Baz managing an incredibly hard working team of case managers, counsellors and group facilitators. Read about their valuable work:https://www.cwhc.org.au/


Please see the links below to access national support services and for further information on how you can help.


Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria:


Domestic Violence New South Wales:


Friends with Dignity Australia:

 
 
 

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