Meta-evaluation of existing interagency partnerships, collaboration, coordination and/or integrated interventions and service responses to violence against women

All Australian jurisdictions are developing, or have developed, some types of integrated response to VAW and a number of jurisdictions have conducted reviews or evaluations of these approaches. Further research is needed, however, to inform national directions and recommendations for the evidence-based development of these responses. In particular, there is a need to explore how government agencies, especially within the same regional context, can collaborate more effectively with each other and with the broader NGO sector.

This meta-evaluation project examined the key features of effective coordinated, multi-agency and integrated responses to violence against women. Specific attention was paid to the nature of the program or approach, the policy context in which the program is operating, and the similarities and differences between responses to domestic and family violence and sexual assault.

Key features and characteristics of these approaches that increase safety, improve positive outcomes for women and their children, and hold perpetrators accountable for their behavior were identified. The project also examined the ways in which government policies and service systems provide an appropriate context for funded government and non-government services to collaborate effectively.

This project provided evidence about how services can work better together to respond to the needs of women and their children who have experienced domestic and family violence.