Mount Alexander Shire Council

Mount Alexander Shire Council organised a series of community and staff-focused activities to raise awareness and promote action against gender-based violence during the 16 Days of Activism campaign in 2023. The program included events by partner organisations, educational webinars, and community engagement activities, aiming to foster a safer and more respectful community.

They share some of their highlights and learnings below.

• General public
• Local community members
• Secondary school students
• Council staff
• Local businesses

• Community and partner events and training were organised by Dhelkaya Health and Mt Alexander Falcons, which helped add diverse perspectives and strengthened community involvement.
• Staff initiatives featured an Affirmative Consent Webinar by Chanel Contos and a launch morning tea with giveaways, which provided important information and created a supportive and safe space for discussion around consent and gender-based violence.
• Staff were encouraged to decorate their offices in orange and use email banners from the Women’s Health Loddon Mallee 16 Days of Activism toolkit to demonstrate solidarity. Plus, local businesses got involved in decorating windows in orange that helped foster community-wide participation and increased the campaign’s visibility.
• Educational sessions on the history of refuges for women, financial abuse and self-defense were also offered to community to empower them with practical knowledge.
• An information table was hosted at Castlemaine Library focused on making 16 Days resources and support services accessible to the community.
• Council entered a decorated truck in the annual Rotary Truck Show, promoting the Respect Women: Call it Out campaign.
• A visual candlelight installation was installed on a local business’ wall during the 16 Days.

• Strong partnerships with our local organisations and promoting 16 Days of Activism as a collective community program is beneficial.
• Repeat events over the years helps the campaign message embed into the community and staff (e.g. annual truck show entry, annual candlelight installation, staff gender equality trivia event every two years).
• Working closely with our local Women’s Health organisation helps us promote more widely and adds value to our programming, including being able to access great resources.
• Gaining support and buy-in from Council leadership is essential to the success of our campaign
• Provide catering for staff events!

• We were invited to participate in Respect Victoria 16 Days video due to our commitment to mobilizing our community to end family and gender-based violence, and due to our local partnerships particularly with Women’s Health Loddon Mallee.
• Most events were well attended, except for the financial abuse session. We think that maybe people didn’t feel comfortable or safe to attend something like this with other community members, or they were not certain what financial abuse is.
• Good uptake from staff in the campaign with 40 staff attending the launch.
• Great feedback received on the resources table at the library with good lots of community members accessing resources.