R4Respect
What does your Not-For-Profit do?
YFS works with vulnerable people in Logan and surrounding areas to help them not just to overcome adversity, but to thrive. Through a range of programs and services from housing to domestic violence services, family support, youth outreach, employment mentoring and financial counselling, we work with people to improve their circumstances and build their capacity for independence and participation.
R4Respect is a peer-led domestic violence prevention program that empowers young people to foster respectful relationships and call out harmful behaviour.
R4Respect uses school activities, digital communication strategies and community outreach to promote the values and atti¬tudes that help young people understand what is okay and what crosses the line into unhealthy or abusive behaviour.
The program uses a unique peer-to-peer model that empowers young people as leaders and agents of change.
The team is a diverse group that reflects the communities in which we operate. Ninety-two per cent of R4Respect participants agreed or strongly agreed that it is helpful to have young people leading the learning on respectful relationships.
What is the problem you’d like to solve?
While most young Australians have a good understanding of violence against women and support gender equality, there are some key areas of concern:
• the belief that control is a normal part of relationships (especially among young men)
• a lack of understanding about sexual consent
• lower likelihood of acting against sexism and abuse (than older Australians)1
There is a strong link between abusive, non-respectful attitudes and behaviours that young people see and learn from their own families and their own use of violent behaviour.
Respectful relationships education with young people can help overcome the attitudes and values that underpin domestic violence.
Young people need to hear and understand what respectful relationships look like as well as understanding what is okay and what is not okay in relationships.
1Youth Report Findings - ANROWS - Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety
What are your objectives?
We generally cover a range of respectful relationship issues with our social media content – gender stereotypes, consent, coercive control (‘Red flag’ behaviours) and active bystander behaviours as well as some more holistic concepts like empathy, masculinity.
Over the last year there has been a national focus on consent education. It was recently announced that age-appropriate consent education will become compulsory in all Australian schools from 2023. In kindergarten or in “foundation” years, students will be taught generally about seeking permission and respectful relationships. Older students will learn about consent, power imbalances, gender stereotypes, and coercion.
We would like to increase awareness around consent education and messages of consent in an engaging way.
Our objectives are:
• Position R4Respect as vocal leaders on the issue of consent education so that we are seen as a trusted source of information for young people
• Educate the target audience about respectful relationships and consent, what it means and why it is important
• Develop ongoing, meaningful and creative strategic online content to sustain an ongoing campaign
• Increase the number of social media followers and engagement to maintain ongoing customer relations with our target audience
• A secondary objective is to attract more funding for our program and education workshops.
Who is your competition?
LoveBites program – run by NAPCAN
Consent Labs – Sydney based
Various online resources are available for schools
Who is your target audience?
Primary audience:
Young people aged 12 to 24 years
R4Respect is based in Logan, which is where we do most of our face-to-face education (although we do deliver workshops throughout Queensland). Logan is a diverse community, more than a quarter of residents were born overseas and come from more than 200 different nationalities and cultures.
Secondary audiences:
Young people aged 12 to 24 years beyond Logan e.g broader Brisbane and Queensland
Key stakeholders, existing and potential funding partners
What is your brand message?
We all have the right to be free of abuse and violence.
Respect means being fair and valuing others as equals.
Value diversity. Value culture. Celebrate difference.
Negotiate through disagreements. Don’t hit out.
What channels do you use to communicate your message?
Social media channels that are relevant for the target audiences.
Podcasts
Media
Website
We also cross-promote through YFS social media channels.
What do you want your audience to do?
1. Follow R4Respect on social media
2. Engage with R4Respect
3. Share posts and spread eWOM amongst the target audience
What are the project must haves? Or any other considerations?
1. Our communications should reflect diversity, inclusion and difference.
2. As a peer-led program - led by young people, for young people – the communication tone is youthful.
3. The website is currently under review. While the main audience for the website is educators and other stakeholders, rather than young people, we are updating it to reflect the tone of the program rather than the current ‘corporate’ feel.
4. Ongoing funding is always an issue. Our main funder is the Queensland Government and we get additional funding from various sources. We could do a lot more with more funding.