Tools For Change
The purpose of the 'Tools For Change –Women and Financial Capability' project is to trial a new way to support women and children to regain their financial confidence and capability and hence reduce the number of women and their children who return to violent relationships.
In 2009, WHGNE ran a small pilot project called 'Common Cents' with funding from the Victorian Women's Trust. This was a pilot mentoring program around financial capability building. The evaluation found the project invaluable. The project impacted positively on women’s lives both in terms of their financial confidence, understanding and day to day management, and equally importantly on their self esteem, connections to community, services, self advocacy and self awareness.
The 'Common Cents' experience identified the need for a similar project targeted specifically to women exiting or planning to exit domestic violence. Additionally, ‘Common Cents’ highlighted the need for an approach that acknowledges the complex connections between mental health, specifically depression, and women’s coping mechanisms both financially and emotionally.
'Tools for Change – Women and Financial Capability' is a response to these concerns, and draws on the exciting potential we saw in the mentoring approach from 'Common Cents'. 'Tools for Change' is new and innovative and has been funded for three years by the William Buckland Foundation.
‘Tools for Change’ will engage up to twenty women volunteer Mentors from each of two regional localities (Shepparton and Wangaratta). We will train (in finances, domestic violence, personal boundaries and safety, mentoring, and referrals), support and resource these women to journey along side up to twenty Mentees (women exiting or planning to exit violence) from the same locations. Mentoring pairs will nominate a local coffee shop for their weekly sessions where a coffee and cake budget will be arranged.
The Mentees will have personal awareness and safety plan training as will as playing a role in setting the content for group sessions. The mentoring pairs will meet weekly for one on one financial capability sessions, and two monthly for group sessions with the project worker and invited speakers. Group sessions will also develop, trial and evaluate useful tools for financial confidence building and management.
'Tools for Change' also acknowledges the need for a multi-layered response to the journey of women exiting violence with low financial confidence. This project will engage workers and sector representatives to facilitate greater understanding and resourcing (including tools development, referral pathways, training content) between the financial support and domestic violence sectors.
Gathering the wisdom of the mentoring pairs, literature review, and workers will formulate the essential advocacy response of 'Tools for Change'.
