Four Australia Awards PNG staff trained as Support Officers for Family and Sexual Violence
Australia Awards Contact Team members and the Bel isi PNG team to witness the certificate awarding ceremony.
With this service in place, staff have received the necessary support requested by them and the feedback they provided was positive,” says Clara Numbasa, a senior coordinator for Short Course Awards and one of the first support officers for family and sexual violence at Australia Awards PNG.
On November 2 and 3, 2022, four staff members of Australia Awards PNG were trained as support officers for family and sexual violence by Business Coalition for Women (BCFW). They succeeded the six other staff who were trained and have been providing this support since 2017. Australia Awards PNG is a member of Bel Isi PNG and has also been working closely with BCFW to deliver leadership courses over the last five years.
The two-day training was designed to give the support officers the skills they need to:
• appropriately respond to a victim’s disclosure, making sure that the victim’s choices are respected,
• support a victim to access available support services, and
• act as leaders and champions to raise awareness about family and sexual violence.
“The support officers are the first point of contact for any employee who may have experienced family and sexual violence”. Lawrence Baro says that the training taught him that Family and Sexual Violence Officers are not there to decide on the best options for survivors, but to advise them on what help is available. “This training was quite confronting for me in some ways,” says Lawrence, “but I also found it reassuring to know that there are processes in place to support people when they are experiencing incredibly difficult situations. I now feel equipped to be able to help my colleagues which gives me confidence in an area I previously found difficult to talk about.”
Family and sexual violence (FSV) is a major problem in PNG and occurs in the community, affecting people regardless of their educational, religious and cultural upbringings. It is one of the leading factors contributing to staff being absent from work or leaving their jobs.
Research has shown that, on average, two out of three women experience family and sexual violence in PNG. Men are also impacted by FSV, but there is lack of reliable data available. Most instances of this occur at home, but it becomes a workplace issue when it affects performance, productivity, or safety of a staff member. Australia Awards PNG prioritizes safeguarding against all forms of harassment and violence in the workplace and for all participants of the program. To ensure the safety of staff and their families, Australia Awards PNG, besides from having support officers, creates a haven for staff by providing access to professional case management services offered by Femili PNG, a professional safe house, and induction sessions for all employees to better understand the services that are available
The first four staff of Australia Awards PNG who were trained as support officers in 2017 were part of the working group who developed the Family and Sexual Violence Policy in line with the Family Protection Act 2013. The policy defines family and sexual violence as unacceptable and says that everyone has the right to live free from fear, violence, and abuse. Family and sexual violence comes in different forms including physical and sexual violence, threats and intimidation, psychological, emotional and social abuse, and economic deprivation.
The Australia Awards PNG’s FSV policy objectives are to promote a compassionate and judgment-free workplace where victims of family and sexual violence feel safe to come forward and ask for help, to direct Australia Awards PNG’s response to families whose work lives are impacted by FSV and to ensure a safe working environment for all employees.