Expert Advice


With growing public awareness about the prevalence and nature of family and domestic violence, many governments, businesses and not-for-profits are thinking about how they might assist victim-survivors.

But an effective response requires more than good intentions. 

Victim-survivor safety must be the at the core of all efforts, and ensuring safety requires a deep understanding of evidence & best practices.

Without expert advice, efforts to assist sometimes end up harming victim-survivors instead of helping or empowering them.

When you come to Wesnet for advice, we are drawing on decades of experience in the specialist family and domestic violence services sector. We have a strong connection to front line services and are grounded in the lived experiences of victim-survivors.

We can help you shape your response to family violence to ensure that your contribution doesn't compromise survivors' safety, and has the positive impact you intend.

Whether you need expert input for a government service or program, or advice on how to make your product or service accessible, safe and effective for survivors, we can help.


Why does Wesnet work with technology companies? 

Wesnet advises technology companies to ensure that their services and products take into consideration the experiences of survivors of violence using their platforms and to help them understand how abusers commit abusive behaviours via their platforms.

We work with technology companies because we have the expertise around the intersection of technology and violence against women that we believe is vital for the technology industry to understand and embed.

Technology has a major impact in the lives of survivors. It is often misused by abusive partners and perpetrators against victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and trafficking. However, technology is also crucial for most Australians as part of everyday life, and asking survivors to get off technology just further disadvantages survivors. Technology, in its various forms, offers essential tools victims can use to access help, strategically maintain safety and privacy, and remain connected to family and friends. It can also be used to prove guilt and hold offenders accountable. For women and girls in particular, to achieve gender and social equality, they must have full, affordable safe access to technology.

Wesnet sees women’s access to technology and the internet as a human right and crucial for gender and social equality.

With expert advice from Wesnet, technology companies:

gain a deeper understanding of how these unacceptable behaviours occur on their platforms
develop policies that hold abusers accountable when they misuse the platform to harm
develop policies that provide better mechanisms for survivors to report abusive behaviours
update their platforms to make it more difficult for abusers to misuse
educate users on how to use their platforms more safely, with greater understanding of privacy and security settings.


Who will we work with?

Wesnet is committed to working with corporate companies that are implementing strategies and programs to address the elimination of gender-based violence against women and girls, or which demonstrate a genuine interest in improving their platforms / services in a way that reduces or eliminates harm and violence against women.

Wesnet will work proactively with corporate companies we collaborate with to remedy any issues that may compromise Wesnet’s values and support their work to eliminate violence against women and girls and work towards gender and social equality. We will call out a corporate company on these issues if we deem it necessary. We will also promote the good work they do on these issues as appropriate.

Why does Wesnet take money from technology companies?

Wesnet believes that technology companies play a significant role in keeping women safe – from how they design and build their technology, to the policies they implement, to how they work with stakeholders and partners, and to how they respond to and educate their users. We offer expert advice to them, bringing them the voices and experiences of the domestic and family violence sector and survivors. Wesnet expects to be resourced to undertake this work by the relevant corporate companies.

The money that technology companies provide in the form of sponsorships and other grants offset the staff time spent on advising them and other important work that Wesnet undertakes, such as the Annual Technology Safety Summit. The Technology Safety Summit is a space for front-line service providers to gain deeper understandings of how technology-facilitated abuse impact survivors, how abusers misuse technology, and how service providers can address these issues. Without the sponsorships from technology companies, Wesnet would be unable to hold the Technology Safety Summit without passing the full costs onto registrants. Feedback from our members indicate that they consider the Technology Safety Summit to be a critical support for their work on the ground helping victim/survivors stay safer.

Disclaimer: Receiving funds from any organisation, private or government, does not mean we endorse all that that entity does.
Whilst we work with corporate companies, governments and other non-government organisations, Wesnet always maintains an independent voice for women and their children experiencing domestic and family violence and we will speak out for our clients without fear or favour.

Contact

[email protected] / (Australia FREE CALL) 1800 937 638

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