Expand the delivery of financial literacy training for victims of family violence

As part of our approach, the Department of Justice and Community Safety and the Department of Education and Training are working collaboratively on this recommendation.

This work has involved:

• receiving funds from the Adult, Community and Further Education (ACFE) Board to engage Women’s Information and Referral Exchange (WIRE) to design and develop the SARA (Skilled Aware Resource Active) Financial Wellbeing pre-accredited course for the Learn Local Network in Victoria
• the design and delivery by WIRE of 5 ‘train the trainer’ 2-day workshops for 59 Learn Local practitioners who successfully applied to be part of the pilot delivery
• the evaluation of Phase One activities by SmartSteps, with positive findings that confirmed the course was fit for purpose and the mode of delivery and materials produced were highly appropriate
• the delivery of the SARA pre-accredited course by 32 Learn Local providers between May and November 2019 to vulnerable women in Victoria
• the evaluation of Phase Two (the delivery of SARA) to determine the effectiveness of the training and the future of SARA

Phase 1: development of SARA: March 2018 - June 2019

• Funds from DET which the Adult, Community and Further Education (ACFE) Board used to engage Women’s Information and Referral Exchange (WIRE) to design and develop the SARA (Skilled Aware Resource Active) non-accredited 32-hour course for Learn Local Organisations across Victoria.
• The design and delivery by WIRE of five train-the-trainer two-day workshops for 59 Learn Local practitioners who successfully applied to be part of Phase 1.
• Evaluation of these activities by SmartSteps with positive findings that confirmed the course was fit for purpose and the mode of delivery, materials and train the trainer course were highly appropriate.

Phase 2: delivery of SARA pilot: July-December 2019

• Pilot delivery by 27 Learn Local providers of the 32-hour SARA course over an eight-week period to 287 women at risk or who had experienced family violence.
• Funding from the ACFE Board for the student contact hours to deliver the course.
• Establishment and support of four Communities of Practice of the Learn Local trainers by DET Regional Learn Local support staff and WIRE.
• Evaluation of the delivery of SARA by SmartSteps rated the outcomes for the women who completed the course as world class using an international benchmark impact scale, the Cohen D.

DET has agreed to fund the SARA training for an additional year 2020-21 while funding is sought for further years. Due to the impact of COVID-19 on face to face training, online delivery of SARA will be taken into consideration.

Find further information on SARA.

Implemented