ACHRH at Women Deliver 2026

Melbourne Conference Centre

29/04/2026

Taking an Australian Community-Led Model to the World

The AustralAsian Centre for Human Rights and Health (ACHRH) was honoured to present its work at the Women Deliver 2026 Conference, one of the world’s largest international conferences dedicated to gender equality and the health and rights of women and girls.

Professor Manjula O’Connor delivered three presentations showcasing ACHRH’s unique approach to preventing family violence through community leadership, research, education, policy advocacy and creative engagement.

By the Community, For the Community

ACHRH shared the story of its innovative community-led prevention model, developed over more than a decade. Since 2012, ACHRH has designed and evaluated culturally responsive programs that empower migrant communities to become active partners in preventing family violence.

Conference delegates learnt about ACHRH’s award-winning initiatives, including Mutual Cultural Respect, Mutual Relational Respect, Natak Vihar, United We Stand, Project HOPE, SNEH Theatre, and the national Demand Equality, Not Dowry education platform. Collectively, these programs have engaged hundreds of community members, challenged harmful gender stereotypes, increased awareness of non-physical forms of abuse, and promoted respectful relationships.

Culture as Context

A second presentation explored the cultural context of dowry abuse among South Asian migrant communities and the intersection of migration, coercive control and gender inequality.

Drawing on ACHRH’s clinical experience, community-based research and policy advocacy, Professor O’Connor demonstrated how dowry abuse is a form of economic and psychological coercion that can have devastating consequences for women’s mental health, including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidality.

The presentation also highlighted ACHRH’s contribution to legislative and policy reform in Australia, including recognition of dowry abuse within Victorian family violence legislation, the Attorney-General’s National Principles on Coercive Control, and the Family Law Amendment Act.

Finding Affection

Delegates also viewed excerpts from ACHRH’s award-winning documentary Finding Affection, which captures the voices of community members participating in the SNEH Theatre Project.

The documentary demonstrates how storytelling, theatre and film can create safe spaces for communities to discuss difficult issues such as coercive control, dowry abuse, migration stress and mental health. Evaluation findings presented at the conference showed that film-based education significantly increased participants’ understanding of family violence and encouraged community dialogue and help-seeking.

International Recognition

ACHRH’s participation at Women Deliver 2026 reflected more than a decade of leadership in research, advocacy and community education. The conference provided an opportunity to share an Australian model of culturally responsive primary prevention with an international audience of policymakers, researchers, clinicians, advocates and community leaders.

Our message was clear:

Lasting change happens when communities are not merely consulted, but become partners in designing, delivering and leading solutions.

ACHRH remains committed to building safer, healthier and more equitable communities through research, education, advocacy and community-led innovation