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Case Study

Safe and Equal

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Project Overview

Client
Safe and Equal
Victoria | 2022

Key Services
Outcomes framework | Shared measurement framework

Safe and Equal is the peak body for specialist family violence services that provide support to victim survivors in Victoria. Safe and Equal focuses on the development of family violence practice and workforce capacity building, with the aim to ensure that victim survivors are safe, their rights are upheld, and their needs are met.

Safe and Equal engaged Think Impact to support the development of foundations for a client outcomes framework. A key focus of the work was that it was co-designed with a group of survivor advocates. More specifically, the purpose of the project was to:

centre client experiences in our understanding of the efficacy of specialist family violence services
contribute to evidence-based decision-making and embed continuous improvement processes into the design, delivery and evaluation of specialist family violence services
assist Safe and Equal and its members to understand whether the specialist family violence sector is supporting victim survivors when, where, and how they need it
help to identify future improvements and enable a whole-of-system response to client needs.

Think Impact was engaged due to our strong track record in developing outcomes frameworks, as well as our knowledge and experience from numerous projects undertaken with the family violence sector.

Co-designing a client outcomes framework

Seeking to elevate the voices and lived experience of victim survivors in the process, the outcomes framework was co-designed with an advisory group of survivor advocates. The advisory group was recruited from Safe and Equal’s Expert Advisory Panel and Survivor Advocate Alliance.

Workshops co-facilitated by Think Impact and Safe and Equal were a key feature of the co-design process. The workshops developed responses to questions including:

What is the need the outcomes framework is addressing? How has the need arisen? How do we know this (i.e. what is the evidence base)?
What do clients want from the service system? To what extent are they receiving this?
What might get in the way of clients achieving what they want with the support of the service system?

This process was well received by the survivor advocates involved. Members of the advisory group felt the co-design process allowed for multiple perspectives on the development of the foundational outcomes framework. Participants particularly valued the ability to ‘bounce’ ideas and comments off each other and create shared meanings and deeper insights. The flexible and responsive approach to facilitating the sessions was also considered valuable.

Intended impact

The framework represents a critical first step that puts victim survivors at the centre of measuring client outcomes. It was favourably received by key stakeholders involved. Further work is required to identify the difference and interactions between outcomes at the service level and system level. Safe and Equal also want to undertake wider consultation and testing with victim survivors to support refinement and embedding of the framework across the sector.