Inclusion and Equity Officer – Dual Stream – Disability and Generalist

• Tenure: to February 2025, with possible extension, depending on funding.
• Salary: $78,000 – $108,000 pro rata, depending on experience.
• FTE: 4-5 days a week.
• Office location: Our office is located in the CBD.
• Flexibility: This role requires dedicated days based in the office, with all staff being able to work on Tuesdays (for membership meetings) and Wednesdays (for internal staff meetings). There is flexibility for partial ongoing work from home and scope to negotiate working hours to accommodate caring or other responsibilities.
• Travel: travel may be required.

ABOUT US

As the peak body for Victorian sexual assault and harmful sexual behaviours services, Sexual Assault Services Victoria (SASVic) provides leadership in preventing and responding to sexual assault. This is a time of significant growth for SASVic, responding to profound changes in community attitudes to and government focus on sexual violence. We have changed from a network (CASA Forum) to a peak body, expanded our membership, taken on new projects, significantly expanded our team and are working to shape landmark state reforms. We are now looking for additional staff so we can better drive policy and practice change.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Your role as the Inclusion and Equity Officer will help the specialist sexual assault sector and other services/sectors provide more consistent, effective and high-quality services to victim survivors and other people impacted by sexual assault, with a focus on groups who experience particular barriers to access.

As Inclusion and Equity Officer, you will help strengthen access to sexual assault services for people with disabilities and other people from diverse communities (such as CALD and LGBTIQA+ people), as well as promote broader inclusion across a range of groups.

You will work closely with our member services to identify and implement evidence-based practice mechanisms to enhance service accessibility. This will include identifying and expanding existing examples of best practice in specialist sexual assault services.

This role will require you to facilitate member organisation working groups, workshops and forums as well as resource members in other ways.

You will also work closely with the Manager of Service Design and Improvement to inform our advocacy on the state sexual violence strategy, SASVic’s review of relevant standards and other frameworks. You will be part of a dynamic team focused on strengthening practice and response in our sector.

Key relationships

The Inclusion and Equity Officer will report to the Service Design and Improvement Manager and will develop and maintain collaborative working relationships with all SASVic staff to achieve our shared aims.

You will work closely with our member agencies and partners (including Women with Disabilities Victoria, In Touch, Multicultural Centre for Women’s Heath, Safe and Equal, No to Violence, Aboriginal controlled community organisations s and grass roots organisations).

You will do this by:

• Strengthening access to specialist sexual assault services for people with a disability, diverse communities and other groups who experience particular barriers to access.
• Exploring ways that specialist sexual assault services can support existing work in smaller grassroots organisations in relations to sexual violence in various communities, including CALD communities.
• Exploring, identifying and developing resources, training and workforce capacity building for parallel sectors and the special sexual assault workforce to support best practice thus supporting access for survivors to sexual assault services and enhanced responses in complimentary sectors.
• Helping identify and share with members current evidence, and evidence gaps, about experiences of people with a disability and diverse populations who experience sexual assault.
• Facilitating workshops, working groups and other forums, in collaboration with SASVic staff and our partners, to seek members’ views and to identify and develop frameworks of practice, models of service and support resource development for access.
• Providing advice to inform our advocacy on the state sexual violence strategy and SASVic’s review of standards and other frameworks.
• Resourcing SASVic members to develop policy and practice improvements, including by providing secretariat support to relevant member working groups and/or communities of practice.
• Supporting SASVic work with our member organisations in relation to access and equity work in relation to Aboriginal communities.
• Participating in organisational development activities required to support the growth of SASVic

WHAT YOU BRING TO THE ROLE

• Relevant formal qualifications or experience
• Understanding of the shared and distinct issues for diverse communities, including people with disabilities, CALD communities, Aboriginal communities, LGBTQIA+ and other minority groups in relation to sexual assault and access to specialist sexual assault services
• Strong analytical skills, ability to synthesis complex information, an understanding of systems and willingness to explore and debate issues from multiple perspectives
• Experience interpreting government guidance, and translating this into practice.
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, including presentation and group facilitation skills.
• Strong IT skills, and a willingness to learn and adapt to new IT platforms.
• Well-developed stakeholder engagement and capacity building skills, with the ability to facilitate problem solving in complex environments.
• Excitement about being part of a peak organisation undertaking significant growth
• Intersectional feminist understanding of the dynamics, causes and impacts of sexual violence, at an individual, social and political level
• A deep commitment to ending sexual assault and the rights and recovery of victim survivors
• Familiarity with specialist sexual assault services will be an advantage. Experience working in a membership organisation will be well received.

Additionally, you:

• Must be legally entitled to work in Australia
• Must have a current Australian police check (and international where applicable), and Victorian Working with Children Check

WHY WORK WITH US

Your work will help specialist sexual assault practitioners and services provide the best possible response to victim survivors and other people impacted by sexual violence. You will work closely with expert practice leaders from across the state – our members ensure that our work is grounded in the reality of victim survivors and the services who respond to them.

You will have scope to shape your role as Inclusion and Equity Officer from a Disability and Diverse Communities perspective, as well as contribute to shaping SASVic itself in a supportive and encouraging environment.

We are located in a CBD central office and offer flexibility to work partly from home (if you choose to).

To be part of a dynamic work team that is representative of our community, and consequently, we actively encourage people with a disability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, people of colour, LGBTIQ A+ and people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities to apply.

We encourage applications from people with a disability and will make any reasonable adjustment that you need both in the interview process and on the job – if you need assistance or if you have any questions about the recruitment or application process, please contact Maria Papadontas via email at [email protected] using the subject line: Inclusion and Equity Officer – Dual Stream – Disability and Generalist enquiry via EthicalJobs.

To apply

Please click ‘Apply Now’ to send your resume, and a one-page letter describing what you will bring to the role, highlighting relevant experience and qualifications, and responding to our mission.

Following short-listing, we may ask you to provide additional information.

If you are invited to interview, we will ask you to provide three referees. Referees will not be contacted until after the interview.

We hope to conduct interviews as applications are received.