Amplifying Community Voices in the East
The Eastern Community Legal Centre (ECLC) supported Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) community leaders to become Anti-racism Advocates. This initiative was in partnership with IndianCare, Centre for Holistic Health (CHH) and Communities’ Council on Ethnic Issues (CCOEI).
The Amplifying Community Voices in the East (ACVE) project supported community leaders to participate in workshops which focussed on challenging racism and sharing their voices and experiences of racial discrimination.
Capacity building sessions were provided by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) and Democracy in Colour, and were developed in consultation with the leaders, providing them with:
- knowledge on Australia’s Human Rights Framework
- advocacy techniques, and
- using their knowledge and lived experiences to speak out against racism.
ECLC also supported the community leaders to develop a video, ‘Voices of Change – Action against Racism’ to educate community members on how to identify and report incidents of racial or religious discrimination or vilification. The video has been translated into five key community languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, Farsi, Punjabi and Hindi.
Project participant, Dr Chris Mallika Bhadra believes the project presents an important opportunity to raise the issue of racism for those who may not otherwise have a voice.
I want to create a platform for people who can’t speak for themselves and racism is a big issue. If I can just help amplify the voice of just one person, I feel something is accomplished. - Dr Chris Mallika Bhadr, Anti-Racism Advocate
Combatting racism requires strong advocates. It has been great to see how the ECLC’s Amplifying Community Voices in the East program has been able to build the capacity of community leaders from our culturally diverse communities to become Anti-racism Ambassadors. - Paul Hamer, Local Member for Box Hill
Resource: Amplifying Community Voices in the East
ACVE Video: English
ACVE Video: Cantonese
ACVE Video: Mandarin
ACVE Video: Farsi
ACVE Video: Punjabi
ACVE Video: Hindi
