Preventing Tech-based Abuse of Women Grants Program - Round 2

Our Office

The eSafety Commissioner (eSafety) is Australia’s independent regulator for online safety. We foster online safety by exercising our powers under Australian Government legislation, primarily the Online Safety Act 2021 (the Online Safety Act), to protect Australians from serious online harms.

Online harms are actions that take place wholly, or partially, online that can damage an individual’s social, emotional, psychological, financial, or even physical safety. These harms can occur because of content, conduct, or contact.

The Online Safety Act governs the functions of eSafety and includes a world-leading initiative – the Basic Online Safety Expectations – as well as the development of industry codes or standards to regulate illegal and restricted content. The Act also includes four complaint-based schemes (the Adult Cyber Abuse Scheme, the Cyberbullying Scheme for children, the Image-Based Abuse Scheme, and the Online Content Scheme for illegal and restricted content) and gives eSafety powers to limit access to abhorrent violent conduct material during an online crisis event.

We provide strategic leadership and guidance, through the delivery of evidence-based resources and outreach programs, to educate Australians about online safety. We lead online safety grant programs funded by the Australian Government as part of its commitment to keeping communities safe online. The ACMA and eSafety Corporate Plan 2024-25 and the eSafety Strategy 2022-2025 guide our work.

Our vision is that through prevention, protection and proactive systemic change, Australians are supported and empowered to engage more safely online, and globally industry is enabled to meet legislated safety expectations.

Our Program

The Program will be delivered from 2023 to 2028 with $10 million available through a minimum of three separate grant opportunities (rounds). Further break down of the funding available is at section 3.

We administer the program according to the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Principles (CGRPs).

The program forms part of the Government’s commitment to the aims and objectives of 2022-32 the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children. The National Plan highlights the need to understand and factor in the role of technology in addressing violence against women and children.

The Program specifically seeks to address technology-facilitated gender-based violence (hereafter referred to as ‘tech-based abuse of women’). For the purposes of these guidelines, tech-based abuse captures all forms of violence and abuse that occur online or through other digital technology that are rooted in harmful gender norms, discrimination, modes of oppression and unequal power structures. It is where digital technology is used to enable, assist, or amplify abuse or coercive control of a person or group of people. Key terms used in these guidelines are defined in the glossary at section 15.

Women are a key focus of the program because they are represented in statistics as being at greater risk of violence and abuse, including from tech-based abuse. The majority of reports to eSafety under our cyberbullying and adult cyber abuse schemes, are received from women and girls. Women experience online abuse that is personal, sexualised, often violent and threatening, and which can cause real, enduring harm.

Technology can also be used as the means of abuse. For example, it can be used as the tool by which a woman is monitored, stalked, controlled, or isolated. Within the context of domestic, family, or sexual violence, technology can be used as a tool to exert power and control over women and their children and allow perpetrators to inflict harm and abuse that is often invisible to others. It often forms part of a pattern of coercive control in these situations.

Furthermore, there is a growing recognition that some groups of women are at increased risk of tech-based abuse because of attitudes to intersectional factors such as race, disability, cultural background and sexual orientation and identity. It is important that prevention initiatives consider the range of factors that can further increase harms.

eSafety is committed to implementing the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. As part of that commitment and in line with the Closing the Gap Grants Prioritisation Guide, this grant opportunity includes priority funding for projects that directly target tech-based Abuse in First Nations communities.

eSafety understands there is a continuing need to promote broader societal, cultural, and institutional changes in terms of how tech-based abuse is understood and ultimately addressed. This includes contributing to the prevention of online sexual harassment and engaging with the Australian community on how to encourage respectful and positive online behaviours.

There is also a growing body of evidence that children are also affected, directly and indirectly, by the tech-based abuse of women. eSafety research indicates that children are affected by technology-facilitated abuse in the form of monitoring, threats, and intimidation in about a quarter of domestic violence cases, contributing to negative impacts on their mental health and relationships. Projects that focus on the prevention of these types of harms on children may be considered within scope for the purpose of this program. Projects targeting the prevention of online harms against children more broadly (for example, peer-based cyberbullying, access to harmful online content, or child sexual exploitation material) are not within the scope of the program.

The objectives of the Program are to:

1. Contribute to the evidence base on what works to prevent tech-based abuse against women and their children through research and project evaluation.
2. Support development of, and/or access to, innovative initiatives, including new programs and resources that address the drivers of tech-based abuse against women and their children and improve women’s safety, including in specific demographic or geographic communities.
3. Support initiatives that aim to challenge and shift the prevailing social norms that contribute to tech-based abuse against women and their children.
4. Support initiatives that promote positive and respectful behaviour and accountability in men and boys that perpetrate or may perpetrate tech-based abuse against women and their children.

More information about our work is available at esafety.gov.au.

Who should apply?

We are seeking applications from non-government organisations (NGOs) registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission, wanting to deliver projects that aim to address or prevent tech-based abuse against women and their children.

Projects must focus on one or more of the following target cohorts:

• women
• women and their children
• children (5-12 years) and or/young people (13 – 17 years)
• women who are at increased risk of tech-based abuse (including First Nations women, women with a disability, culturally and linguistically diverse women, LGBTIQ+ women)
• people who perpetrate tech-based abuse (or at risk of doing so)

This is an open and competitive grant opportunity.

Before starting an application please read the Round 2 Program Guidelines.

Round 2 of the Preventing Tech-based Abuse of Women Grants Program will open on 14 November 2024 11:00am (AEDT) and will close on 16 December 2024 5:00pm (AEDT).

You must apply between the published opening and closing dates. We cannot accept late applications.

IMPORTANT: Please read the information below to assist you in completing your application online.

Welcome to the eSafety Commissioner's online grant application service, powered by SmartyGrants.

Please ensure you save as you go.

For queries about the guidelines, deadlines, or questions in the form, please contact us via email at grants@esafety.gov.au and quote your application number.

Click here for general information about the program.

If you need more help using this form, download the SmartyGrants Help Guide for Applicants or check out the SmartyGrants Applicant Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

NAVIGATING (MOVING THROUGH) THE APPLICATION FORM

On the right hand side of every screen, there is a box which links directly to every page of the application. Click the link to jump directly to page you want.

You can also click 'next page' or 'previous page' on the top or bottom of each page to move forward or backward through the application.

SAVING YOUR DRAFT APPLICATION

If you wish to leave a partially completed application, press 'save' and log out. When you log back in and click on the ‘My Applications’ link at the top of the screen, you will find a list of any applications you have started or submitted. You can reopen your draft application and start where you left off.

You can also download any application, whether draft or completed, as a PDF. Click on the ‘Download’ button at the bottom of the application navigation panel.

SUBMITTING YOUR APPLICATION

You will find a ‘Review’ button at the bottom of the Navigation Panel. You need to review your application before you can submit it.

Once you have reviewed your application you can submit it by clicking on 'Submit' at the top of the screen or on the navigation panel.  You will not be able to submit your application until all the compulsory questions are completed.

Once you have submitted your application, no further editing or uploading of support materials is possible.

When you submit your application, you will receive an automated confirmation email with a copy of your submitted application attached. This will be sent to the email you used to register.

If you do not receive a confirmation of submission email then your application has NOT been received.

ATTACHMENTS AND SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

To support your application, you will be required to submit the following documentation:

• Evidence of support from your organisation's Board (CEO or equivalent).
• Evidence or intention to provide or develop child safety guidelines or policy for your project if it involves working with people under the age of 18 years.

You will need to upload these as attachments to your application. This is very simple but requires you to have the documents saved on your computer, or on a zip drive, or similar. You need to allow enough time for each file to upload before trying to attach another file. Files can be up to 25MB each; however, we do recommend trying to keep files to a maximum of 5MB – the larger the file, the longer the upload time. If you are not able to upload a document, please contact us for support (see contact details above).

COMPLETING AN APPLICATION IN A GROUP/TEAM

A number of people can work on an application using the same log in details as long as only one person is working at a time. Ensure you save as you go.

SPELL CHECK

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