ECVP community-led projects – South Asian Trials & ECIF

The South Asian Trials in Auckland

The work programme included various activities, with a significant focus on trialling violence prevention activities within South Asian communities in Auckland.

‘South Asian’ encompasses people and communities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Our trials also included diaspora communities such as Fijian Indian, as well as South Asian individuals from other continents such as Africa.

Available data suggests that South Asian groups experience some of the highest levels of family violence and sexual violence within ethnically diverse communities in Aotearoa New Zealand. This project, which started in June 2024 and concluded in June 2025, aimed to support South Asian communities in Auckland through co-designing and trialling prevention initiatives with eight community partners.

After four months of co-design and engagement with their communities, the eight community partners tested their initiatives using feedback loops and regular reflection sessions with their communities, the Ethnic Communities Violence Prevention (ECVP) team, and specialists in co-design, evaluation, and community mobilisation. This approach ensured that initiatives were responsive to community needs and were implemented effectively.

The project incorporated community mobilisation and capability building to enable the development of safe and effective prevention activities.

This project has been evaluated to monitor progress, learn from implementation, and improve effectiveness. The trial offers targeted, in-depth, and high-quality insights into the complexities of FVSV experiences and the specific needs of South Asian communities. The insights from the trial will help to inform future services supporting other ethnically diverse communities in Aotearoa New Zealand and improve FVSV prevention and response strategies.

Ethnic Communities Innovation Fund Project

The Ethnic Communities Innovation Fund (ECIF) was a one-year, grants-based project that started in June 2024 and concluded in June 2025. The ECIF supported 25 providers nationwide to address FVSV prevention in ethnically diverse communities. The providers delivering initiatives through the ECIF covered a range of urban centres, regional and rural areas to reach different groups including youth, disabled and Rainbow communities, women, men, and older people.

The ECIF enabled organisations supporting ethnically diverse communities to pilot tailored initiatives that met unique cultural and local needs. During the project, the ECVP team, alongside project evaluators, gathered evidence, insights, and learnings to inform future FVSV work with ethnically diverse communities.

In April 2025, the ECIF partners and the ECVP team came together in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland for a two-day national hui. They celebrated their progress, shared learning, and strengthened their community of practice.

The hui included workshops and deep-dive sessions on key topics such as community mobilisation, FVSV and immigration, and behaviour change among ethnically diverse men using violence.

More information

The Ministry of Social Development’s (MSD) Ethnic Communities Violence Prevention work programme aims to address violence within ethnically diverse communities.

Please visit Ethnic Communities Violence Prevention for more information related to the programme.

Contact

For any questions on the South Asian Trials and/or the ECIF project, contact the MSD team at ecvp@msd.govt.nz.