What does a safe marriage look like? Wellsprings for Women asked the women themselves.

Image: composite featuring illustrations from Wellsprings for Women, 2024-2025 grantee (Culturally Informed Solutions)
proudly supported by the Supriya Singh Sub-Fund and the Victorian Women’s Benevolent Trust.

 

This is the kind of grant we love to make — and applications for our 2026 round are now open.

In Dandenong, one of the most culturally diverse communities in Victoria, women from many different backgrounds came together to answer a deceptively simple question: what makes a marriage safe and happy?

The answers were their own. Gathered through culturally informed conversations, facilitated by Wellsprings for Women, they reflect what women already know, and what too often goes unheard.

• “Deep love and respect for one another is what makes a safe and happy marriage.”
• “For a marriage to be safe and happy, we must both take responsibility for our home and family.”
• “Privacy in a healthy marriage means protecting each other’s dignity, not hiding pain or problems.”

These voices are at the heart of Culturally Informed Solutions, a project supported through the Supriya Singh Sub-Fund of the Victorian Women’s Benevolent Trust, with additional support from our General Fund — $7,700 in total.

Listening first

Wellsprings for Women works with refugee and migrant women in Dandenong, a community where forced marriage remains a real and present risk. Rather than imposing external frameworks, the project began by listening. A skilled practitioner in culturally appropriate consultation facilitated safe, confidential conversations, creating space for women to name what they know, identify solutions in their own terms, and shape the response.

The outcomes of those conversations will inform future program content, enhance local service responses, and contribute to national awareness of forced marriage as a form of family violence.

Why this grant matters to us

At Victorian Women’s Trust, we believe the most effective responses to family violence, and to gender inequality more broadly, must come from within communities, not from the outside. The Supriya Singh Sub-Fund, created in honour of Supriya Singh’s late mother and sister, helps women to achieve financial resilience and economic independence.

Wellsprings’ project is a reminder that when women are given the space to speak, they already have the answers.

Our 2026 grants round is open now

Applications for our 2026–27 grants round are open until midnight, Friday 19 June 2026.

We’ve simplified the process this year:

• You no longer need to navigate our 17 individual Sub-Funds to find the right fit. Simply tell us about your project’s focus area, and our Trustees will match you to the right fund.
• Most grants are between $2,000 and $10,000
• We welcome applications from grassroots groups, CALD organisations with DGR1 status.

Ready to apply? Visit vwt.org.au/applying-for-a-grant or email grants@vwt.org.au with any questions.

Together, let’s catalyse change for women, girls, and gender-diverse Victorians.