Flourish 2021 Line Up Announcement: Logan Youth and Family Services

Logan Youth and Family Services R4Respect and Men4Respect Ambassadors present ‘young people as agents of change’ – youth-led, evidence informed practice in shifting community attitudes on gendered violence.

Andrew Taukolo - Men4Respect Coordinator

Andrew is an Australian male of Tongan descent who coordinates the YFS Men4Respect program and is a youth ambassador for the broader award-winning R4Respect program. R4Respect and Men4Respect use a peer-to-model to support young people to develop the values, knowledge and skills required to build respectful relationships.

Andrew graduated from Griffith University with a Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice in 2017 and has worked in the community services sector for over 7 years as a Disability Support Worker, Peer Educator and most recently as a Case Manager for the YFS YouthLink Program. 

Andrew has presented at a range of national and international conferences on gender-based violence, and violence in relation to young people. He was also a member of the Policy Advisory Group for the National Communities Attitudes towards violence against Women Survey which is led by Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety (ANROWS). In 2021, Andrew was appointed to the Queensland Government’s Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Council. Andrew is passionate about empowering young people to be leaders and leaders into agents of change

Rachael Pascua - Program Coordinator of R4Respect

Rachael is the Program Coordinator of R4Respect, an evidence-based and nationally acclaimed domestic violence prevention program by YFS Ltd in Logan that uses a peer-to-peer education model. Rachael has worked in the community services sector for 6 years as a Youth Worker/Peer Educator and Program Manager. Rachael has a Maori/Filipino cultural background and has grown up in Logan, South Brisbane her whole life.

Rachael is currently completing a Bachelor of Government and International Relations at Griffith University. Rachael has worked with ANROWS to author the R4Respect Peer Education Guide and sits as a member of the Queensland Government’s Sexual Violence Prevention Roundtable. Rachael also served as a National Youth Advisor to White Ribbon Australia from 2018-2019. Rachael is passionate about gender equality and empowering young women and girls to challenge rigid gender norms and break down barriers.

Young people as agents of change – youth-led, evidence informed practice in shifting community attitudes on gendered violence 

R4Respect is a nationally acclaimed, evidence-informed domestic violence prevention program ran by YFS Ltd in Logan, Brisbane that uses a unique peer-to-peer model to educate young people on respectful relationships. The program draws on materials from OurWatch, NAPCAN LoveBites and the Respectful Relationships Victoria curriculum. Since starting in 2015 the Youth Ambassadors of R4Respect have reached 570,000 young people through social media and more than 5,500 face to face in educational workshops across schools on what constitutes a healthy, respectful relationship. In 2019 R4Respect won National Community Gold at the Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards (ACVPA) at Parliament House, Canberra for their work with young people. 

R4Respect embodies an intersectional feminist framework that is inclusive of culture, ethnicity, gender and sexuality and ability and uses Youth Ambassadors from diverse backgrounds to engage and empower their respective communities at a grass-roots level. 

Evidence from the 2017 ANROWS Evaluation showed R4Respect make significant impact on young peoples’ attitudes toward sexual consent, respect and gender, whilst also revealing young men’s attitudes remain difficult to shift. From this R4Respect established its brother-program Men4Respect in 2019, a peer-to-peer, man-to-man approach to engage young men on gender, relationships, consent, and masculinity. In Men4Respect, young men are challenging boys and men to think differently about gender roles and relationships to promote positive values and actions by men; whilst the broader R4Respect team is helping their peers to draw the line on what is harm and what is ok in relationships.

There is a strong need for R4Respect and Men4Respect in schools and the wider community.1 in 4 young people think it’s pretty normal for guys to pressure girls into sex. (National Community Attitudes Survey, 2019). 1 in 3 young people don’t think that exerting control over someone else is a form of violence. (National Community Attitudes Survey, 2019). Now more than ever young people in Australia must understand consent and respect.

Learn More: https://www.bodysafetyaustralia.com.au/flourish-conference