Reporting Racism

PROGRAM:  Fellowship

PARTNERS: Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC)

STAGE: Live

FELLOWS: Jing Jing Wang, Scout Quinn and Alex Reid

DESCRIPTION: This Fellowship team were given the brief of reducing barriers to reporting racism and discrimination for members of the African and Muslim communities in Victoria.

Through user research they discovered a range of issues that contributed to people not reporting instances of vilification or racism to VEOHRC, including: a lack of awareness of VEOHRC and what it does, low levels of trust in statutory bodies and government in general, fear of repercussions, language barriers and a belief that reporting will not make a difference.

The Fellows decided to hone in on simplifying the reporting process by creating two tools: one, a simpler and more intuitive complaint form which made it easier for victims to tell their story, and the second, a widget version of the form, which could be embedded on community group’s websites.

The Fellows also helped to prepare a Year In Review page for VEOHRC, which sought to better communicate the role and responsibilities of commission. This page is live, and can be seen here.

Check out more from the blog here, the code for the complaint tool here or the widget here.