Community

Bakhtar Magazine provide a wide range of topics including Covid19 vaccination information in Dari, Pashto and English. The magazine was also initiated during the Covid19 pandemic.

To access the digital version of our magazine please click the links below:

Bakhtar Library has been a great service for the community during the pandemic. The library provide a wide range of reading materials in Dari, Pashto, Urdu, French and English languages. It was established to provide a form of engagement and mental health support to the community while everyone was practicing social distancing due to of the Covid19. Over 100 community members, especially senior community members have used our library. Our volunteers were engaged to take orders and do the delivery.

Inclusion & Harmony Event

We organise this event on the occasion of harmony week in March which is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all, regardless of cultural or linguistic background. It runs once a year and over 300 participants attend the event.

Every year we chose a specific topic to raise awareness and prevent any kind of misjudging and misconception in the community. Last year we focused on the topic “Everyone is Equal”. Based on the topic we run activities to address the social issues such as discrimination in the community; why mutual respect is important and how to live in harmony.

Cultural Festivals Event

We organize Afghan cultural festivals such as New Year and Afghan independence Day. We normally partner with other groups to celebrate our festivals. The event is organized once to twice a year and run for about 4 to 5 hours with over 300 to 500 participants. It’s a celebration, however, it also aims to provide information about how to integrate in to Australian society.

Creative Writing workshops

These workshops are designed to promote inclusivity and engagement through art (Music & Poetry) in the community in order to combat isolation and loneliness. It is more like a mental stress preventative workshop. The workshop provides education and information on how to create a written art whether it’s poetry or story. It runs four times a year in the Afghan community.

Bakhtar Women Of the Year

Bakhtar Women of The Year Award Dinner is an annual award program that was initiated by Bakhtar Community Organisation in 2019. It takes place on the occasion of International Women’s Day to acknowledge the exceptional contributions, achievements and commitment of Afghan women in Australia.

Bakhtar Youth Of the Year

On the occasion of Victoria’s youth week in August, Bakhtar Community Organisation is acknowledging and recognizing our youth’s achievements and dedication in the community.

This initiative is to celebrate the achievements of our youth in the community. There are three categories, all of which are focused on creating an opportunity to let a young person know that themselves and their contributions are valued and appreciated.

Artist Recognition Award

This is award acknowledges the achievement and contribution of our artists in the community.

Nomination Forms

Bakhtar Women of the Year

Bakhtar Youth of the Year

Family Violence Prevention Event

The Family Violence Prevention Event promotes the prevention of emotional, physical and sexual abuse, a product of family and domestic violence, by involving over 250 participants, mostly from the Afghan community, which raises their awareness and provides them with where to find help and further emotional, physical and sexual abuse support.

Elder abuse prevention workshop

Elder abuse prevention workshop is an awareness session that is generally aimed at the wider community but more focused on the Afghan community. It focus on giving older people and families awareness of what elder abuse is, how to recognise the signs and where people can seek help and information. Awareness of the issue is a very important protective factor for older people in terms of preventing abuse and it makes seeking help quickly, significantly easier for people especially those who has low English language proficiency in the community. 

This workshop runs at least once a year and the participants are between 20 to 40 people. The session is often sought by a guest speaker from a range of backgrounds such as nurses, social workers, aged care staff and many more.

White Ribbon Seminar

The white Ribbon Seminar runs once a year on the occasion of White Ribbon Day. It runs for two hours and it’s usually organised in partnership with other organisations, therefore the participants are from the wider community between 40 to 50 people.

The seminar is designed to foster understanding about the root causes of gender-based violence (gender norms and expectations) and to prevent it. This workshop explores the history and work of White Ribbon and introduces approaches to building ally-ship: understanding emotions, healthy masculinities, identifying one’s power and privilege, consent, ways to intervene when violence occurs, and how to be a positive role model to other male-identified youth/adults. Participants are encouraged to share their views, experiences, and insights on gender-based violence, with the goal of promoting positive roles and prevention of gender based violence.

Breaking Down Stigma Seminar

This workshop runs once a year to provide a better understanding of what stigma means, how it impacts on people’s lives, and how we can prevent it. The workshop runs between 2 to 3 hours. The participants are from the Afghan community.

This workshop aims to increase the community’s skills, knowledge and confidence to challenge and prevent stigma and discrimination in an effective way, in the community.

Mental Health Awareness Session

The Afghans, culturally and traditionally, believe that mental health doesn’t exist and the person who claims that he/she is suffering from mental health is actually possessed by the spirits.

This session aims to raise awareness of mental health, prevent the misconception in the community and to make everyone aware to recognise the causes, symptoms and support options for a range of common and less-common mental health problems before it’s too late. This session runs once a year and over 30 people mostly from the Afghan community attend the session.

Health literacy programs

Besides other health related programs and information sessions, Bakhtar community Organisation through its partnership with the Victorian Health Department, local councils and community organisations have organized over hundreds of virtual COVID19 information sessions, translated materials in the community’s native languages and shared it with community through various communication platform.

Youth Engagement Program

Youth Buzz

The Youth Buzz program engages community’s youth to be part of inclusion programs as well as provide them with a platform to express themselves and seek advice from professionals as necessary.