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RiTA - Rural Initiatives Tackling Abuse - exists to drive rural equity, amplify survivor voices, and strengthen safety, accountability, and community resilience in the face of domestic abuse and violence against women, girls, and all children (VAWG/C). We work in partnership with local leaders, service providers, and communities to create lasting, place-based change, ensuring no one is left behind because of where they live or who they are.
The risk of not drawing attention to the realities of rural women’s lives is that our responses to domestic and family violence will ultimately prove ineffectual.
Elizabeth Broderick, Humans Rights Lawyer and Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Australia (2007-2015)
You don’t really have a choice – the police are at least an hour away and if it happens on a Friday or Saturday night, which it always did, they are busy dealing with other things. I never really considered calling the police – what’s the point? By that time I had been hit, slapped or punched anyway.
Survivor,
"Captive & Controlled" NRCN full quote p.38 (2019)
You think that the community in villages like the one I lived in would be a source of support but in reality, no-one wants to get involved in another person’s personal life.
Survivor,
"Captive & Controlled" NRCN full quote p.28 (2019)
Our Mission
Our mission is to make rural communities visible and safer by strengthening coordinated responses to domestic abuse and VAWG/C. By embedding survivor voices, local insight, and a commitment to perpetrator accountability, we succeed in building better-connected, place-based systems that truly reflect rural realities.
Our Vision
While our ideal is a world free from violence, fear, discrimination, and hate, we envision - for now - a future where all rural victims and survivors of abuse can access safety, support, and the chance to thrive, no matter where they live or who they are.
Our Supporters
