The story of the Multicultural Network for the Prevention of Harmful Practices Australia Incorporated (MNPHPA Inc) didn’t start with a strategic plan or a funding proposal. It started with Adhis Cole sitting across from yet so many women and girls who had suffered in silence, and deciding that silence had to end.
In multicultural communities across Australia, harmful practices are hiding in plain sight. Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) Forced child marriage, Dowry-related violence & Honour-based abuse. These aren’t abstract issues to Adhis, they are the lived realities of women and girls she knows, loves, and refuses to abandon.
“I kept hearing the same refrain: ‘This is just how things are done,'” Adhis recalls. “But I also saw the devastating cost. Shattered childhoods, stolen futures, generational trauma. I couldn’t accept that some of these traditions had to come at the expense of our daughters’ safety.”
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Adhis Cole, founder of the MNPHPA
That refusal to accept the status quo led to the founding of the Multicultural Network for the Prevention of Harmful Practices Australia Incorporated (MNPHPA Inc.). This month, what began as one woman’s mission became a nationally incorporated organisation, but its power has always come from the communities it serves.
Building Trust, Not Barriers
MNPHPA Inc. operates on a radical premise that the communities most affected by harmful practices are also best positioned to end them. This isn’t about outsiders imposing Western values or condemning entire cultures. It’s about standing alongside community members and saying: our heritage is precious, and it should never require sacrificing our humanity.
“When you approach this work with judgment, doors close,” Adhis explains. “When you approach it with respect, education, and genuine partnership, communities become your greatest allies in protecting their own.”
This grassroots philosophy shapes everything MNPHPA Inc. will do from culturally responsive awareness campaigns to education programs co-designed with community leaders. Instead of lecturing, they listen. Instead of imposing solutions, they build capacity from within.
The organization aims to train community members to become advocates and educators. MNPHPA INC will also work with families before crises occurs, creating safe spaces for difficult conversations. They will partner with frontline workers, cultural leaders, and survivors to develop prevention strategies that actually work because they’re rooted in cultural understanding.
From Mission to Movement
With the official incorporation and a newly elected committee bringing expertise in community development, advocacy, legal frameworks, and survivor support, MNPHPA Inc. is ready to scale. The roadmap includes:
• Education programs* tailored to diverse cultural communities
• Strategic partnerships* with schools, health services, community service providers, law enforcement & government agencies
• Community champion networks* that amplify grassroots voices
• Policy advocacy* that balances cultural sensitivity with zero tolerance for harm
But Adhis is clear: “growth won’t mean losing the human touch that makes this work effective. Every strategy session, every partnership discussion, every training module, I think about the faces of the women and girls we’re fighting for,” she says. “This can never become just another organization. It has to remain what it started as, a promise that no one will suffer alone anymore.”
The Power of Community-Led Change
What makes MNPHPA Inc. a true social enterprise isn’t just its mission, it’s the recognition that sustainable change requires transforming communities from within. Adhis didn’t build a rescue operation, she built a movement that empowers communities to rescue themselves.
This approach has proven both more effective and more ethical than traditional intervention models. When community members lead prevention efforts, they bring cultural credibility, linguistic access, and trust that no external organization can replicate. They understand the nuances, navigate the sensitivities, and create pathways to safety that honor identity while protecting human rights.
An Invitation to Action
As Australia grows increasingly multicultural, the need for organizations like MNPHPA Inc. becomes more urgent. Harmful practices don’t disappear through silence or shame, they disappear through education, dialogue, and culturally intelligent intervention.
“Real transformation happens when we stop treating communities as problems to be solved and start recognizing them as partners in solution-building,” Adhis affirms. “Every community has members who are ready to stand up for their daughters, sisters, and neighbors. Our job is to equip and empower them.”
MNPHPA Inc. proves that the most powerful social change doesn’t come from the top down. it comes from courageous people who refuse to accept injustice and who trust their communities enough to lead them towards something better.
From one woman’s painful awakening to a national network of advocates, MNPHPA Inc. embodies a simple but revolutionary truth when we give communities the tools, training, and support they need, they will protect their own.
The silence is breaking. The movement is building. And for vulnerable women and girls across Australia, that changes everything.
