Volunteer Management Activity Funding Recipients Announced

Organisation

Project focus 

Shire of Carnarvon

Focus - First Nations / Unemployed / Youth / Vulnerable Women / People living with a disability / Newly Arrived Migrants

The Shire of Carnarvon seeks to utilise the Community Art Hub to engage priority groups in volunteering through art programs. With a focus on inclusivity, the project aims to empower First Nations Peoples, People with Disability, Newly Arrived Migrants, Vulnerable Women, Youth, and Unemployed individuals. By appointing a Community Volunteer Development Officer, the project will develop and evaluate initiatives to facilitate volunteering among these demographics, fostering community cohesion and participation.

Perth African Nations Sporting Association (PANSA) 

Focus - New Migrants / Youth 

PANSA will consult with 60 African volunteers currently serving as community sport group coaches, administrators and officials, to deeply understand motivations, challenges and barriers they face to volunteering. This critical listening phase will uncover priority needs around skills training, education and mentoring to help them perform their roles effectively.  

PANSA will also consult with African community members not currently participating as sports volunteers. We will map their perspectives, stories and barriers around volunteering their time and skills. Key focus areas will include identifying the gaps that make volunteering seem unattractive or inaccessible, while simultaneously respecting cultural commitments.  

Equipped with this data spanning both active and potential volunteers, PANSA will carefully analyse recurrent priority themes. Findings will directly shape the design of relevant, culturally informed, accessible training and mentorship initiatives. 

Kimberley Aboriginal Women’s Council

Focus - First Nation peoples / Vulnerable Women / Youth 

The Rise & Shine Program Development project will be a critical step on the journey to breaking down personal, cultural and structural barriers to First Nations women and girls participating in structured volunteering in the Kimberley. Women and girls are strong and resilient and have much to give to the community. However, currently there are significant barriers to participating in structured volunteering programs. For example, volunteering often doesn't take into account the way that First Nations communities interact and engage, and cultural and kinship obligations, meaning volunteering doesn’t work and can be culturally unsafe.  

Over 12 months, KAWC will work across six communities throughout the Kimberley to run community consultation/co-design and stakeholders workshops to uncover key barriers to volunteering, and to develop the Rise & Shine Aboriginal girls leadership program, which will be supported by a First Nations volunteer network across the Kimberley. 

Teach Learn Grow

Focus - Youth

Student to Student takes innovative approach to engaging young people, by piloting a co-designed, youth-led volunteering program for young people aged 15-18. Through tailored training and leadership development program, participants will be supported by mentors to co-design, plan and conduct their own volunteering initiative to support other young people in the community.  

This project offers a unique approach to youth engagement, highlighting and prioritising youth perspectives by involving young people in the design process, and empowering them to lead change in their communities. This project will act as a case study of how VIOs can address the barriers that young people face to participation in volunteering, and benefit from the ideas and insights of the next generation of WA volunteers and leaders.   

Volunteer South West

Focus - Youth

LINKD is an innovative approach to link Volunteer Involving Organisation’s (VIO’s) with youth and assist with creating strength based, youth-centred volunteering opportunities. LINKD will be co-designed, developed and tested with a small group of VIOS connecting with a group of students in Years 11 and 12. Volunteer roles and activities created during this project will be meaningful, have value and offer ‘purpose’. The roles and activities can be undertaken whilst at school, outside of school, as well as hands-on activities for a Youth Volunteer Taster Expo, and will seek to attract more young people to contribute to their community whilst at school and beyond.  

As the model is shared wider and the prototype is tested in other schools, VIOs will continue to be supported with the learnings from the project. LINKD seeks to inspire the sector to further explore opportunities that recognise and harness the skills and passions of young people. 

Sister Project

Focus - Vulnerable Women / Newly Arrived Migrants / Unemployed

Sister Project will create a safe, inclusive space for women in the targeted groups (new migrants, vulnerable women, unemployed or those with a disability) to develop skills and confidence to connect with diverse groups through a volunteer connect, learn, teach, volunteer program. 

By providing connection through food and conversation, we utilise participants existing cooking skills and passion and provide a skills and confidence uplift. Skills uplift will including food safety, recipe capture, cooking demonstration and cooking for a group. Confidence building skills will include public speaking, working with a partner and sharing stories. As confidence builds, the participants will progress to become volunteers themselves, supporting the program to become sustainable.