Indigenous Community Volunteers

The ICV Looma Experience

When the Looma community from Derby WA contacted Indigenous Community Volunteers (ICV) about a skills transfer project to assist in the maintenance and renovation of their homes, they had a goal: to become increasingly self-reliant by getting the know-how needed to lessen the use of expensive trades people and contractors. The results speak for themselves…

ICV interviewed Cath Dunn (Housing Officer, Looma Community) on the project.

ICV: What led you to approach ICV?
CD: The CEO for Looma Community gave me the web address to follow up. After contact with ICV Perth Office and discussion with the Looma Council, we submitted our application for the project.

ICV: What skills were being transferred?
CD: Our volunteer Malcolm Reid taught basic housing maintenance skills for our new house maintenance program, a community based project.

ICV: Why was it important to have these skills in the community?
CD: Until now, the bulk maintenance works have been carried out by contractors, costing the community a major percentage of the housing budget, with minimal maintenance and upgrades being achieved and little achievement from community members from not being involved in the work.

ICV: What do you think were the main outcomes of the project?
CD: There were a number of outcomes including:

  • co-ordination of the Looma Maintenance Team,
  • testing the aptitude of the workers and training accordingly with the right skills,
  • fostering a team spirit amongst the team,
  • organising our workload together to achieve the finished result, and
  • building on good work ethics in our team.

ICV: Were there any unexpected benefits?
CD: It was great to see:

  • the ownership by the team for the job we are doing,
  • Harry practicing his singing for the Talent Quest in Derby,
  • the girls learning how to be expert painters,
  • Malcolm bopping to ABBA, and
  • greater interest in the housing by the tenants.

ICV: How has this benefited the community?
CD: The team are gainfully employed and enjoying it and with that there is the realisation that we can do most of the work ourselves, there is pride in having our team doing the work and not contractors. There is also community acknowledgement to work on the elderly housing first.

ICV: How did you find your experience in partnering with ICV?
CD: The procedure for applying for a volunteer with ICV was very simple. All contact with ICV Perth before, during and after has been a pleasure. Any queries were addressed promptly. The selection process was great from the community point of view, the decision being made by the community from 3 potential volunteers provided. ICV was very thorough in requesting information about the community and understanding of the cultural law and by-laws of Looma.

The skills we gained from the project were great, but the pride and ownership in the team of a job well done is fantastic. The spin off for the community is one step towards being self sufficient in regards to the housing maintenance. Looma will always need professional contractors for plumbing, electrical and major building works, we do not have the capacity to employ them full time, but now we can minimise the cost of basic works previously carried out by contractors.

I think our volunteer Malcolm enjoyed his time with us as well!! Win-Win Situation!!!

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