This week is National Volunteer Week and ICV volunteers like Danielle Pogos are at the forefront of life changing development work with Indigenous communities.
Danielle’s journey with ICV began after reading an article in an Australian women’s magazine about the volunteer work done by Ian Thorpe in Aboriginal communities. She immediately realised it was something she wanted to do.
Danielle has been helping with school holiday programs in the Martu Lands, remote WA since 2011. She has enjoyed the experience so much, that her career has taken an exciting new direction as a result.
ICV is a registered charity and non-profit organisation. Our work is only possible due to combination of Federal and State Government funding, corporate sponsorship, philanthropic trusts and foundations, and private donations. In addition, we receive much-needed in-kind support from a wide range of organisations, all committed to creating a brighter future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities.
The Yurauna Centre is an Educational and Student Support Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students enrolled in courses across the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT). Yurauna is a Wiradjuri word meaning ‘to grow’.
There are around 150 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students across all CIT campuses, both in mainstream classes and those run out of the Yurauna Centre.
Funding changes in 2012 meant in-class support for students was reduced, so Yurauna approached ICV to discuss the need for support tutors. Providing tutoring support will enable students to complete their CIT studies and either seek employment or continue higher levels of study
The Ngaanyatjarra Land covers over 250,000 square kilometres, representing approximately 3% of mainland Australia. Ngaanyatjarra Council’s Land and Culture unit supports the handing down of traditional ecological knowledge and the traditional ways of land management throughout the Lands.
In 2012, a ‘Women Working on Country’ (WWOC) unit was created to give local women greater opportunities to participate in land management issues.
ICV was approached to help mentor and train female Indigenous Land Management Officers in both video production and documentation.
The overall aim was for the women to learn camera skills and participate in the making of a video to highlight a range of land management activities. They wanted to illustrate the particular issues faced by female Land Management Officers and the knowledge exchange with Elders on cultural heritage protection trips.
For those of you who have completed an ICV workshop (ICVw), you’ll know that monitoring and evaluating our community development activity is integral to delivering the best possible results for the communities with which we work. Not only does it allow us to see if the project or activity was beneficial for the community, but it also enables us to see where things may not have gone to plan.
Activity monitoring is as varied as the work we undertake. It can be as simple as taking photos, writing a journal and sharing your story with us when you return home from a project, to more formal processes such as interviews with community members during your time in community, data collection and daily job sheets.
When many people are fleeing winter in the nation’s capital for the warmer locations of Broome, Darwin or Cairns, ICV staff members Ali and Shireen invited six volunteers to a workshop in the Canberra Office. The workshop was designed to establish some resources for future numeracy and literacy projects, something of a toolkit that can be adapted and used in other communities. It was a fantastic two days of sharing, listening and above all, new knowledge.
Volunteer Luke Watson broadened his understanding of Indigenous culture whilst working on a remote school holiday program in WA.
Do you ever marvel at the abundance of fresh produce available year round on your supermarket shelves? Do you ever think about how you would feed your family healthy meals if fresh ingredients were limited or unaffordable?
For some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, particularly in remote and regional Australia, a steady supply of fresh produce is expensive and often limited.
One of these communities is Wangkatjungka, about an hour’s drive south east of Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia.
Access to nutritious food in remote communities like Wangkatjungka is not as easy as you and I would find living in big cities. Often the community store is the only place to shop and in many cases only gets new supplies once a week. Transport is expensive so the food costs a lot more.
ICV was asked to help Wangkatjungka develop a native plant nursery and garden that would provide an income for the unemployed and improve local diet.
We were able to help only thanks to financial support from generous people like you who understand the need to ‘close the gap’ on Indigenous disadvantage.
ICV receives many requests for help from Indigenous communities across the country. With your support, ICV’s hands-on help for communities like Wangkatjungka is making a difference to the lives of Indigenous Australians and making a practical contribution to reconciliation.
Please give what you can today to help improve quality of life, health and wellbeing for more communities in need.
NAIDOC Week, which commences on Sunday, is a chance to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and recognise the amazing contributions that Indigenous Australians have made to Australian society.
NAIDOC stands for the National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. Its origins can be traced to the emergence of Aboriginal groups in the 1920s which sought to increase awareness in the wider community of the status and treatment of Indigenous Australians.
Events are being held around the country, click below to explore your local events calendar:
The Closing the Gap Walkabout for Change competition was recently judged with the two winners to join ICV on the upcoming 8 day adventure on the Larapinta Trail.
Alisha Nelson, 25, from Queens Park in WA and Lynne Duthie, 25 from Perth, will be joining ICV’s CEO, Stephanie Harvey, plus some of our wonderful supporters on the Larapinta Trail which is ranked as one of the 20 most beautiful walks in the world!
The competition, run by FaHCSIA, saw entrants submit posters, videos, audio and written pieces explaining what Closing the Gap means to them and their community.
View Alisha’s entry here.
View Lynne’s entry here.