Indigenous Community Volunteers

In early December 2009, ICV completed a one-week community engagement visit in Tasmania. We met with 12 Aboriginal organisations during the week and initiated 34 community-driven projects. Some of the projects have already commenced. They range from small grant application projects to governance training, policy development, early childhood publicaitons, art production and juvenile diversion initiatives.

The types of projects that ICV does with its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients are limited only by their imagination.

Despite completing 440 volunteer assignments across Australia in 2008-09, ICV didn’t complete any projects with Aboriginal people in Tassie. This was despite the fact that almost 17,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live there. Also, Indigenous disadvantage is a significant issue in Tassie. Indicators of Indigenous disadvantage clearly demonstrate this. For example, Indigenous Tasmanians are more than twice as likely to be a victim of physical or threatened violence than non-Indigenous Tasmanians. Similarly, the juvenile detention rate for Indigenous kids in Tassie is four times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous kids.

Communities interested in working with ICV to promote their wellbeing can contact Lee Willis, ICV’s regional manager for southeastern Australia, by telephone on 1800 819 542. Tasmanias interested in volunteering for ICV can also call 1800 819 542 to register their interest and make a difference in their state.

ICV is looking forward to working in partnership with people in Tasmania to address Indigenous disadvantage and promote Reconciliation. We thank all the Aboriginal communities and organisations that hosted us during our visit. We also thank the Tasmania Indigenous Coordination Centre (ICC) for the fantastic work that it did in arranging our visit.