Successful Literacy Workshop in Canberra

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.

ICV is collaborating on literacy projects in the Martu Lands, WA. Four volunteers were about to travel to the community in August, so ICV invited Zan King from Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa (KJ) to give a cultural and historical insight to the Martu Lands. Zan gave a wonderful historical presentation to the entire group and ICV’s Canberra-based staff to give context to the country where we are working.

Over two days, the group worked on developing resources that can be used by volunteers working with communities on literacy projects. Ali, through her education background, invited two of her former colleagues from ACT Education Directorate who deliver an intensive literacy program to high school students, to participate in day one and share in a pedagogy session. It was from this, that although we are developing resources with the Martu project in mind, we did talk common themes that are encountered across the country when delivering literacy projects to an adult learner.

At the conclusion of the workshop, it was clear that facilitating opportunities for volunteers to meet outside of project engagement is something to be fostered. The opportunity to network, share stories and meet face to face is integral to projects that use multiple volunteers. ICV will continue with this type of workshop engagement for our volunteers, and we are looking into sessions around mentoring, governance and strategic planning.