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Community engagement showcasing events

• Brisbane Community Engagement Showcase 2007
• Brisbane City Council Showcase
  • Creative Democracy - Homelessness
  • Engaging communities using cultural processes - Chermside Community Hub
• Central Queensland Showcase
  • Devising and implementing the District Youth Achievement Plan for the ETRF Senior Phase of Learning
  • Integrated Area-Wide Management as an Approach to Landscape Management
  • Rolleston Coal Project
  • Yeppoon Western Bypass Road
• Emergency Services Showcase
  • Community Safety Project
  • Engaging Indigenous Communities
  • Local Ambulance Committees
  • Queensland Ambulance Service First Responders
• Goodna Outreach Showcase
• Hervey Bay Showcase
  • Australian Industry Engineering Manufacturing Network Ltd
  • Wide Bay Burnett Human Services Network
  • New prison in a new town
• Ipswich Showcase
  • Swanbank Community Reference Group
  • Community Hubs Project in Esk Shire
  • Ipswich Area Regional Disability Council (IARDC)
• Mackay Showcase
  • Mackay Highlands Coordinating Committee
  • Queensland Marine Academy
  • Mackay Childhood Injury Prevention Project
  • Mackay Alcohol and Other Drugs Community Partnership
• NRM Showcase
  • Review of Ministerial Advisory Arrangements
  • CHRRUPP Experiment and Future Options for Community Engagement
  • Community Involvement in Mary River Planning
• Queensland Police Service Showcase
  • Mareeba Truancy and Graffiti (TAG) project
  • Community Support
  • Mareeba Shire Council - Local Government view
  • Mareeba State High School - Community Education Counsellor view
  • Mareeba State High School - Education view
• Townsville Showcase
  • La Luna Youth Art
  • Minimizing Road Trauma
  • Speak Out 2003
  • Palm Island Community Youth Centre Consultation Process
  • District Youth Achievement Plan
  • Young Achievement Enterprise Education Program

Goodna Outreach Showcase

Outrigger project case study

• Where we began
• Methods we used to involve people
• On the journey
• What we learnt
• Where we ended up
• Keeping it going

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Where we began

The Outrigger project aimed to engage a range of young people in TAFE-based learning programs. The programs had been customised to enable the teaching to be undertaken by elders from specific cultural groups. This was in order to support the construction of three outrigger canoes which reflected the cultural traditions of three of the groups in the community. It also sought to engage young people and elders from the Aboriginal, Torres Strait and Pacific Island communities with service providers. The project participants were also interested in addressing community concerns around substance abuse, particularly chroming.

A range of concerns existed before the project commenced including:

• whether 'at risk' young people could be engaged through this process;
• whether cross-cultural and cross-generational communication challenges could be overcome;
• whether necessary government and community resources could be harnessed to support the project;
• whether existing service providers would collaborate to achieve the desired outcome - no single organisation could deliver the desired outcomes on its own;
• whether the tools required to create the canoes could be used in a way that complied with TAFE's workplace health and safety standards;
• whether the various stakeholders would see the project through to its completion; and
• whether the canoes would float.

Methods we used to involve people

This project involved a wide range of stakeholders including youth service providers, State and Local Government agencies, local businesses, schools, elected representatives, media organisations, young people and community members. Elders from the Indigenous, Samoan, Pukapukan Island (Cook Island), Torres Strait Island and Maori communities played a particularly important role as did the Bremer Institute of TAFE and the Goodna Youth Service. Elders involved in sharing their knowledge with the young people were paid for their time.

Forty-three young people were also engaged through Goodna Youth's core service provision including outreach services on trains, in parks and in shopping centres. These engagement processes were non-threatening and highly accessible to the young people who were generally not participating in mainstream education or community processes.

Community members were involved using a range of processes including; ongoing meetings with a group of elders, celebrations and ceremonies, community events, informal discussions, media campaigns, VIP days and tours. These processes were selected because they were accessible, culturally appropriate and in the case of the various celebrations and ceremonies were recommended/required by the elders themselves. Open days and tours were held to introduce the broader community to the project but also to the range of services and facilities of the Bremer Institute of TAFE that can be accessed via both mainstream and innovative pathways.

The use of customised, accredited and non-accredited TAFE-based learning programs to engage both young people and the elders delivered tangible 'rewards' for participants in terms of qualifications and skills that can be further built upon. The drug and alcohol-free TAFE environment and the services provided by Goodna Youth Outreach supported broader project goals to address substance abuse concerns.

It took almost two years to engage the full range of stakeholders required to successfully complete this project.

On the journey

Some of the keys to the success of this project were:

• the commitment, collaboration, generosity, trust building and enthusiasm of community members, teachers, young people and others;
• the time taken at the beginning of the project to research the project, identify stakeholders and build rapport;
• the time taken to engage the cultural communities and to work through appropriate channels, protocols and processes and to ensure the project developed in a manner that was culturally aware;
• the professional approach taken by the Goodna Youth Outreach service;
• the overlapping yet discrete roles played by all agencies/ groups and the shared commitment to the project succeeding;
• engaging at the 'grass roots';
• facilitating ongoing conflict resolution throughout the project;
• providing free food and transport;
• the funding that was provided; and
• the links that existed between this project and core government priorities which meant that agencies were able to commit to it.

What we learnt

Some of the challenges that were encountered included:

• the time taken to sustain the ongoing engagement and participation by a diverse range of stakeholders;
• customising existing TAFE programs and systems to meet the needs of culturally diverse groups with specific learning outcomes;
• the reliability, loss and theft of equipment;
• cultural differences and the obligations of elders to their communities beyond the project;
• the reliability and consistency of people involved with elements of the project;
• capturing and maintaining the attention and focus of the young people;
• meeting safety and legal requirements;
• language and communication barriers;
• cross-cultural and cross-generational tensions;
• ensuring that the young people were in a fit state to participate on a day-by-day basis;
• the lack of resources to follow-up young people who participated in all or part of the project;
• issues regarding who 'owns' the canoes - the young people or the elders; and
• the tight timeframes which were challenging for the elders who had to adapt to a new role that of "teacher".

Many of these challenges were managed on a daily basis by staff from the Goodna Youth Outreach service who played various roles including conflict negotiator, motivator, linker, bus driver, advocate, rule enforcer and interpreter. The Bremer Institute of TAFE also had to demonstrate considerable commitment and patience to ensure that 'off the shelf' programs and packages were appropriately customised to meet the needs of this project. Having a strong and enduring commitment to building and maintaining relationships and to communicating often and widely were critical to addressing the range of challenges.

Where we ended up

At the conclusion of this project 12 elders from the community had undertaken studies to achieve one workplace assessor competency and 8 had obtained a certificate of completion. Forty-three young people had enrolled in a range of construction and workplace health and safety competencies through the TAFE system and had been required to not be under the influence of any mind altering substance whilst working on the canoes. The young people involved built strong networks with each other and with service providers. They also report that they had fun during the project and enjoyed learning new skills and new languages. A number of these young people are considering future studies or have already returned to school. Relations between cultural groups and between young people, elders and service providers have improved as a result of their engagement on a shared project. Three outrigger canoes had been built reflecting the cultural traditions of three cultural groups. The elders had been able to showcase their culture and traditions in a positive way.

As a result of participating in this project the knowledge base of a range of government and non-government service providers has been expanded. All participants have developed a heightened awareness of how to work cross-culturally. The Bremer Institute of TAFE has obtained useful insight into how to customise learning programs to meet the needs of specific communities. The Goodna Youth Outreach Service and the Bremer Institute of TAFE have identified another employment-based initiative that they will partner on.

The elders who were involved in this project have all earned significant regard within their communities for having taken on, and completed this project, the first of its kind in Australia. This positive attention has extended beyond the local community to the communities in the Pacific and Torres Straits and the project has been recognised through international expatriate media and networks.

Keeping it going

Through this project we learnt a lot about the importance of cultural awareness and protocols - what it means and how much effort needs to be made in an ongoing way to get it right. We also learnt that even within this target group, many subgroups existed and that each subgroup had their own needs and specific support requirements to help them stay engaged with the process. All of the participants learnt more about relationships and collaboration as a result of their participation in this project, particularly the need to provide ongoing support to nurture and sustain relationships.

If this project was undertaken again, Bremer TAFE would be more active in introducing students to the range of services available within the TAFE system to continue their engagement in learning. The TAFE would also consider nominating a single teacher to work with the students and elders to support the trust and relationship building necessary to sustain engagement such as this. Learnings from this project have informed the development of an introductory program to encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to become involved in TAFE.

The role of religion and prayer was considered to be extremely important for the elders involved in this project. By contrast, many of the young people did not enjoy being asked to participate in regular and frequent prayer though acknowledged the cultural significance of prayer and recommended that it should be continued in future projects if it was significant for the elders and cultures involved.

Should this, or a similar project be undertaken in future, more effort would be made to develop resource plans during the early phases, to ensure that all participants have appropriate equipment and that actual and in-kind costs are tracked.