Indigenous Community Volunteers Match Skills With Needs

Indigenous Community Volunteers (ICV) ran a stand at Melbourne’s Sustainable Living Festival – sounded interesting so I checked out what they do and how how they operate.

ICV is a NonProfit that has been operating since 2001. The organisation responds to requests from Indigenous communities and ‘matches skills’, flying volunteers to remote communities to work on projects that can lead to employment, self employment and community development. Volunteering with ICV is about sharing skills and knowledge and learning together. It is funded by the Federal Government and several private corporations – such as the Myer Foundation, Rio Tinto and Shell.

Types of projects

• sharing business skills with young fashion designers, enabling them to ‘grow’ their label and obtain funding to break into overseas markets;
• teaching people how to establish a community garden in places like the beautiful Fitzroy Valley, so they no longer have to travel 140kms to the nearest town for fresh fruit and vegetables;
• travelling to NT to train staff in the running of an aged care facility so that Aboriginal Elders do not have to leave their communities.

Opportunities offered to Indigenous communities:

• start or grow a business
• gain employment
• create positive change within the community

Skills that can be shared include:

• accounting, MYOB, retail, marketing;
• business planning, governance, grant writing;
• education, community services, health;
• agriculture and horticulture,
• sewing, arts and craft, music;
• plus many other trade and professional areas.

Indigenous communities, businesses or individuals can:

• decide what skills they’d like
• determine how long the project will go for and
• choose the volunteer.

Long serving ICV Co-Chair, and driving force behind the organisation’s expansion and improved services, Joseph Elu, received an Order Of Australia on Australia Day ’08.

Here’s some more info:
Current volunteering opportunities
The difference ICV has made to communities
Some of the volunteers’ stories