Natural Disaster Resilience Leadership Project

In December 2011 Volunteering Qld, as a part of the Step Up Program, held the Natural Disaster Resilience Leadership Project in Brisbane. Over 50 participants attended this event in order to learn more about the role of community leaders in building resilience and disaster management in Queensland. During this 6 day event participants took part in capacity building workshops on leadership, understanding community resilience, the emotional impacts of disasters and designing projects to trigger change. Participants also listened to presentations from guest speakers representing Emergency Management Queensland, Queensland Police Service, the Red Cross, Former Victorian Emergency Services Commissioner, a grassroots leader from Kingslake as well as presenters from Volunteering Qld's other Step Up projects.

This event was documented in order to capture and share the learnings and experiences of the participants as well as some of the key information shared by the speakers. Volunteering Qld hopes this film will act as a catalyst for resilience conversations throughout Queensland and beyond. A special thanks to the Digital CinematiX HD crew for their hard work in the creation of this piece.

emergencyvolunteering.com.au

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Disability Action Week

In 2012, Disability Action Week will be celebrated from 9-15 September.

One in five Queenslanders has a disability of some kind, and disability touches the lives of most Queenslanders in some way - through the experiences we have with friends and family, at school, in the workplace and in the community.

Disability Action Week aims to:

• encourage positive attitudes towards people with a disability, and
• promote improved access to the wider community.

During this week, communities across the state will come together to celebrate diversity under the theme “Empower, Enable, Everybody”.

There are many organisations doing great work in the area of disability services and support. If you are passionate about making the world a better place for people with a disability, you might want to consider volunteering in this field. Use Linkki to find a volunteer opportunity that resonates with you.

On the other side of the equation, people with a disability are making valuable contributions as volunteers at community-based organisations across the country. Read some of their stories.

While taking on a person with a disability is usually extremely rewarding for all involved, there are some things that volunteer managers can do to ensure a positive experience. Inclusive volunteer programs not only benefit the volunteer, but the organisation and the wider community. Volunteering Australia has created an excellent resource which is full of information on the benefits for creating an inclusive volunteer environment. 

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2013 Lord Mayor’s Australia Day Awards

Do you know someone who has made Brisbane a better place to be? Nominate them for an award.

• Citizen of the Year
• Senior Citizen of the Year
• Young Citizen of the Year
• Community Event of the Year
• Australia Day Cultural/Arts Award
• Australia Day Sports Award
• Australia Day Achievement Awards
• Lord Mayor’s Green Heart Award - Individual
• Lord Mayor’s Green Heart Award - Organisation
• Lord Mayor’s Green Heart Youth Award

For information on how to nominate visit brisbane.qld.gov.au or call Council on 3403 8888.

Nominations close 5pm Friday 16 November 2012.

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National Volunteer Awards now open

The Minister for Ageing and Social Inclusion, Mark Butler, today launched the 2012 National Volunteer Awards which recognise and celebrate Australia’s volunteers.

Mr Butler said the Awards recognise the contribution of over 6 million Australians who volunteer in communities across the country, including for the first time a seniors category, as recommended by the Advisory Panel on the Economic Potential of Senior Australians.

“I’m pleased to see the Awards will now include a Senior Volunteer category to specifically acknowledge the invaluable contribution older Australians make to our community.”

“We rely heavily on people who generously volunteer their time, energy and expertise to deliver services across welfare, sport, disability, emergency services, human rights and environmental sectors, to name just a few,” Mr Butler said.

The 2012 National Volunteer Awards will call on Australians to nominate exceptional volunteers in their community who donate their time to assist not-for-profit organisations.

Federal MP’s will accept nominations throughout September and October and will host award ceremonies across the country to celebrate the achievements of local volunteering heroes.

Volunteer award categories include:

1. MP’s Volunteer of the Year 
2. Junior Volunteer Award (17 and under) 
3. Youth Volunteer Award (18-25) 
4. Senior Volunteer Award (65 and over) 
5. Business Volunteer Award 
6. Education Award 
7. Emergency Management Volunteer Award 
8. Environment Award 
9. Innovation in Volunteering Award (organisation or individual) 
10. Long-term Commitment to Community Service Award

For information on application procedures contact your local Federal Member of Parliament or visit notforprofit.gov.au/volunteering

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Paradise Kids Brisbane

Paradise Kids Brisbane provides a friendly, safe and happy environment for kids, teens and families to process loss and grief in a way that builds their capacity to feel stronger. They support families affected by grief and loss including divorce, separation, illness, death, migration, and any other life changing events.

Paradise Kids Brisbane is a safe and friendly learning organisation which provides tangible and sustainable services to individuals, families and communities, as well as professional development opportunities for employees and students in the human services sector.

They need to raise funds to continue their work and are seeking volunteers who are willing to approach local businesses to place collection tins and collect them as required. If you are outgoing, friendly and willing to help a children’s charity, this is the role for you. 

Apply for this volunteer opportunity

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The blue card system 11 years on

The blue card system 11 years on - a partnership to protect our children and young people

By Elizabeth Fraser, Commissioner for Children and Young People and Child Guardian

Child Protection Week (2-8 September) themed “Protecting Children is Everybody’s Business - Play your Part” aims to “raise the profile of all issues connected with child protection, including child abuse prevention, treatment, research, education, service provision and support for children, young people and families “.

So I would like to acknowledge the contribution of the 100,000 plus organisations who work with the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian to implement Queensland’s blue card system. I would like to thank them for the efforts they are making to create safer services for children across the state.

These organisations deliver a wide array of services to children aimed at promoting their safety, development and wellbeing. However, one thing they have in common is their membership in the blue card system.

The catalyst for the development of Queensland’s blue card system, introduced in May 2001 was the Forde inquiry into the abuse of children in Queensland institutions. Since its introduction, the system’s scope has been periodically expanded as further child protection concerns and risks were identified in other services such as child care, schools, health, counselling and support, church, sport and recreation, foster care etc.

The blue card system’s contribution to enhancing safeguards for children in service environments continues to be monitored and when necessary, additions have been incorporated into the legislative provisions following public discussion and parliamentary scrutiny.

So today this strong partnership system involves upfront screening to establish eligibility of prospective workers or volunteers to work with children, ongoing monitoring and advice to partner organisations of their continued eligibility, and a requirement for organisations to have strategies in place to manage potential child protection risks in their service environments. All other jurisdictions in Australia have drawn on Queensland’s experience to develop their own models.

The initial screening check done by the Commission is a comprehensive assessment of an applicant’s criminal history (if any) from anywhere in Australia and any disciplinary or police information within Queensland. The information received can be simple or extensive and complex. To give you some idea of the scale of this partnership system today, we receive between 280,000 and 300,000 applications of various types per year (or four to nine thousand per week). Since 2001 there have been over 5,800 cases where people have been prevented from working with children. In 2011-12 alone there were over 868 cases where people were prevented from working with children.

The ongoing daily monitoring of all applicants and blue card holders for changes in their police information ensures that action can be taken swiftly to protect children if necessary. The Commission is currently monitoring over 524,000 blue card holders so if a person’s history changes their eligibility to work with children is reassessed and if the matter is serious enough, their card is suspended or in some cases cancelled. If this happens, the person is informed and every organisation they are using their blue card to work for is notified as well.

The Commission also conducts targeted audits to check whether regulated organisations are compliant with their obligations (including not to employ people who have been prevented from holding a blue card). And the three year card renewal cycle provides a further opportunity to check and update a person’s personal details and current situation within the system.

These checking and monitoring activities contribute to the development of strong child focussed safeguards. And to further reduce the possibility of children being harmed, organisations must have a risk management strategy in place (covering areas such as recruiting and managing staff, codes of conduct and procedures for handling disclosures or suspicions of harm) which is to be made available to parents and staff.

Over the last 11 years, the community has developed high expectations of service providers and periodic surveys have shown that most people believe the blue card system has been effective in contributing to safer environments for children.

These safeguards however would not be nearly as strong without the help of these organisations and the community to implement the elements of the system. All involved have heavily influenced the way the system operates today and will continue to do so in the future.

No system related to human activity can be completely failsafe and there is no substitute for parental oversight and caution when placing their children in the care of others. But with the commitment of parents, organisations, the Commission and the hundreds of thousands of active blue card holders who play a part in the blue card system, the safety of our children is significantly enhanced.

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Relay for Life

Cancer Council Australia is looking for volunteers to help organise and recruit for Relay For Life events in their local area. These events raise much-needed funds for cancer support and research. The roles would be perfect for people who want to increase their event management skills while supporting a worthwhile cause.

Apply for this volunteer opportunity

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Looking Beyond Disasters 2 Youth Forum

Volunteering Qld's Leadership Coordinator Tal Fitzpatrick has recently returned from her involvement in the Looking Beyond Disasters 2 UNESCO Youth Forum in Sendai, Japan. The forum looked at how youth can be involved in community efforts towards disaster recovery and resilience.

Watch this beautiful video which captured the forum and the experience of the amazing young people who participated.

Our favourite part? These wise words about resilience from one of the young participants:

"The bamboo tree sways in the wind - along with the wind - but it doesn’t even break. We should be like bamboo - we should cope with the disaster and our dramatic experiences, and then we should not be broken. We should not give up.”

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Volunteering across the world

The past few weeks have seen a host of worthwhile happenings in the volunteering community both here and overseas. London has been a vibrant hub of volunteer activity with 70,000 volunteers from 70 countries converging on the city to help make the 2012 Olympics a fantastic success. Media coverage of this massive volunteering effort has been overwhelmingly positive and this will undoubtedly help boost the profile of volunteering across the world. Visit unv.org to learn more.

The Olympic volunteering experience also provides a timely foundation for the upcoming IAVE (International Association for Volunteer Effort) World Volunteer Conference which will take place in the same city in December this year. In 2012, the conference will have a focus on corporate volunteering and youth engagement. The Global Summit of Volunteer Centres will also convene for the first time during the week. For more information or to register visit iave.org/london2012.

Back on Australian shores, Volunteering Australia has given national volunteer matching service, GoVolunteer, a makeover. The site, which is offered in partnership with SEEK, now boasts more than 10,000 individual volunteering opportunities across the country. The update includes a new streamlined design, more detailed opportunity listings and improved search features. Visit govolunteer.com.au to check it out.

In Western Australia, volunteer innovators Useful Inc. have launched their first iphone app for Big Help Mob. Useful Inc. are committed to making volunteering a mainstream activity and encouraging people who haven’t volunteered before (especially young people) to get involved. Useful Inc.’s mission is "to make doing good as mainstream as cheeseburgers and breathing."

Useful Inc. liken Big Help Mob to a flashmob, and describe it as "a rent-a-crowd of ordinary people who combine their powers to perform extraordinary feats of strength for communities and non-profits who need help." The site and the app offer a wealth of fun, short-term activities (in Perth for now) to get people engaged in their local communities. Current projects include the packing of 20,000 audio books for blind people in South Africa, a mass planting on the banks of the Canning River and a gardening blitz for senior citizens. Visit bighelpmob.org to learn more.

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Innovate Symposium 2.0

Want to be a part of something big?

Help us explore the big questions surrounding community engagement. A two-day experience with like-minded people. Discover. Make a change. Lead.

Innovate Symposium 2.0 goes on a journey to explore how we engage and work with communities in creating social change. The unconventional nature of the event allows participants to facilitate, encourage and inspire better practice through community engagement, creativity and sustainability.

>> Expect: reflection groups, open space technology, practice sessions, social change case experience, and sustainable and creative workshops.

Innovate Symposium 2.0 will provide you with opportunities to learn from grassroots actors to corporate partners. It will incorporate digital platforms to assist peer-to-peer learning, networking and idea sharing. 

• A low environmental impact event with a focus on sustainable practices and limited waste
• Online connection, interaction and experience

Meet our presenters

Dr Peter Westoby // Peter will be facilitating a journey through a dialogical approach to community development. Peter is a senior lecturer in Community Development (UQ), and Research Fellow at the Centre for Development Support (University of Free State, South Africa), with over 20 years’ experience in youth, community and organisational development settings.

Dr Geoffrey Woolcock // Geoffrey will be exploring building sustainable communities with perspectives on theory and practice. Geoffrey is a Senior Research Fellow (Wesley Mission, Brisbane), and Adjunct Associate Professor (School of Human Services & Social Work, Griffith University), focused on indicators of social sustainability and the factors that contribute to building child- and youth-friendly communities.

Red Thread Stories // Red Thread Stories will be providing a chance to reflect on Innovate Symposium 2.0 through story and playback theatre, and deconstructing the performance. Red Thread Stories is a Brisbane based consultancy that builds capacity within communities and corporations through engagement, training, oral histories and Playback Theatre.

Salvadore Cantellano // Salvadore will be presenting alongside Tal on working with creatives. Salvadore creates emotion and narrative through digital film, has experience with major brands such as Billabong and Sony, as well as with local communities and disadvantaged kids, and believes that creative expression and consciousness are the parallel rail tracks to feeling freedom.

Mark Creyton // Mark will be covering strategies to build ‘sustaining’ into ‘initiating’ through new models of engagement. Mark is Director of Education, Research & Policy at Volunteering Qld with 20 years’ experience in the non-profit sector, and his highlight has been as a facilitating exhibit at the Perc Tucker Gallery in Townsville.

Jenny Geale // Jenny will be presenting alongside Mark on sustainable initiatives. Jenny draws on an eclectic mix of experience across the corporate and community sectors, but having seen the light at a young age she focuses on driving initiatives around social justice, youth leadership, and anything that helps others make an impact.

Cat Green // Cat will be examining authentic community practice and how we can become involved in high impact social change. Cat has broad experience in campaigning and social change, including as the Strategic Communications Officer at Volunteering Qld and with local initiatives such as Transition Kurilpa, holds a Master of Communication for Social Change, and tries to live with integrity.

Alice Lima Baroni // Alice will support Tal and Salvadore on all things creative. Alice is currently undertaking a PhD at the Queensland University of Technology, exploring (photo) journalism, participatory content creation and community media photography in Brazil’s low income suburbs. She is part of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI), and a Brazilian research group 'Storytellers and Narratives: Contemporary Journalism'.

DOWNLOAD PROGRAM

Join us at Innovate Symposium 2.0

4 + 5 October 2012 @ Griffith University Eco Centre, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan Qld 4111

• $220 for individuals, community groups and Volunteering Qld members
• $260 for organisations and institutions

Dreamer, world changer, leader: You

An event for people that want to make a difference and achieve larger social change. New focuses. New perspectives. Create an impact.

Registrations for Innovate Symposium 2.0 have now closed. However, if you have any registration queries please do email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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