Building Capacity - New Emerging Communities is a project that seeks to support and develop New and Emerging Community Groups, involving members of newly arrived communities (within the past five years).
This project aims to increase access to much needed capacity building, leadership development, training and networking opportunities. The project is funded by Department of Immigration and Citizenship through the Settlement Grants Program and has three main objectives:
Development of a Governance Kit and a Project Management Kit
These tool kits are designed for use by committees and community groups and workers who are supporting committees and other community leaders from newly arrived communities.
The Governance (Committee Induction) Kit includes explanations on the major areas of managing community organisations as well as templates to support committees to meet their obligations and to provide for strong stable management.
It covers areas such as: AGMs, financial accountability, roles and responsibilities of the Executive, meetings and membership. Tools include items such as: checklists and templates for a membership register and contacts register, monthly meeting and report templates and a glossary of terminology common to the sector.
The Project Management Kit provides for strategic and simple project design. It focuses on supporting community leaders to plan and implement projects for their community. It contains templates for planning timelines, budgets and tools to ensure that projects fit with organisation and community priorities.
Workshops on Governance and Project Management
We are developing and delivering a series of workshops relating to the operation, management and governance of not-for-profit organisations as well as project management.
These workshops are being developed in collaboration with community members and service providers, including ASeTTS, Metropolitan Migrants Resource Centre and Communicare and are developed specifically for members of new and emerging communities ( those people arriving within the last five years).
The workshops are designed to provide a vehicle for community leaders to customise and apply the above kits to their community groups during the workshop sessions.
The Governance Workshops will include topics such as:
- Membership, communications and increasing volunteer support
- Running great meetings
- AGMs and meeting constitutional requirements for valid elections
- Constitutions and Policies – deciding where to put rules about running the organisation
- Managing the Executive, and working with sub-committees and project committees to build capacity and share the workload
- Legal issues and risk management, including insurance and safety
- Finances, budgets and the financial responsibilities of the Treasurer and other committee members
The Project Management Workshops will include:
- Designing projects
- Developing budgets, timelines and strategy
- Grant applications and fund raising
- Managing change and quality of projects
Social Enterprise Network
We are coordinating the social enterprise network through the delivery of four network training workshops. We will also directly support member groups through tailored workshops for their groups.
Skills development will be extended in the areas of:
- Cash flow and budget planning
- Project management
- Marketing and product development
- Technical skills as relevant to the product such as sewing and catering
Direct support to individual organisations
The project will also provide a limited level of tailored one to one support.
A limited amount of support is available to assist organisations on governance and management aspects of running projects, such as becoming incorporated, project planning and with funding applications. We will help to link new and emerging migrant community groups to existing government and other support services related to their individual interests and project ideas.
If you would like to be a part of this project or would like to refer a group please contact the Program Officer Steve McKinney on 9420 7222