In 2009, four young Aboriginal volunteers undertook a ten
week Australian Volunteers International community development project in Tamil
Nadu, South India. As part of the project they ran a range of education
programs, from creating libraries and teaching classes on the school’s first
computer, to giving hygiene lessons and building toilets. In doing this work,
they gained a unique insight into the lives of young people in a developing
community. The experiences of the four volunteers participating in the program
were documented by a film-crew, with the aim of growing community awareness of
this community-based, youth-led program in a “story-telling” format in a way
that is accessible to Aboriginal communities.
This project will support young Aboriginal people with leadership potential but limited resources to take part in a similar volunteer program in Aboriginal communities, based on the Australian Volunteers International model and local models of youth-led community development.
This pilot project will provide young Aboriginal people the opportunity to work as volunteers with Aboriginal communities to improve the lives of those communities, and better their own lives and skills in the process. The particular work that they will do will depend on the needs identified by their host community. This grant will support the program in Oodnadatta, South Australia.
Volunteering provides young Aboriginal people with increased skills, experience and capacity to work in collaboration with other supporters/workers in the community. The young people also have potential to become catalysts for change in their own communities as a result of their volunteering opportunities. The program brings together the knowledge, beliefs culture and practices which already exist in the community with young people ready to take on a new leadership role and new methods of community development.