The Evaluation of the 2011 IYLP was completed in November 2011.
Key Findings – Resilience & Personal Growth
Participating in this program has made a difference to participants with many commenting on personal growth, being more confident, learning to speak up honestly/ talking about feelings, being pushed out of “comfort zones” and coping well, building trust in others, connecting with and forming solid relationships/ friendships with other participants, establishing networks and successfully completing two difficult physical challenges.
73% – have more confidence to stand up for what they believe in
87% – feel good about their future
93% – are able to think through and solve problems faced
93% – acknowledge they are a role model to others
93% – think they can make a positive difference in their community
83% – feel able to create a positive future for themselves
Participant Feedback
Most valuable parts of the program
Kokoda Trek – challenge, porters and shared history. Exposure to another Indigenous culture
Kimberley Trek – cultural connection, valuing different styles of leadership from “TJ and the boys”, trust and teamwork
Personal development and increased resilience, self-confidence and self-awareness
Improved skills in teamwork and communication
Increased emphasis on Indigenous Leadership including history and culture and interacting with Indigenous speakers as part of the program
Being able to connect with each other more on a cultural level during the Kimberley Trek
Areas for Improvement
Program Model
Design – integrate experiential learning and adventure based program underpinnings with Indigenous leadership principles and values
Delivery – Increase the use of Indigenous facilitators and increase participant input into development and delivery
Program Content
Indigenise the curriculum by using “real life’ stories/examples of leadership challenges experienced by Indigenous leaders
Physical and cultural preparedness pre trek
Consideration given to changing the delivery of the two treks in the future
Program Development and Management
Review of participant selection processes
Consider Role of Mentors – not needing to participate in all aspects of the IYLP
All Program Management and facilitation roles should either be Indigenous or have demonstrated cultural competency
Ensure revised model for 2012 and beyond is appropriately resourced and supported
Review the Evaluation Tools and Process
Self-assessment of leadership skills and resilience at start and end of program
Ensure agreed “Indigenous leadership competencies” determined at the beginning of the program are included in the evaluation tools
“I still have a lot of things I would like to do to further myself in my leadership…this program has boosted my confidence and self-awareness and I can work on them [skills] in my community and teach others. I’m more motivated, I have goals now that I can achieve, I’m more confident and I am more likely to take risks because I believe in what I can do.”
“Every single phase of the IYLP gave me initiative to be a leader. Unlike many programs that only tell you how to be a leader you were able to physically and mentally walk through different aspects of leadership in many different contexts.”
Following the Indigenous Cultural Trek and the conclusion of the 2010/11 IYLP the Foundation will spend the next 7 months reviewing the program taking into account the results of the 2011 IYLP evaluation, our experiences and knowledge acquired over the 2 years.
The Program Development Committee met at the Jobs Australia Conference and commenced discussions about the 2012/14 Program.
Key Priorities for 2012 include:
Fundraising
Researching viability of accrediting IYLP
Establishing an Alumni
To promote and recruit for the next IYLP in June
Commence program in September 2012.
If you require any further information on the Foundation or the IYLP feel free to contact Jodie Belyea on (03) 9349 3699 or via email jbelyea@ja.com.au
From the 12 to 14 October Members of the IYLP Program Development Committee met to work on the 2012-14 Program Model.
Members of the Program Development Committee include:
PAUL (PAULY) VANDENBERGH
Pauly is part of the Wirrangu people of the West Coast of South Australia, his family comes from a place called Koonibba. Pauly is married, with a 2 year old daughter and lives near the beach in Adelaide. Pauly is a very keen sportsman, he used to play professional basketball with the Canberra Cannons and was a member of the Melbourne Tigers Development Squad, he currently works for Port Adelaide Football Club managing all their Aboriginal programs. He manages a program called the Aboriginal Power Cup, which is a school-based program that encourages students to stay in school and begin thinking about their working careers once school in completed. Pauly is also a Director of the Jobs Australia Foundation Board.
KAYLENE SHERWELL
Kaylene is a Guni Kurni woman from Gippsland, Victoria. Kaylene currently lives and works in Melbourne with the Department of Planning and Community Development on; employment strategies for Graduates, Trainees and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Kaylene’s passions are working with the community on keeping fit and healthy, Kaylene trains elders in the local community to help keep them active, and is currently organising an Aboriginal women’s health and fitness group. Kaylene has a Bachelor of Management – Human Resources and Certificates III and IV in fitness specialising in training for older adults, she also is undertaking a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment so she can become a facilitator.
KELSI FORREST
Kelsi is 18 years old and hails from Geraldton WA, however she has recently moved to Perth to start her tertiary studies. Kelsi will be studying a Bachelor of Laws and Arts at the University of Western Australia. At the completion of her degrees she wishes to pursue a career in human rights and Social justice, with the aim of improving accessibility to the legal and political system for Indigenous people. Kelsi feels privileged to be a part of the program for a second year, last year was an amazing learning experience which she feels she has benefited greatly from, she believes the friends and networks she has made throughout the program are sure to remain life-long.
RHETT BURRASTON
Rhett Burraston is 20 years old and from Airds in New South Wales. Rhett recently become a father and believes that he has taken on the biggest leadership role he will ever play. Rhett has three different jobs; contracted with the Department of Housing NSW as a Community Support Worker, he works for an NGO called Workventures as a Program Support Officer and for another NGO called Campbelltown Family Support Services as an Aboriginal Youth Worker, the majority of the work is based around working with Aboriginal young people which has been a goal of his since he was 16. Rhett believes being accepted into the program and participating in both years has given him greater potential to now influence and empower other people’s lives than he would have had, had he not applied.
At the Jobs Australia Conference dinner Pauly, Rhett and Kelsi spoke about their experience as participants of the IYLP and their goals/hopes for the future as leaders.
In August of 2011 the IYLP went on a 70km Indigenous Cultural Walk in and around Jarlmadangah, a remote Indigenous community east of Broome, Western Australia. Kimberley Dreamtime Adventure Tours, a tourism business owned and managed by Jarlmadangah community supported the group across the 6 day walk. Please click on the below link to view the AV put together by Rob Walls showcasing the journey the Mentors and Mentees had in Western Australia.
When Jobs Australia created its own philanthropic foundation six years ago it seemed a natural extension of the organisation’s core mission: to build a fairer and more equitable Australia. But it’s an unusual foundation in some ways. Its main source of funding is a non-profit organisation; and it has a very specific focus.
The idea, says David Thompson, Jobs Australia’s CEO and Chair of the Foundation, ‘was that we didn’t just want to be good receivers and takers, we were keen to make our own practical contribution.’ The new Foundation decided it could make the greatest practical difference in an area of great need by helping to develop Indigenous leadership. In 2008, it made grants to two outstanding Indigenous organisations committed to nurturing community leaders. The following year, it went a step further and created a new and unique leadership program for Indigenous people.
The Indigenous Youth Leadership Program (IYLP) targets young Indigenous people aged 17 to 25 and Indigenous mentors aged 26 to 55 who have demonstrated an ability and desire to lead change in their communities. It aims to provide these talented young people and mentors with training to develop their capabilities based around powerful, immersive leadership experiences.
The most striking feature of the program was a nine-day trek on the Kokoda Track. This ambitious idea reflected the Foundation’s desire to create something unique and life-changing, David Thompson says.
In fact, Kokoda was just one element. It would give young Indigenous people a chance to experience another culture; it would test and expand their capabilities in demanding situations. It would leave them with a store of experience and skills to draw on in the years ahead. But the trek was one part of a much broader training program. And to Jodie Belyea, JA Foundation Manager, the less visible aspects of the program are vital to its lasting effectiveness: learning the discipline of preparation, learning to be confident, to set goals and take action, and for each participant to understand more about their Indigenous identity.
In January last year 24 people were selected from across the country in teams comprising an Indigenous mentor and one or more mentees. Fitness programs and regular mentoring sessions began in March; in May, the whole group met in Anglesea, Victoria, for a pre-trek camp. They hiked, trained, and met veterans of the 39th Battalion that fought at Kokoda. Already one of the key goals of the program – to forge lasting connections between a new generation of Indigenous leaders – was starting to show. Kelsi Forrest, from Geraldton, WA, says she left Anglesea ‘knowing that with whatever challenge or hardship I would face on Kokoda the group would be full of support and by my side.’
The IYLP crew flew into Kokoda that August. Together with filmmaker Amie Batalibasi, recruited to document the journey, they tackled the Track as the 1st Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Trekker Unit.
A year has passed since then. But the trekkers still remember it all. They recall being sung awake at 5.30 each morning by the porters and the beauty of the jungle with its 50m-tall Giant Pandanus trees and Ulysses butterflies. They talk about meeting the children from Menari Primary School on Day 4, and hearing them sing. And they remember every step.
The Track is famously gruelling. But the 1st ATSITU faced extra challenges. Very few participants had been overseas before. Leaving their comfort zones was difficult. ‘Challenging for me was the fact that I was in a new environment with people I didn’t know,’ said Elenn Mitchell, from Nerang, Queensland. ‘Not having family with me… in a way I felt isolated.’ For many, the material poverty of the local people was a shock.
So too was the confronting reality of what a different generation of young Australians had endured and achieved in those mountains. At Anglesea, the group had heard from a veteran who fought at Kokoda. ‘Tread lightly with respect on the ground in Papua New Guinea,’ he told them, ‘because there are mates of mine still over there.’ For the trekkers, the daily struggle to make it to the next camp with swollen feet and aching muscles became a way to honour his experience, and to understand that the tragedy and courage of the Kokoda story is part of their Australian heritage.
The participants finished their trek exhausted, but exhilarated. When they met a month later for a post-Trek debrief in Melbourne, the trust and openness they had built up enabled them to extract full value from their shared experience. Exciting outcomes emerged from that four-day de-briefing and training session. All participants reported a sense of personal growth, and increased positivity about the future, as well as greatly enhanced belief ‘in being able to make a difference to community.’ It also became clear that the Kokoda trek had only sharpened a thirst in the group to learn more about their own Indigenous cultural identities.
The second year of the program enabled them to do just that. Last August the participants embarked on a Cultural Walk led by a team of young men from Jarlmadangah Burru near Broome. With the spinifex and sapping heat, the walk proved almost as demanding as Kokoda. But it inspired in different ways. The trekkers saw rock art that has never been seen by whitefellas; they hunted for goanna, ate bush honey from trees, fished for cherabin and swam in water holes. This is country where the culture and law is very strong, and their young guides’ easy sense of belonging to country deeply impressed the participants. It raised hard questions, too. ‘I felt privileged to be there and so proud to be an Aboriginal woman,’ said Bonnie Smith Robins, from Preston, Victoria. ‘It also made me sad and angry that my family didn’t have the language or as much knowledge.’
SA mentor and Foundation board member Paul Vandenbergh understands this. ‘I felt jealous at points on the walk. But it ignited a fire in me to learn more about my culture.’ An experienced educator, Paul believes it is essential for young Indigenous leaders to reflect on where they’ve come from. ‘A lot of our kids aren’t sure of their identity. It’s crucial to get our young people researching their own backgrounds and cultures, and starting to get proud of who they are.’
For the IYLP participants, this first step on a lifelong journey of leadership ends with a presentation at the Jobs Australia annual Conference, and one final task — recruiting new leaders for the 2012/14 program.
But for the Foundation, this is just beginning. Like the participants, the Foundation wants to learn from experience. A Program Development Workshop was held in March and another in October, at the conclusion of the two-year program, to refine the program’s learning and teaching methods and to review key aspects of the model with the help of experts and program partners Curtin University and the Australian Red Cross. Several soon-to-be alumni are also actively contributing to the development of the program.
Anecdotal evidence already suggested that the program has had a powerful impact on the mental, physical and spiritual strength of its participants. External evaluators agreed. They found that 86% of participants felt more able to stand up and communicate ideas and what they believe in, no matter what; crucially, the same proportion feel more confident that they can make a positive difference to their communities.
Results like these have strengthened the Foundation’sresolve to continue the program with the help of sponsors including Huawei and members of the Jobs Australia network. To reach its true potential, though, the program needs a wider support base. That’s why the Foundation is actively seeking more partners. ‘And not to simply give us resources,’ David Thompson says. ‘We’d like to collaborate with other organisations that can help us make a program that’s well-resourced, but also well-designed and well-connected.’ The Foundation believes that the IYLP represents an opportunity for organisations to get involved in optimistic and realistic social change, change driven by Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians working in respectful engagement with one another to build the future we all want.
If one moment from the ILYP pilot stands out for David Thompson, it was the evening in Port Moresby at the end of the Kokoda trek.
‘A number of them said to me just how grateful they were for the opportunity, and my response was: Don’t be grateful. Use it. We’re not looking for gratitude, we’re looking for people to realise their potential.’ Twelve months later, Rhett Burraston, mentee, from Airds, NSW, recalled that moment too. ‘I have mentioned to you before how thankful I am,’ he wrote to David. ‘You said, Don’t be thankful – use it. So that’s how I’m going to show my thanks. You’ll see me in the future doing great things.’
He may not have long to wait. One thing that stands out in the participants’ feedback is a determination to build on the strength and confidence fostered by the program. All have given presentations to schools, workplaces and communities. Three have lost at least ten kilos each on the way to living healthier lives. And as Kaylene Sherwell pointed out in a letter of appreciation to the JAF board on behalf of the IYLP participants, in the past year more than half have changed careers or jobs to move closer to the change they want to be a part of in their communities. ‘I feel confident,’ Kaylene wrote, ‘that the outcomes from this program will be seen by future generations.’
In July 2011 Directors of the Jobs Australia Foundation Board attended a Strategic Planning Workshop, facilitated by Karen Delvin from Building Bridges. The aim of the workshop was to review and define the focus of the Foundation and the IYLP from 2012 to 2014.
To ensure the sustainability and continuous improvement of the IYLP the Board agreed to commit to the following priorities over the next 12 months with the aim of launching a second program at the end of 2012:
Documenting the Foundation’s values and vision for the program and the stories of participants as individuals and a group to promote what has been achieved as a result of participation in the program
Developing and strengthening partnerships with Jobs Australia members, corporations, government and like-minded organisations keen to support the ongoing development and roll out of Phase 2 of the IYLP
Refining the program model, taking into account the knowledge acquired from the pilot and the evaluation findings with the potential to formally accredit the training elements of the program; and
Raising funds for the program for the next 3 years to 2014.
April 2011 Leadership Training
Following the success of the 2010 program 21 participants reunited in Melbourne in April for the second year of the Indigenous Youth Leadership Program (IYLP). The four day event included: the launch of ‘For Our People, For Our Future’, a documentary about the journey of the group as they prepared for, trekked and then made sense of their time on the Kokoda track; and four days of leadership training.
Leadership Training at Melbourne Museum
Key activities held at the Pre-trek Leadership Training included:
Indigenous Cultural sessions with Associate Professor Simon Forrest from Curtain University
Mentor Training, with Dennis Batty from Jobs Australia’s Indigenous Training Network
Daily fitness sessions with Dion Taylor
An Indigenous Cultural walk through the Royal Botanic Gardens; and
Jodie Belyea and Aileen Traynor facilitated sessions that supported participants in understanding the route they have taken to arrive on this leadership journey.
These activities were aimed at supporting participants to continuously develop, through practice and reflection, the seven key leadership skills that underpin the program:
Initiating and leading change
Team Work
Communication skills
Conflict Resolution / Problem solving skills
Delivering positive outcomes
Self awareness and improvement
Knowledge and understanding of Indigenous culture and history.
The highlight for the group over the 4 days was the launch of the documentary with the actual event being planned and orchestrated by the younger members of the IYLP.
Young People speaking at The Documentary Launch
On seeing the documentary George Cops, a member of the 39th Battalion Association, who fought at Kokoda, commented that “the respect and appreciation of battles sites and events that took place was evident amongst the group, this impressed me…It was also evident that the group returned from their Kokoda track experience with a better appreciation of good leadership, the value of teamwork, supporting one another and a more positive outlook for their future.”
The documentary launch was a great success, those that attended commented that it was a very moving and inspirational documentary and they were very proud of all the participants. To top it off, Huawei Technology announced their continuing sponsorship of the program for the next four years to 2014 to the value of $200,000.
Mentors with Peter Rossi from Huawei (2nd from left)
On August 1, 2010, 24 members of the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Trekker Unit set out to walk the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea as part of the Jobs Australia Foundation’s Indigenous Youth Leadership Program. This book and DVD are historic records of their journey. Please find an order form attached.
For more information about the Program please go to this link
You may contact Jobs Australia Foundation at foundation@ja.com.au or on 03 9349 3699.
We look forward to welcoming Jobs Australia Foundation and Jobs Australia members, supporters, friends and interested people at the launch of the Indigenous Youth Leadership Program documentary at the Kino Cinema, 45 Collins Street, Melbourne on Thursday 28th April, 2011. Guests are invited to join us at 6.30 pm for a 7.00 pm screening. We are delighted to announce that our keynote speaker on the evening will be Dr Tom Calma. Supper will be provided and proceedings will be concluded by 8.30pm.
On Thursday 17th and Friday 18th March an IYLP workshop was held in Melbourne involving everyone associated with the delivery of elements of the 2011 program. Chaired by Mentor and Foundation Director , Pauly Vandenbergh , Jodie Belyea and Associate Professor Simon Forrest from Curtin University, led the process of:
fine-tuning the pedagogy of the program (the science behind the teaching and training),
reviewing the key elements of the program model and
increasing content on Indigenous leadership practice and principles.
A valuable reference for the workshop was the IYLP Evaluation Report, which provided an overview of the strengths and limitations of the 2010 program, as well as recommendations for the 2011 program and beyond.
The workshop was extremely helpful for attendees – growing their understanding of of the 2010 IYLP. Having all the program personnel in the room working together was an invaluable team training and support experience. It also allowed the facilitation team to establish and refine group and individual roles, responsibilities and processes for leading and supporting each other.
As we continue work ‘on the IYLP business’ we enrich the experiences and potentials outcomes for all. It has certainly strengthened the formation of our fiercely talented and strong facilitation team!
Leadership Training at Melbourne Museum
Mentors with Peter Rossi from Huawei (2nd from left)