ROAD TO SUSTAINABILITY – BUILDING CIVIL CONSTRUCTION CAPACITY IN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

This project is funded under the Indigenous Training for Employment Program (ITEP), a partnership between the Northern Territory Government Department of Business and Employment (DBE) and the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace relations (DEEWR). ITEP projects assist Indigenous adults of working age in regional and remote areas of the Northern Territory.

Roads to sustainability - Building Civil Construction Capacity in Indigenous Communities is an Indigenous workforce development project for civil construction in the southern region of the Northern Territory. The aims of the project will produce the following outcomes:

1. Desktop audit of existing civil construction skills in the area of coverage.
2. Audit of current and upcoming civil construction expenditure in the area of coverage.
3. Matching of existing civil construction skills to actual skills required to meet expected expenditure.
4. Identification of civil construction upskilling required to meet expected expenditure.
5. Identification of entry level civil construction training required to meet expected expenditure.

In simple terms, the project deliverables will identify those Indigenous people in the geographic area targeted, who have documented skills in civil construction (Statement of Attainment or qualification); identify the civil construction work to be completed over the next 5 years; identify the occupations required to complete the identified work; match available skills to occupations required; identify upskilling to meet occupations required and identify new entry training to meet occupations required.

In addition to this WDCC project, there may be a second, separate complementary project. This complementary project will take the form of an Indigenous training and employment strategy for the civil construction industry in Central Australia. The strategy will incorporate the data collected from the WDCC project with a practical plan that identifies and implements:

1. Upskilling / skill set training for existing workers / skilled job seekers; and,
2. Entry level training for new entrants to the industry.

The WDCC project will target Indigenous residents in regional and remote areas of an area of the Northern Territory covered by the Central Desert Shire council and the McDonnell Shire Council. This area covers about twenty Indigenous communities.

The two major partners in the project are Major Industries Training Advisory Council (MITAC) and SkillsDMC.

For further information about the project please contact either Michelle Bailey - (08) 8981 0077, michelle@mitac.org.au; or

Marcia Kelly - 0429 000 549, mkelly@skillsdmc.com.au