Community Engagement Strategy in Action Strength Based Community engagement through internship, volunteering and capacity building initiatives AIEC Conference 2010
City of Sydney’s Population Snapshot • • • •
Total Population :160,000 residents 46% were born overseas 32% speak a language other than English Most Common Overseas Birthplaces: UK, China, NZ, Indonesia and South Korea
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International Students Population City of Sydney • Total 29,394 : 15,775 studying in the City of Sydney LGA and 13,619 studying at UNSW which is adjacent to the LGA • 8043 Live in the LGA
International students cultural diversity profile • • • • • •
China India Korean Malaysia VietNam Thailand
123,257 76,294 24,783 20,167 18,798 15,302
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Nepal 16,225 Indonesia 13,331 Saudi Arabia 9,527 Brazil 9,207 Other nationalities 123,125
Source: Access economics
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Local Economic Contributions • • • • •
Economic Impact: Support and Create Jobs Generate 5706 local jobs Spend $684 Million Contribute $617 million to local economy Increase tourism Sources : Access Economics “Economic Contribution and Impact of International Students to the Sydney region, August 2010
Cultural and Education Contribution • • • •
Boost skills and research Enhance diversity Strengthen global connection Raise profile of Sydney
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International Students Engagement Strategies • • • •
Internship Volunteering Community Capacity Building Opportunities for cross cultural interaction
Internship
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Our Experience: Korean Cultural Day Korean Cultural Day was organised by three Korean volunteers from diverse educational and employment backgrounds in Korea which contributed to the success of the event. The aim of the Korean Cultural Day was to promote Korean culture to children attending Ultimo OOSH service.
Korean Cultural Day
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Useful tips • Assess the strength of international students : life and work experiences, skills, networks • Project based volunteering • Get international students to work in a team • Provide opportunity for them to utilise their skills language, knowledge, • Provide mentors/buddies so international students can learn/orientate to the community from their local peers
Useful tips (Cont..) • • • • •
Provide opportunities to learn and practice English conversation Provide Social opportunities Provide staff with cross cultural awareness training before they take on international students, promote a mutual learning environment Explain to students about local workplace culture, provide extra support in English conversations, ask questions and prepare to also learn from them Start with easily achievable projects
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Volunteering
Super V Multicultural Volunteer program
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Profile of the Super V Multicultural Volunteers The Super V Multicultural Volunteer Program has approximately 90 registered volunteers, of these: • 71% come from diverse cultural backgrounds such as China, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Russia, Japan and many other countries. • 29% were born in Australia • 45% are bilingual with 19% speaking three or more languages.
The Super V Multicultural Volunteer Program aims to: • Enhance our understanding of our culturally diverse communities
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Enable participants to contribute to their community
• Provide more appropriate and responsive services to our increasingly diverse communities
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Offer opportunities to learn new skills and improve participants English
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Provide participants with a stepping stone to future employment
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Enhance participants self esteem and self confidence
• Promote community harmony and cross cultural understanding • Give participants opportunities to establish new support networks and meet new people.
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Volunteer roles •
Facilitate a community social group
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Enhance City of Sydney Services
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Run cultural workshop or talk
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Living in Harmony Festival
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Project specific initiatives
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Other functions that Multicultural volunteers fulfil
Community Capacity Building
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Let’s get busyCommunity Event Planning Project • Provided training on community event planning, implementation and evaluation • Worked with two social work interns from UNSW • Provided opportunity to run community events designed by the students for local community- Multicultural Movie Night Surry Hills • 30 students participated in the training • 60 local residents attended the event
Benefits to the students • • • • •
Get to know more friends Work with local students Understand more about Council Understand how to organise an event in Australia Utilize their skills, knowledge, network: invitation design, catering, social networking to promote the event • Promote Cross cultural interaction
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Opportunities for cross cultural interaction
Grants and Sponsorships • Provide financial and venue support for Multicultural and mainstream organisations to run projects to support International Students
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• Support Centre for volunteering to develop a resource kit to enhance NGOs’ capacity to engage volunteers from multicultural backgrounds
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Multicultural Walking Talking Group
Indonesian Cultural day
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Living in Harmony Festival
Critical Question How can international students fit into my service? OR International students bring a whole wealth of knowledge, experiences and connection to our community, how can we tap into this rich resource?
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Questions?
Further information Susana Ng City of Sydney Manager Social Planning, Access and Community Development T 9246 7874 E
[email protected] W www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
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