The projects will help women reconnect with the workforce. We assist women to transition through study and onto a job within the framework of our award winning peer support model.
We are focusing on training and employment in the trades, disability and aged care, and childcare sectors where there is a huge skills shortage and high job demand. In the trades space, there is also an under representation of women.
Through our program, The Placement Circle (TPC), we will offer the following programs:
Trades Apprenticeships in Mildura:
Aged, Disability and Childcare traineeships in Shepparton, Bendigo, Mildura and Echuca:
Cleaning and Domestic Assistant traineeships on the Mornington Peninsula and southeast Melbourne:
The projects would also provide them with peer support during their training. The presence of a peer supported framework is unique and is a significant enabler to giving women the confidence to transition from unpaid to paid employment via vocational training.
We need to engage project managers to oversee the projects and pay for costs including vehicle, phones, and office accommodation costs, rollout of a marketing & communications plan, assistance with TAFE enrolments, provide monthly peer support events, liaison with building companies and potential employers to take on apprentices, and the provision of web/IT support.
WomenCAN Facilities Services:
We also run a unique woman to woman social enterprise where our team of tradeswomen, cleaners and gardeners deliver facilities maintenance to women living in crisis and other supported accommodation.
We need equipment:
Ute, power tools, commercial wet & dry vacuum cleaners, uniforms, and a lockable storage cage.
Permanent employment for newly skilled, confident women.
Our model has been evaluated by Victoria University. The specific question we tested was whether the unique sequence of our offering (being to link peer supported women in a place-based program of vocational education at their local TAFE and then into meaningful employment with an employer who we have identified as a safe employer i.e. OHS compliant, Cultural and remuneration appropriate) makes a difference to the work readiness of women who have otherwise disconnected from the workforce. The overwhelming finding of the report was YES.
We also have a PhD candidate undertaking a longitudinal study of our model.
The proposed evaluation methodology is a mixed methods approach to collecting and analysing data comprising focus groups and program document and data review. The evaluation will investigate these overarching evaluation questions:
The evaluation team will collect and analyse existing national VET system data and relevant WomenCan or provider pilot data relevant to demonstrating pilot outcomes. Each pilot cohort will consist of 15- 25 members who will participate in the focus groups.
Two sets of two focus groups will be conducted for each pilot (at the beginning and end of each TAFE course). The conduct of multiple, smaller focus groups produces more valid data than single large focus groups. Focus group size will be limited to ensure that each participant is able to participate effectively.
A reporting format will be developed to (i) demonstrate outputs and (ii) inform program design and improvement.
A final evaluation report in a white paper format will be produced , and based on the findings of the pilots, Placement Circles could be replicated across Australia and the evidence- based results used to inform State and Federal Government training and employment policies for women.
Founded in 2019, WomenCAN Australia is a registered charity which assists women to reskill and reconnect with the paid workforce. We do this by helping women build confidence, connections, and work capability. Our program, The Placement Circle, guides women through peer supported vocational training and onto place-based jobs.
Our operations in Melbourne, Bendigo, Shepparton, Mornington Peninsula and Mildura assist women to circuit break the cycle of disadvantage. We do this by identifying & removing barriers to women’s participation in the work force, We do this using an innovative peer supported vocational training and employment model.
We know what reconnecting women with the workforce requires structural and practical considerations:
We also run a facilities maintenance social enterprise. Our tradeswomen, cleaners and gardeners deliver trades services by women for women in their homes. The majority of our clients are providers of rooming house, crisis and short term/long term accommodation including PSI, for women.
All funding areas have a gender dimension, even if it may not be immediately obvious.
Also known as Australian Women Donors Network (ABN: 28 141 197 471), Australians Investing in Women is a registered charity endorsed by the Australian Tax Office as a deductible gift recipient (DGR1) under a special listing, all donations over $2 are tax deductible.