Norman Hagan has been selected to participate in the 2022/23 Kigaruk and Lookrukin Aboriginal Leadership Development Program. He is the Administration Officer, Council Delivery Services in Yuelamu with Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC).
Last Wednesday was International Women’s Day, which is celebrated every March 8. This day is about striving for a gender equal world, as well as celebrating women in all their diversity.
In December Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Aged Care held their bi-monthly meeting, attended by staff from the Alice Springs office and Aged Care Coordinators from Nyirripi, Lajamanu, Willowra, Engawala, Atitjere and Wilora.
At the end of October 2021, the Commercial Services team from Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) converged in Alice Springs for in-house training.
In one of the sessions of the training the team reviewed the upcoming changes to employment services in regional and remote Australia; particularly, Government’s decision to change the Community Development Program (CDP) to a new remote jobs program in 2023. There was also a representative from the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) Central Australia office Engagement Team who attended a session to talk about the provider performance review process.
The Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) 2020-21 annual report has been sent to the Minister for Local Government, Chansey Paech MLA, and is now up on the CDRC website. The annual report shows the progress CDRC has made against the Strategic Plan throughout the financial year and the CDRC annual financial statements. It also includes achievements and stories of the CDRC communities.
You can read the annual report here: 2020-2021 Annual Report
Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Community Development Program (CDP) surveyed clients to get input from job seekers and the community on what they thought of the quality of services provided by the CDP program and to gain insight on areas respondents wanted to see improvement in. 74 respondents were surveyed across the communities of Ti Tree, Willowra, Laramba, Yuelamu and Yuendumu at the CDP Careers Expo at the beginning of the financial year.
Community clean-ups was rated the number one activity by 24.8% of respondents, gardening was rated second (21.3%), arts and crafts third (19.65%), furniture making fourth (17.9%) and health and nutrition fifth (16.4%). The top two suggested areas of improvement were: increased training (55% of respondents) and activities (19%).
Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) has been recognised as a Winner for Employer of Choice in The Australian Business Awards 2021. The Australian Business Awards for Employer of Choice recognises organisations that develop leading workplaces that maximise the full potential of their workforce through established policies and practices that demonstrate effective employee recruitment, engagement and retention.
CDRC is a Local Government entity that operates in the Northern Territory, to the north of Alice Springs, with boundaries that go from the Queensland Border to the WA border covering a land area of 282,064km2. The municipal area is home to approximately 4,200 people and spread over eleven Indigenous communities and one town. Council’s workforce of around 240 staff, over 69% of whom are Indigenous, is spread over those twelve locations and also in the Alice Springs based headquarters. The area is home to the most disadvantaged people in the Northern Territory, and CDRC’s core mission is to build sustainable communities through service delivery, advocacy, and community engagement.
The Central Desert Regional Council (CDRC) Community Development Program (CDP) have got a working greenhouse going in Willowra to engage job seekers in the community. Ricardo Burton, Support Officer, cleared the grass from the existing greenhouse which had been neglected, and Francis Madonko, Program Manager CDP Activities, teamed up with Mark Wilson, Activity Project Officer CDP, to repair it.
In the planting beds tomatoes, onion, silver beat, chillies, and herbs were planted, and some old car tyres were added under the garden stands and planted with pumpkins.
