The innovative programs offered by AREEA’s Registered Training Organisation (RTO) division have been in the news lately, as interest in contributions from the Australian Government’s Critical Skills Investment Fund heats up.
AREEA’s RTO programs were the key focus in a feature article published in The Weekend Australian on February 25.
Entitled ‘Building up the front line’, the story focuses on how AREEA is assisting its members to tackle skills shortages by providing Nationally Registered Training that is subsidised by Federal Government funding programs.
“Skills development programs for smaller employers can often be more viable and effective when working as a group and AREEA has collaboratively brought these stakeholders together,” AREEA director Minna Knight told reporter Penny McLeod.
“In this case, training is mainly being delivered at supervisory level to develop leadership capability and enhanced productivity in the resource sector.”
Click here to read the full article. AREEA thanks members Doral Mineral Sands and La Mancha Resources for taking part in the report, in particular La Mancha HR manager Gail Peabody who gave some excellent comments to the reporter.
For those members looking to benefit from the funding program, AREEA’s training and development team have provided the below summary on how you can take advantage of our RTO services.
Are you making the most of your own workforce talent?
AREEA has been successful in sourcing funding to address workforce development priorities in the resources sector. A growing number of AREEA member companies are already benefitting from the funding allocation and a partnership with AREEA for training – to retrain, or upskill their operator and supervisory sectors.
The funding priorities in the current National Workforce Development Funding (NWDF) round are to support the mining, construction and allied sector industries of the resources economy.
How do you access the funding?
If your organisation operates in, or provides support services to the mining industry, and is being impacted by the pressures of the skills shortage, then you may be eligible to apply for funding, to support workforce development projects. There is a $5 million pool of funding available to these priority sectors of the economy.
Applications must demonstrate that the organisation is either:
- operating in a mining sector; or
- has been particularly affected by the effects of the expanding resources sector, through loss of skilled labour to the resources sector, or industries that support the resources sector.
Training solutions
While eligible organisations in all sectors are able to apply for funding, the application must clearly outline how it has been impacted by the resources sector, the resulting effects on the competitiveness or viability of the organisation and the proposed workforce development and training solution to reduce these effects.
The focus of projects should be on assisting individual organisations to increase their workforce capacity by providing existing workers and new workers with the opportunity to enhance their skill levels through formal training (a nationally recognised qualification).
Need help getting started?
Organisations wishing to apply for this funding should contact AREEA Training and Development, for support in developing an application that will include the a business case outlining:
- the impact of the resources sector on their industry or organisation;
- the resulting effects on the competitiveness or viability of the organisation;
- how their project addresses these impacts;
- the training that will be funded and how this training will address the impacts of the resources sector in terms of the competitiveness or viability of the organisation; and
- a clear ‘line of sight’ to a nominated resources development project as defined in a supporting workforce development training plan.
For more information, or assistance getting started with an application, please contact AREEA Training and Development by phone (08)62180700 or by email: [email protected]
