The Victorian government has announced that it is creating more than 50 jobs for women from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds to educate communities about coronavirus, as part of the Working for Victoria initiative.
The ” Working for Victoria initiative”, which is a program previously set by the government to help Victorian jobseekers find work and employers find workers in the context of the COVID crisis, has been given the mission to work with community organisations to deliver these jobs. For this specific job program Working for Victoria will be partnering with the Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health and nine other women’s health organisations to create jobs for migrant and refugee women who can deliver a vital community service.
African-Australian women attending a community event
“We’re helping women find jobs and ensuring everybody has the information they need to keep themselves and their families safe. This program will allow women to take active leadership roles in their local communities and give them fantastic employment opportunities.”, stated the minister for employment Jail Pulford
Employees will work directly with their (CALD) communities across Victoria, helping people access the latest public health information about coronavirus and other women’s health information in a range of languages. Roles will be based in metropolitan and regional Victoria and will involve both face-to-face and online platforms, including video conferencing and social media.
The multilingual educators will be matched to each community based on the languages spoken and health needs of participants. Training will be provided to all recruited candidates to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge to effectively engage migrant communities and provide accurate and up-to-date health messaging.
Ros Spence, the minister for Multicultural Affairs stated that ” the government is creating positions for women to speak with other women directly, giving them the health advice that they need in their preferred language.”
According to government sources, women and young people have been disproportionately affected by job losses due to the pandemic, with the tourism, hospitality and retail industries some of the hardest hit. So far, Working for Victoria has created more than 12,000 jobs, supporting people who have lost work due to no fault of their own.
Some 2,100 jobs have been supported in community service organisations and social enterprises to help them with increased demand of services by people affected by the pandemic – including mental health, homelessness, food provision and financial counselling.
For more information and any enquiry in relation to this program, interested individuals visit vic.gov.au/workingforvictoria.
Clyde Sharady
