Employment

Through collaborating with partners and sector practitioners, SVA believes that by 2020 we will help create employment pathways for 20,000 Australians who are either at risk of falling into employment exclusion, or are already excluded from the labour market.

SVA has identified three key areas of focus where we can make the greatest difference in tackling long-term unemployment.

• School to Work Transitions – SVA will partner with ventures working with ‘at risk’ youth in order to prevent them from falling into the cycle of long-term unemployment. These ventures focus on developing the skills, knowledge and mindsets to empower young people to achieve their potential and fulfil their aspirations. These youth transition approaches support and encourage young people at risk of being disenfranchised or already disengaged from education, to choose and succeed on a positive post-school pathway, whether that be in tertiary education, traineeships / apprenticeships, further training or employment. The area of effective youth transitions is also the bridge between the work SVA undertakes in Education and Employment. Learn more about the life changing work of Ganbina and Beacon Foundation.
• Social Enterprise Development – SVA will support social enterprises that offer employment opportunities for people who are excluded from the labour market. These ventures will create employment pathways for long-term unemployed people within commercially sustainable businesses. The ventures will demonstrate that they can create new jobs whilst cost effectively transition the long-term unemployed back into the workforce. Read about the employment-focused venture partners in SVA’s current portfolio – Fair Business, STREAT, North Queensland Green Solutions, Catherine House and CareerTrackers.
• Private Sector Engagement – SVA will build partnerships with progressive private sector companies that want to tackle long-term unemployment exclusion and help to create employment pathways for some of Australia’s most disadvantaged people. Check out the series of case studies SVA Consulting and SVA Employment team undertook on behalf of non-profit organisation GenerationOne, which highlight the work of a range of employers who are committed to successfully transitioning long-term unemployed Indigenous Australians into sustainable, meaningful employment.

Quick links

Learn about where SVA’s work in social enterprise development is targeted.

Find out how SVA is supporting Australian Disability Enterprises (ADEs) to transition to social enterprises through the Sustainable Social Enterprise Project.

In February 2013, we convened the first SVA Employment Dialogue forum, focusing on how to more effectively engage employers in creating employment for long-term unemployed job seekers and those at risk of long-term unemployment in Australia. The forum was a launch pad for SVA Employment Dialogue activity which will span the next 18 months and will include a series of opportunities for stakeholders to be part of a critical conversation about what the future of the Australian employment system could look like.

 Understand how the Social Enterprise Fund – Western Australia, the State Government of Western Australia’s $10 million Social Enterprise Fund – Grants Program (SEF) aims to increase the number, effectiveness and efficiency of social enterprises in Western Australia by supporting not-for-profit community sector organisations to establish new or strengthen existing social enterprises.

Find out about the Queensland Social Enterprise Partnership, funded by the Queensland Government’s Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI) and Department of Communities, and how it supported social enterprises in Queensland that are creating employment opportunities for people who are excluded from the labour market.

 Read how the ACT Social Enterprise Hub is stimulating the development of social enterprises in the ACT.

Learn about some of the success stories of previous social enterprise projects.