Decent Work

This year, the youth unemployment rate hit 7.5%, more than double the rate for the general population, and in some places it was as high as 17%. The experience for too many young people is of casual, insecure and low-paid work. Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and without support face additional barriers, which are commonly amplified for those in rural and regional communities. Earning while you learn is a sentiment that VFFF strives to foster in the Decent Work grantmaking focus area as this is the experience that young people value and are seeking out.

Within the Decent Work portfolio, VFFF funds employer driven, innovative models for work that integrate learning to ensure young people gain the work and experience they need and value with a clear focus on three funding outcomes:

• Increased employer engagement in work-based learning relevant to the needs of local industry
• Increased entry level jobs for young people
• Smoother transitions for young people from entry level jobs to decent, secure work.

The grants distributed under Decent Work this year focused on delivering these outcomes, particularly for rural and regional young people. Each of the new partners has a unique approach with the Brotherhood of St Laurence (BSL) focused on system change, the Australian Training Company (ATC) taking an industry approach (agriculture) and Miyay Birray Youth Service (MBYS) focusing on a single cohort of young people (First Nations) in a single community (Moree). What underpins each of these partnerships is the important priority they place on ensuring their work is youth informed – young people’s voices are front and centre.

In the first two years of the Backing Young People strategy, the collective Decent Work portfolio enables VFFF to play a (small) role across the wide spectrum of work that makes up the complex employment ecosystem. At one end VFFF supports BSL as a strategic partner to use evidence to formulate, support and deliver employment policy relevant to young people and informed by on the ground work. At the other end of the spectrum, VFFF supports ATC and MBYS, organisations operating at the coalface of working with young people seeking decent work in rural and regional areas. VFFF’s historical work has shown that supporting policy changes in parallel to on the ground work leads to the best chance of delivering outcomes for the beneficiary groups most in need of support.

This year also saw VFFF leap at the opportunity to participate in the Work Integration Social Enterprise (WISE) Grant Program, collaborating with six philanthropic peers to provide over $4.7m to WISEs to build their capacity to create meaningful jobs and employment pathways for disadvantaged jobseekers. Working alongside Westpac Foundation, Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation (LMCF), Paul Ramsay Foundation (PRF), Macquarie Group Foundation, English Family Foundation and Minderoo Foundation, the group collectively recognised that WISEs often find it difficult to navigate various philanthropic grant programs, and despite their effectiveness at creating sustainable and meaningful work, they face unique challenges to grow due to the significant costs of working with marginalised job seekers. The two-year WISE Grant Program seeks to address some of these challenges while ultimately creating more job opportunities and reducing barriers to work. This collaboration is a great opportunity for VFFF to identify new youth focused WISEs, strengthen philanthropic networks and leverage the shared knowledge base to better meet the funding needs of the Australian for-purpose sector.