Academic literature on the topic 'Community Aid Abroad (Australia)'

This paper is a biographical case study that explores the distinct experiences of three Australian-born Japanese (hereafter, Nikkei-Australians) who volunteered for Australian military service during World War II: Mario Takasuka, Joseph Suzuki and Winston Ide. It examines the social and political context in which these soldiers lived, concluding that they faced a disconnect between the way they were viewed by the government, their local communities and themselves. Notions of identity and nationalism are also explored in the context of World War II and the White Australia Policy, and are compared with the experiences of non-European soldiers in Australia and Nikkei soldiers abroad. The paper also highlights the ambiguous position of Nikkei-Australian soldiers with respect to military enlistment. At the time, legislation allowed for Nikkei-Australians to be variously classified as loyal citizens capable of enlistment, as not sufficiently ‘Australian’ for duty, or as enemy aliens, depending upon how it was applied in each case. Because there was no uniform approach within the government for applying these laws, the experiences of Nikkei-Australians vastly differed, as illustrated by the stories of the individuals profiled in this study. These stories are important as they add to the growing body of knowledge around non-white Australians who served in World War II, and remind us of how the pro-white, anti-Japanese atmosphere within Australia at the time affected those within the community who did not fit the mould of the White Australian ideal.

AbstractTo date, little is known about manifestations of child sexual abuse (CSA) within ultra-orthodox Jewish communities both in Australia and abroad. There is a paucity of empirical studies on the prevalence of CSA within Jewish communities, and little information on the responses of Jewish community organisations, or the experiences of Jewish CSA survivors and their families. This paper draws on a case study of two ultra-orthodox Jewish organisations from the recent Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to examine the religious and cultural factors that may inform Jewish communal responses to CSA. Attention is drawn to factors that render ultra-orthodox communities vulnerable to large-scale CSA, religious laws and beliefs that may influence the reporting of abuse to secular authorities, and the communal structures that may lead to victims rather than offenders being subjected to personal attacks and exclusion from the community. Commonalities are identified between ultra-orthodox Jews and other faith-based communities, and reforms suggested to improve child safety across religious groups.

Objectives: To determine the rate of presentations for suicidal ideation and deliberate self-harm in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, characterized in terms of age, gender, rates of repetition and engagement with community mental health services. Methods: An observational study of health service presentations over 12 months. Setting: 10 sites across the region with police services were included, capturing the overwhelming majority of self-harm presentations in the region. Participants: all Indigenous presentations were analyzed. Of the 433 individuals who presented, 361 were Indigenous. Main outcome measures: suicidal phenomena, including suicidal ideation and any type of deliberate self-harm regardless of intent. Results: Analysis suggests a broadly similar age and sex stratification of self-harm in this population compared with international reports. The rates, however, are 5–20 times higher than those reported in non-Indigenous populations in Australia and abroad, depending on whether the comparison rate is calculated from population surveys or hospital presentations. Conclusions: Prevalence of suicidal phenomena is very high and is likely to be much higher than estimated by this hospital based study. Such high prevalence suggests that a population level intervention is required in addition to interventions involving clinical services.

This article analyzes Web-based networks of Palestinian communities in Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Australia, the United States, Canada, Spain, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. The findings show a thematic and demographic shift from organizations of Palestinian communities abroad to a transnational solidarity network focused on Palestinian rights and the Boycott movement. Although the Palestinian Territories function as the network’s strong center of gravity, analysis of the references reveals that diaspora and non-diaspora actors operate as two distinct but intertwined networks: while diaspora actors are unique in putting emphasis on community as activity type and on diaspora and the right of return as primary cause, non-diaspora actors are mainly dedicated to solidarity as activity and Palestinian rights and the Boycott movement as primary cause. Despite this, ties between diaspora and non-diaspora actors are stronger than among diaspora actors, which indicates that part of the dynamics of Palestinian communities is manifest not just between diaspora communities, but mostly between diaspora communities and civil society organizations in their host societies.

The sons of famous men sometimes fail to succeed in life, particularly if they suffer parental neglect in their childhood and youth. Ira Daniel Aldridge is a case in point—a promising lad who in his formative years lacked sustained contact with his father, a celebrated touring black actor whose peripatetic career in the British Isles and later on the European continent kept him away from home for long periods. When the boy rebelled as a teenager, his father sent him abroad, forcing him to make his own way in the world. Ira Daniel settled in Australia, married, and had children, but he found it difficult to support a family. Eventually he turned to crime and wound up spending many years in prison. The son of an absent father, he too became an absent father to his own sons, who also suffered as a consequence. Ira Daniel’s story is not just a case study of a failed father-son relationship. It also presents us with an example of the hardships faced by migrants who move from one society to another in which they must struggle to fit in and survive. This is especially difficult for migrants who look different from most of those in the community they are entering, so this is a tale about strained race relations too. And it takes place in a penal colony where punishments were severe, even for those who committed petty offences. Ira Daniel tried at first to make an honest living, but finally, in desperation, he broke the law and ended up incarcerated in brutal conditions. He was a victim of his environment but also of his own inability to cope with the pressures of settling in a foreign land. Displacement drove him to fail.

For students participating in study abroad programs in seemingly familiar environs, ongoing cultural mentoring is critically important. This study looks at intercultural development using both the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) and qualitative analysis of reflective writing assignments. U.S. participants in a semester-long faculty-led program in Australia experienced significant intercultural growth as measured by the IDI. Four writing prompts were analyzed in terms of how well they correlated with student IDI Developmental Orientation (DO) scores. Written reflection reveals how students write about intercultural issues at different developmental stages. Some writing prompts were found to facilitate intercultural development, allowing students to ‘write beyond’ their DO scores. While sojourners effectively wrote about cross-cultural issues pertaining to the host environment, more ethnocentric thinking was revealed when asked to reflect on cultural conflicts in their home community. The findings illustrate that significant intercultural growth is achievable in a culturally and linguistically similar host country, and that carefully designed reflective writing prompts can both illustrate and facilitate meaningful intercultural growth.

This article is not intended as a criticism of either the British or the Australian system, but as an observation to facilitate an exchange of ideas and to prepare anyone who may be anticipating working abroad. It comprises two sections, one written by each occupational therapist, and describes their separate experiences in two different areas of community occupational therapy in Australia.

Community Aid Abroad, now called Oxfam Community Aid Abroad (OCAA), is an Australian-based development NGO which has been pursuing international development for almost 50 years. Yet, as it approaches its 50th birthday, the practical and philosophical challenges facing it and other development NGOs are more complex and daunting than they have ever been. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to a process of sustained reflection by OCAA practitioners on the purpose and philosophical basis of development in an increasingly globalised world. Its particular focus is the questioning of the Enlightenment framework that underlies the development project. This questioning arises out of the multi-dimensional crises of modernisation: deepening inequality. environmental unsustainability, cultural conflict, and opposition to Western concepts of human rights. Its central theme is that whilst OCAA should continue to work for human rights, sustainability and community development, it should do so within a post-Enlightenment framework. The critical stance of this framework would furnish OCAA with the resources it requires to constructively address the challenges of modernity. Following a brief overview of OCAA's development agenda over the past decade, a review of the wider debates over the idea of development, from postwar 'modernisation theory' to concepts of 'post-development' is presented. The dominant philosophical debates concerning the Enlightenment project, which underpin development debates, are then outlined. The second part of the thesis explores what a more critical 'post- Enlightenment' philosophical vision would entail for OCAA's development agenda, specifically in relation to human rights. environment, advocacy and globalisation. It concludes with the hope that OCAA will continue 'trying to save the world', yet that it will also reflect more deeply and critically about the philosophical foundations of development. Hopefully this thesis will help to encourage both OCAA's development practice and processes of critical reflection.

The Invertebrate World of Australia’s Subtropical Rainforests is a comprehensive review of Australia’s Gondwanan rainforest invertebrate fauna, covering its taxonomy, distribution, biogeography, fossil history, plant community and insect–plant relationships. This is the first work to document the invertebrate diversity of this biologically important region, as well as explain the uniqueness and importance of the organisms. This book examines invertebrates within the context of the plant world that they are dependent on and offers an understanding of Australia’s outstanding (but still largely unknown) subtropical rainforests. All major, and many minor, invertebrate taxa are described and the book includes a section of colour photos of distinctive species. There is also a strong emphasis on plant and habitat associations and fragmentation impacts, as well as a focus on the regionally inclusive Gondwana Rainforests (Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves of Australia) World Heritage Area. The Invertebrate World of Australia’s Subtropical Rainforests will be of value to professional biologists and ecologists, as well as amateur entomologists and naturalists in Australia and abroad.

Environmental management involves making decisions about the governance of natural resources such as water, minerals or land, which are inherently decisions about what is just or fair. Yet, there is little emphasis on justice in environmental management research or practical guidance on how to achieve fairness and equity in environmental governance and public policy. This results in social dilemmas that are significant issues for government, business and community agendas, causing conflict between different community interests. Natural Resources and Environmental Justice provides the first comprehensive, interdisciplinary examination of justice research in Australian environmental management, identifying best practice and current knowledge gaps. With chapters written by experts in environmental and social sciences, law and economics, this book covers topical issues, including coal seam gas, desalination plants, community relations in mining, forestry negotiations, sea-level rise and animal rights. It also proposes a social justice framework and an agenda for future justice research in environmental management. These important environmental issues are covered from an Australian perspective and the book will be of broad use to policy makers, researchers and managers in natural resource management and governance, environmental law, social impact and related fields both in Australia and abroad.

The importance of regional cooperation is becoming more apparent as the world moves into the third decade of the 21st century. An Army of Influence is a thought-provoking analysis of the Australian Army's capacity to change, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Written by highly regarded historians, strategists and practitioners, this book examines the Australian Army's influence abroad and the lessons it has learnt from its engagement across the Asia-Pacific region. It also explores the challenges facing the Australian Army in the future and provides principles to guide operational, administrative and modernisation planning. Containing full-colour maps and images, An Army of Influence will be of interest to both the wider defence community and general readers. It underscores the importance of maintaining an ongoing presence in the region and engages with history to address the issues facing the Army both now and into the future.

Chapter 1 sketches a brief history of Muslims in China to aid in understanding the development of Sino-Islamic scholarship and the shifting contours of this tradition. The establishment of local religious institutions and a unique body of Chinese literature was predicated by the changing attitudes of foreign and local Muslims in relation to political, economic, and cultural policies. The chapter focuses on the transmission of Islam to China as it affected the development of Islamic thought, and situate this process within the Chinese cultural environment and then in the broader Eurasian context, focusing on global relationships and interactions across geographical boundaries. Locally, dynastic history shaped the Sino-Muslim community and their scholarly production, while developments abroad provided episodic intellectual nourishment. In this discussion, I also spar with some theoretical challenges that arise in any analysis of Asian Muslim communities—namely, the processes of Islamization, vernacularization, and syncretism.

Freshwater scarcity is a critical challenge, with social, economic, political and environmental consequences. Water crises in Australia have already led to severe restrictions being applied in cities, drought ravaging farmlands, and the near-terminal decline of some rivers and wetlands. A Water Story provides an account of Australian water management practices, set against important historical precedents and the contemporary experience of other countries. It describes the nature and distribution of the country's natural water resources, management of these resources by Indigenous Australians, the development of urban water supply, and support for pastoral activities and agricultural irrigation, with the aid of case studies and anecdotes. This is followed by discussion of the environmental consequences and current challenges of water management, including food supply, energy and climate change, along with options for ensuring sustainable, adequate high-quality water supplies for a growing population. A Water Story is an important resource for water professionals and those with an interest in water and the environment and related issues, as well as students and the wider community.

Community colleges without a budget strictly allocated to study abroad programs need to be creative in how they expand opportunities for their students. This chapter will focus on the strategies developed by the Peralta Community College District's Office of International Education to develop a stronger study abroad program with limited resources and staffing. After the Peralta Colleges committed to the Institute of International Education's Generation Study Abroad initiative in 2014, it created new study abroad programs, organized annual study abroad fairs, was awarded a scholarship of $7,500, created new promotional materials and an administrative procedure, launched a new website and newsletter, organized financial aid workshops and professional development day presentations for faculty, and opened a study abroad scholarship through its foundation. The chapter will share how other colleges can learn from these efforts and institutionalize study abroad on their campuses.

Some state and regional study abroad and international education-based consortia of community colleges have been struggling to remain operational. Key outside factors that have created trials include the United States' (US) economic downturn that ensued from 2007-2009, ongoing regulations set by government officials, and internal logistical challenges such as changes in leadership at member institutions, alterations in financial aid requirements, and emphasis placed on degree completion. There has been much analysis on “why” these consortia exist in the field; in contrast, this chapter focuses on “how” they persist. The Maryland Community College International Education Consortium (MCCIEC) is one of the nation's state consortia that continue to be active and flourish, navigating through economic trials, governmental policies that offset international student entry in to American higher education, and common logistical issues; this chapter uses MCCIEC as an illustrative model to show how community college consortia may function to prosper. MCCIEC uses four main approaches—1) gaining higher administrative buy-in, 2) encouraging full institutional support at membership colleges, 3) incorporating strong incentives for member activity, and 4) stimulating growth—to not only survive, but to thrive.

From its founding in 1853, The Children’s Aid Society (CAS) identified parent leadership and involvement as a win-win strategy and incorporated it as one of its core components. So naturally, when CAS entered into a partnership with the New York City Board of Education in 1990, parents were invited to be central players from the planning phase onward. When CAS’s first community school, Salomé Ureña de Henriquez Middle Academies (Intermediate School [IS] 218), opened in 1992, a red carpet was extended for parents by other parents and the staff; 11 years later it was still extended, not only at this school but also at nine others in Manhattan and the Bronx, as well as at many adaptation sites around the country and abroad. In its work in community schools, CAS sees parents as assets and key allies, not as burdens; we aim not only to increase the number of parents involved in their children’s education but also to deepen the intensity of their involvement and to encourage greater participation in their children’s future. As we engage parents in skills workshops and advocacy events, we also create a critical link to the home, allowing us to serve and empower whole families and to foster effective leadership in their homes as well as their schools. Most of the CAS community schools are located in low-income neighborhoods that have many recent immigrants; the challenges of meeting the numerous needs inherent in immigrant communities are added to the challenges of involving parents. However, after more than a decade, a number of evaluations and reports show that each year these schools see greater numbers of parents participating in events ranging from parenting training and advocacy events to holiday dinners.1 This level of involvement represents a significant change in school culture; these parents are playing a greater role in their children’s education and in the school as a whole. By 2003 leaders from both the New York City Department of Education and the New York State Department of Education, among others, had recognized the parent involvement strategy at CAS’s community schools as a model to be emulated.

Using telemedicine systems, physicians around the world have been able to provide health access to their own communities and others abroad. Telemedicine is still a developing field in the health sciences, but much progress has been made with the advent of new communication technologies. Today, telemedicine offers an alternative to traditional physician consultations, especially for those patients with different needs. Patients with mobility issues, low socioeconomic standing, and far away from big cities have seen benefits from this form of patient care. Not only has telemedicine been able to just bridge these gaps, but it has also provided a new way for the international community of health practitioners to cooperate and aid areas in need of specialized care in the developing world. New cooperation programs between developed and developing countries have been developed to bring specialist knowledge to areas that otherwise would not have access to it. Telemedicine is a way to take care of patients in this technological area and perhaps will become the new standard of care.

As global agricultural production methods and supply chains have become more digitised, farmers around the world are adopting digital AgTech such as drones, Internet of Things (IoT), remote sensors, blockchain, and satellite imagery to inform their on-farm decision-making. While early adopters and technology advocates globally are spruiking and realising the benefits of digital AgTech, many Australian farmers are reluctant or unable to participate fully in the digital economy. This is an important issue, as the Australian Government has said that digital farming is essential to meeting its target of agriculture being a $100billion industry by 2030. Most studies of AgTech adoption focus on individual-level barriers, yielding well-documented issues such as access to digital connectivity, availability of AgTech suppliers, non-use of ICTs, and cost-benefit for farmers. In contrast, our project took an ‘ecosystems’ approach to study cotton farmers in the Darling Downs region in Queensland, Australia who are installing water sensors, satellite imagery, and IoT plant probes to generate data to be aggregated on a dashboard to inform decision-making. We asked our farmers to map their local ecosystem, and then set up interviewing different stakeholders (such technology providers, agronomists, and suppliers) to understand how community-level orientations to digital agriculture enabled and constrained on-farm adoption. We identified human factors of digital AgTech adoption at the macro, regional and farm levels, with a pronounced ‘data divide’ between farm and community level stakeholders within the ecosystem. This ‘data divide’ is characterised by a capability gap between the provision of the devices and software that generate data by technology companies, and the ability of farmers to manage, implement, use, and maintain them effectively and independently. In the Condamine Plains project, farmers were willing and determined to learn new, advanced digital and data literacy skills. Other farmers in different circumstances may not see value in such an undertaking or have the necessary support to take full advantage of the technologies once they are implemented. Moreover, there did not seem to be a willingness or capacity in the rest of the ecosystem to fill this gap. The work raises questions about the type and level of new, digital expertise farmers need to attain in the transition to digital farming, and what interventions are necessary to address the significant barriers to adoption and effective use that remain in rural communities. By holistically considering how macro- and micro-level factors may be combined with community-level influences, this study provides a more complete and holistic account of the contextualised factors that drive or undermine digital AgTech adoption on farms in rural communities. This report provides insights and evidence to inform strategies for rural ecosystems to transition farms to meet the requirements and opportunities of Agriculture 4.0 in Australia and abroad.

Emergency Relief (ER) is a Department of Social Services (DSS) funded program, delivered by 197 community organisations (ER Providers) across Australia, to assist people facing a financial crisis with financial/material aid and referrals to other support programs. ER has been playing this important role in Australian communities since 1979. Without ER, more people living in Australia who experience a financial crisis might face further harm such as crippling debt or homelessness. The Emergency Relief National Coordination Group (NCG) was established in April 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to advise the Minister for Families and Social Services on the implementation of ER. To inform its advice to the Minister, the NCG partnered with the Institute for Governance at the University of Canberra to conduct research to understand the issues and challenges faced by ER Providers and Service Users in local contexts across Australia. The research involved a desktop review of the existing literature on ER service provision, a large survey which all Commonwealth ER Providers were invited to participate in (and 122 responses were received), interviews with a purposive sample of 18 ER Providers, and the development of a program logic and theory of change for the Commonwealth ER program to assess progress. The surveys and interviews focussed on ER Provider perceptions of the strengths, weaknesses, future challenges, and areas of improvement for current ER provision. The trend of increasing case complexity, the effectiveness of ER service delivery models in achieving outcomes for Service Users, and the significance of volunteering in the sector were investigated. Separately, an evaluation of the performance of the NCG was conducted and a summary of the evaluation is provided as an appendix to this report. Several themes emerged from the review of the existing literature such as service delivery shortcomings in dealing with case complexity, the effectiveness of case management, and repeat requests for service. Interviews with ER workers and Service Users found that an uplift in workforce capability was required to deal with increasing case complexity, leading to recommendations for more training and service standards. Several service evaluations found that ER delivered with case management led to high Service User satisfaction, played an integral role in transforming the lives of people with complex needs, and lowered repeat requests for service. A large longitudinal quantitative study revealed that more time spent with participants substantially decreased the number of repeat requests for service; and, given that repeat requests for service can be an indicator of entrenched poverty, not accessing further services is likely to suggest improvement. The interviews identified the main strengths of ER to be the rapid response and flexible use of funds to stabilise crisis situations and connect people to other supports through strong local networks. Service Users trusted the system because of these strengths, and ER was often an access point to holistic support. There were three main weaknesses identified. First, funding contracts were too short and did not cover the full costs of the program—in particular, case management for complex cases. Second, many Service Users were dependent on ER which was inconsistent with the definition and intent of the program. Third, there was inconsistency in the level of service received by Service Users in different geographic locations. These weaknesses can be improved upon with a joined-up approach featuring co-design and collaborative governance, leading to the successful commissioning of social services. The survey confirmed that volunteers were significant for ER, making up 92% of all workers and 51% of all hours worked in respondent ER programs. Of the 122 respondents, volunteers amounted to 554 full-time equivalents, a contribution valued at $39.4 million. In total there were 8,316 volunteers working in the 122 respondent ER programs. The sector can support and upskill these volunteers (and employees in addition) by developing scalable training solutions such as online training modules, updating ER service standards, and engaging in collaborative learning arrangements where large and small ER Providers share resources. More engagement with peak bodies such as Volunteering Australia might also assist the sector to improve the focus on volunteer engagement. Integrated services achieve better outcomes for complex ER cases—97% of survey respondents either agreed or strongly agreed this was the case. The research identified the dimensions of service integration most relevant to ER Providers to be case management, referrals, the breadth of services offered internally, co-location with interrelated service providers, an established network of support, workforce capability, and Service User engagement. Providers can individually focus on increasing the level of service integration for their ER program to improve their ability to deal with complex cases, which are clearly on the rise. At the system level, a more joined-up approach can also improve service integration across Australia. The key dimensions of this finding are discussed next in more detail. Case management is key for achieving Service User outcomes for complex cases—89% of survey respondents either agreed or strongly agreed this was the case. Interviewees most frequently said they would provide more case management if they could change their service model. Case management allows for more time spent with the Service User, follow up with referral partners, and a higher level of expertise in service delivery to support complex cases. Of course, it is a costly model and not currently funded for all Service Users through ER. Where case management is not available as part of ER, it might be available through a related service that is part of a network of support. Where possible, ER Providers should facilitate access to case management for Service Users who would benefit. At a system level, ER models with a greater component of case management could be implemented as test cases. Referral systems are also key for achieving Service User outcomes, which is reflected in the ER Program Logic presented on page 31. The survey and interview data show that referrals within an integrated service (internal) or in a service hub (co-located) are most effective. Where this is not possible, warm referrals within a trusted network of support are more effective than cold referrals leading to higher take-up and beneficial Service User outcomes. However, cold referrals are most common, pointing to a weakness in ER referral systems. This is because ER Providers do not operate or co-locate with interrelated services in many cases, nor do they have the case management capacity to provide warm referrals in many other cases. For mental illness support, which interviewees identified as one of the most difficult issues to deal with, ER Providers offer an integrated service only 23% of the time, warm referrals 34% of the time, and cold referrals 43% of the time. A focus on referral systems at the individual ER Provider level, and system level through a joined-up approach, might lead to better outcomes for Service Users. The program logic and theory of change for ER have been documented with input from the research findings and included in Section 4.3 on page 31. These show that ER helps people facing a financial crisis to meet their immediate needs, avoid further harm, and access a path to recovery. The research demonstrates that ER is fundamental to supporting vulnerable people in Australia and should therefore continue to be funded by government.