Objective

Provide funding to eligible community organisations to conduct community-based projects that build on social cohesion, harmony and security.

Description

Community projects funded by the department under the National Action Plan enable communities to build capacity and develop leadership skills to ensure they are involved in the plan and have ownership of its objectives.

Performance

In 2008–09, 16 new projects were funded under the NAP Community Projects Program: five in New South Wales,
five in Victoria, two in South Australia, one in Queensland, one in Western Australia, one in Tasmania and one in the Australian Capital Territory.

These projects reflected the priority areas for the 2008 grants round, which focused on enhancing the resilience of Muslim communities and increasing their participation in, and integration with, the wider non-Muslim community.

Projects included leadership training and mentoring for young people, interfaith dialogues, art-based workshops to build and express identities, and sports programs. In addition, the department managed 26 NAP community projects
from previous funding rounds.