Community Internship programme extended

Tariana Turia, Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector Sue Bradford, Green Party Community Sector spokesperson

A successful pilot project, which places interns with particular skills into community organisations that need those skills, is to get ongoing funding in the budget.

The Community Internship programme is a Green Party initiative. It is to get ongoing funding of $300,000 per year, of which $200,000 is new money and $100,000 comes from Department of Internal Affairs baseline funding.

"This scheme directly resources community groups," said Tariana Turia. "A two-year pilot achieved positive results and exceeded the expectations of host organisations and interns."

"It creates a win-win situation. The community organisation is able to use the special skills of the interns, and the intern gains an insight into the community sector and how community organisations operate," she said.

"By having an intern on a six-month secondment, community organisations have a good chance to acquire some of their knowledge to strengthen the organisation long-term," said Sue Bradford.

"This funding is also a win-win situation for the government and the Greens, who have both contributed to an excellent scheme," said Mrs Turia.

The funding is expected to cover 13 internships per year.

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