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Skills Across the World

Showcases projects undertaken by young skills teams working with local communities in Zimbabwe, East Timor, Kenya and Cape York and gives a feel for the realities on the ground for organisations and individuals wishing to do something similar.

Who is Skills Across the World (SAW)?Skills Across the World had its genesis in the Worldskills movement…an organsation that for the past 50 years has conducted international competitions for the best young skilled workers in the world. In the mid 1990?s former competitors when consulted expressed the desire to be challenged further, to develop leadership skills, to have broader international experience and to share their talent and skills …. so the Skills Across the World Movement was formed in collaboration with the Dusseldorp Skills Forum.

In March 1998 the first multinational team led by Glen Brasen from Australia, of five young people arrived in Zimbabwe. Six months later – a cross cultural vocational skills exchange project had taken place that greatly enhanced the local primary school facilities, provided skills to seven young people in the community and provided insights and development for the skilled volunteers well beyond their expectations. The progress continues with a small number of projects being conducted each year and the SAW organisation is constantly adapting, learning and challenging itself to provide an experience that benefits all involved. It now includes volunteers outside the Worldskills movement as well.

See the Skills Across the World  videos from 1998 and 1999:

Past Partners

IndigiGrow

IndigiGrow is a 100% Aboriginal-owned, run, and staffed native plant initiative created in 2018 and includes two not-for-profit native plant nurseries based at La Perouse Public School and Matraville Sports High School in Sydney, NSW. IndigiGrow is a social enterprise arm of First Hand Solutions Aboriginal Corporation.

UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures

In 2022 Dusseldorp Forum partnered with UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures to “collaboratively develop and promote thriving intergenerational community-led housing projects” in Australia, using demonstration projects as the primary vehicle, underpinned by the core principle of community self-determination.

Beenleigh Housing and Development Company Community Hub

BHDC Community Hub is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation that strives to support, enhance and transform the lives of local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.