Women in Energy and Manufacturing funding program

Status: Closed

Who can apply: Businesses, not-for-profit groups

Funding: $0 - $200,000

This grants program aims to boost women’s participation and equity in the Victorian energy and manufacturing industries, especially in majority-men trade-based and leadership roles.

The aim is to do this through activities that focus on:

clear and attractive career pathways
access to education and training
economic equity and leadership opportunities
accountability for workplace culture, diversity and wellbeing.

These activities will align with the forthcoming Women in Energy and Women in Manufacturing Strategies. These strategies aim to address recommendation 19 of the Inquiry into economic equity for Victorian women to attract, recruit and retain women in majority-men industries.

Applications for this funding program ran from 23 January 2024 to 20 February 2024.

Successful applicants

$200,000 is provided to National Electrical and Communications Association (NECA) Education and Careers to deliver the WaTT+ program to support leadership advancement of women electrical apprentices and the WaTT EDGE project providing gender equality training to educators to foster more inclusive training environments.
$191,400 is provided to the Australian Workers’ Union to deliver the Job Ready and Ready for Advancement project to develop workplace gender equality training for manufacturing and energy employers, pilot culture change initiatives in partner workplaces, and support women members into trade-based roles.
$164,570 is provided to Whittlesea Community Connections, to deliver the Redefining Women’s Work in Hume and Whittlesea project to support women who face compounding barriers, particularly multicultural women, to engage in careers in manufacturing and energy jobs through skill building opportunities, peer networking and tailored career support.
$150,000 is provided to Women’s Health in the South East to deliver the Nice Work If You Can Get It project that is focused on improving women’s retention in apprenticeships through partnering with Chisholm TAFE to conduct a gender impact assessment on their manufacturing apprenticeship programs and build capacity of TAFE leaders and employees.
$120,000 is provided to the Clean Energy Council to deliver the Showcasing the Women in Victoria’s Energy Transition project that aims to showcase women from diverse backgrounds working in renewable energy in different roles and stages of their careers through a state-wide social media campaign to highlight the exciting career pathways available to women in renewable energy.
$100,000 is provided to the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union to deliver the Women in Manufacturing program by partnering with manufacturing employers to pilot family-friendly shifts, boost the advancement of women from low-paying jobs into leadership positions, deliver educational forums on improving workplace culture to small-to-medium sized enterprises and establish a peer network for women in the sector.
$100,000 is provided to Gippsland Women’s Health, to deliver the Towards Gender Mainstreaming in Renewable Energy in Gippsland project to develop a toolkit and provide tailored support for energy businesses in Gippsland to implement gender equitable policies and procedures.
$100,000 is provided to Women’s Health Grampians to deliver the See What You Can Be / Act on Site in the Wimmera project, a whole of workplace culture change program, for manufacturing and energy businesses in Wimmera focusing on recruitment policies, procedures and wraparound supports for women.
$97,015 is provided to Ai Group to deliver the Apprentice to Leader Program that supports advancement of women in manufacturing and energy sectors across Victoria through engaging apprentices and mid-career workers in leadership workshops and peer to peer mentoring.
$97,015 is provided to the Geelong Manufacturing Council to deliver the Big ideas: Boosting Implementation of Gender Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access project to address structural workplace barriers by providing education and developing gender equitable workplace policy templates for manufacturing employers located in Geelong.

Application feedback

Application feedback - Women in Energy and Manufacturing funding program 2024 Word 136.83 KB (opens in a new window)

Important dates

23 January to 20 February 2024

Guidelines

Open all

Who is eligible to apply?

Applications are open to businesses, not-for-profit groups, unions and industry groups.

Organisations can apply for a grant if they meet the eligibility criteria:

You must be either:

an organisation incorporated under the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012, Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) or equivalent law
a company incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001 and registered as not-for-profit through the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) You must have:
a valid Australian Business Number (ABN). To check your ABN, visit Australian Business Number2
at least $10 million in public liability insurance to cover all aspects of funded activity for the term of the funding agreement – or an auspice arrangement with this insurance cover
no outstanding final reports from other departmental grants. More information on eligibility can be found in the program guidelines.

How will my application be assessed?

Criterion 1 – Planned Activities (weighting 30%)

Factors under this criterion may include:

measurable outcomes for participants
number of participants
delivery style and approach.

Criterion 2 – Strategic alignment (weighting 30%)

Outcomes align with intent of program:

to increase the participation and equity of Victorian women in the energy and manufacturing sectors through supporting:

clear and attractive career pathways
access to education and training
economic equity and leadership opportunities
accountability for workplace culture, diversity and wellbeing.
alignment with priority considerations listed above under ‘Funding Objectives’

Criterion 3 – Resourcing (weighting 20%)

ability to promote the program and recruit participants
ability to submit a project plan, Gender Equality Action Plan and progress reports
enable periodic monitoring and evaluation of activities, including but not limited to performance and experience measures
suitably qualified and experienced staff, mentors, presenters.
access to suitable venues and facilities for training or workshops.

Criterion 4 – Previous experience/gender equality expertise (weighting 20%)

demonstrated expertise or experience delivering similar initiatives or plans to form partnerships with gender equality organisations or experts as part of this project.

Application process

All applications go through the following assessment process:

Eligibility assessment: All applications undergo an initial assessment against the eligibility criteria. The eligibility assessment determines whether the application should proceed for merit assessment.
Merit- assessment: Eligible applications are then assessed against the assessment criteria. This is based on responses provided in the application form. (See Merit assessment.)
Assessment panel: All applications are reviewed by a panel. The panel includes representatives from:
Ministerial approval: The Minister for Women makes the final decision based on the recommendations from the assessment panel.
Application outcome: All applicants are notified of the outcome of their application by email. All decisions are final that relate to any aspect of the:
funding application
eligibility
assessment process. This includes any decision to:
award a grant under the Women in Energy and Manufacturing funding program
withdraw the offer or cancel the grant funding agreement.

How to apply

Applications closed on 20 February 2024*.*

Application feedback - Women in Energy and Manufacturing funding program 2024docx136.83 KB

Women in Energy and Manufacturing funding program guidelines (accessible)docx285.71 KB

Mini vic.gov.au

Women in Energy and Manufacturing funding program

Successful applicants

Application feedback

Important dates

Guidelines

Criterion 1 – Planned Activities (weighting 30%)

Criterion 2 – Strategic alignment (weighting 30%)

Criterion 3 – Resourcing (weighting 20%)

Criterion 4 – Previous experience/gender equality expertise (weighting 20%)

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