On 31 May, 12 people from across North-West Tasmania graduated from a new program management course designed with community outcomes in mind.

Funded by the Tasmanian Community Fund, the face-to-face course coordinated by the University of Tasmania provided participants with learning in governance, design thinking and change management as well as a Certificate IV Project Management.

Delivered over six months, participants travelled and received training in six different municipalities in Tasmania’s North-West.

Graduate and Queenstown resident Christian Rowland said he was grateful to have received this opportunity.

“Education opportunities can be really limited in Queenstown so having been able to receive this qualification without leaving my region is really life-changing,” he said.

Currently employed at West Coast Connect, a not-for-profit organisation working to address high unemployment rates in the region, Mr Rowland said the skills he had learnt would work to directly benefit the community.

“I was looking to enhance my own skills and apply learnt skills to the organisation I am working with,” he said.

“The program has given me the confidence to manage, plan and execute projects and have a better understanding of what is really required in a project and how to fix errors and mistakes as they come up.”

University of Tasmania Director Industry and Short Courses Sarah Jones said it was fantastic to see the first cohort of students graduating from this program.

“It is crucial that regional and rural communities have access to quality education opportunities,” she said.

“There are limited short course options where people have the opportunity to upskill alongside peers without having to leave the region.

“The calibre of the participants and the way they connected as a learning group was really impressive.”

Ms Jones said the Tasmanian Community Fund unlocked opportunities for 12 individuals living in this region to build their skills and capabilities.

“The learnings from this course are transferable and are something that the graduates can apply right throughout their careers,” she said.

TCF Chairperson Sally Darke said it is important that local communities have the capacity to deliver on their own ideas and solutions to complex local issues.

“Having people in local communities with project management skills will mean that ideas can be implemented locally with people who already have networks in those communities,” she said.

“A lot of project management training is focused on infrastructure projects, whereas this particular course is really targeted at program delivery – working with people to change behaviours, cultures to really deliver on key community initiatives.”

The Program Management course is now in its second and third iteration with courses currently running in Northern and Southern Tasmania.