Disability Workforce Development Grant

Tā ngā kāhui kākā katoa, he tātāriki – Every flock of kākā has a leader

He pūkenga tō Tū, he pūkenga anō tō Rongo – Have the right skills for the right occasion

Workforce development grants are available to:

• help cover the costs of employees taking part in leadership and skills development activities
• offer learning and development opportunities that support leadership in, and greater alignment to the Let’s get real: Disability and Disability Support Services DSS new models for supporting disabled people
• develop employees' leadership skills and improve the quality of service to disabled people and their family/whānau.

Workforce development grants open for applications twice each year in March and September.

Our September funding round will open on Wednesday 1 September and close at midday on Thursday 30 September 2021.

We recommend submitting your application on our online grants portal at least 3–7 days before the closing time. You can register on our portal at any time and it will save your details.

If you have previously been successful in receiving Te Pou grant funding, please ensure all reporting and accountability is up to date.

You can expect to hear back from us with the outcome of your application by October 2021.

The grant covers the costs of employees taking part in leadership and skills development activities. The grant can be used for:

• training fees
• related resources (eg workbooks, tutors/facilitators)
• wages of the course participant, if training occurs outside of their regular working hours, or back-filling for the trainee if required
• accessibility costs for employees with a disability, including travel and accommodation and the cost of support people (these costs do not count towards individual or organisational caps).

The workforce development grant does not fund course development, administration, standard service delivery, service development and business as usual costs.

Te Pou has other training grants available to support employees with the cost of MoH approved qualifications.

The learning activity must align with Let’s get real: Disability as an overarching framework, meeting the needs of disabled people, whānau and communities.

Learning topics that align with the following areas will be prioritised:

• Positive Behaviour Support
• Autism
• Whaia Te Ao Marama
• High and Complex

Underpinned by:

• Increased awareness of the requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) amongst both the disability workforce and disabled people and their families/whānau/carers
• Leadership development of provider organisations, Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs), disabled people and whānau
• Demonstrated use of the Let’s get real: Disability seven Real Skills to inform the application, is critical assessment criteria for the panel:

• Working with disabled people.
• Working with Māori.
• Working with families and whānau.
• Working with communities.
• Challenging stigma and discrimination, and promoting value.
• Upholding law, policy and practice.
• Maintaining professional and personal development.

As well as complying with the grant terms and conditions, applications must also meet following the eligibility criteria.

Participants must be New Zealand citizens or a permanent resident.

The learning activity must:

• be delivered in New Zealand
• not already be fully funded by other agencies/funds
• start (and usually end) in the calendar year of the grant.