Summary

This report presents an evaluation of the assistance provided by the AusAID Pacific Division to Pacific Island Countries to enhance their participation in the Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme from February 2009 until June 2012.

Description

In December 2011 the Australian Government affirmed a commitment to providing opportunities for seasonal employment for Pacific workers with the extension of the Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme (PSWPS) into the Seasonal Worker Program (SWP). Delivered between 2009 and 2012, the PSWPS originally included Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea and was later expanded to include Nauru, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Timor-Leste. At the conclusion of the PSWPS, the SWP commenced on 1 July 2012. AusAID delivers development assistance to participating Pacific Island Countries (PICs) through the Labour Mobility Initiative.

The PSWPS provided seasonal employment for workers from the Pacific and Timor-Leste in Australia. During the period of the pilot a total of 1633 seasonal workers were placed in Australia with employers predominantly in the horticultural sector. This independent progress report did not evaluate the wider PSWPS initiative (which is led by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) and overseen by an inter-departmental committee) but considered the development component of the PSWPS delivered by AusAID. Timor-Leste was not included in this evaluation as they received support for participation in PSWPS through a separate AusAID initiative. The purpose of this evaluation is to assess the relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability of the PSWPS and consider the development impact and quality of the initiative. A secondary purpose is to document lessons learned during the course of the pilot to inform the re-design of the capacity building component of the initiative in 2013.

Independent Progress Report (PDF 820kb)
Independent Progress Report (Word 641kb)

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