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2018 COMMUNITY SERVICES EXCELLENCE AWARD FINALISTS

Associate Professor Abraham Francis

James Cook University

Dr. Francis has collaborated and worked with many local, national and international communities. As a consistent, dynamic, and visionary leader in education and practice, he has collaborated with many eminent scholars from both Indian and Australian universities, and communities on projects such as suicide, mental health, community development, reciprocity and international exchanges. 

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Jacinta Webb

Queensland Education Department

Mrs Webb has engaged extensively with Australian agencies working in India along with Indian businesses to promote cultural/community understanding, exchange and collaboration between the two countries through education. She has travelled to India extensively in 2017 to promote various partnerships between the different education entities in Australia & India. ​


Southern Aboriginal Corporation

Asha Bhat is the CEO of  the Southern Aboriginal Corporation (SAC) .As the region’s only Aboriginal cultural and development organisation operating as a community business and service provider, SAC makes well-informed decisions in planning for and delivering effective services and programs for Aboriginal people. SAC was incorporated in 1983 as a regional body to represent the interests of over 3,900 Noongar people. 

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Kerri Dunn
Burnside State High School 

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Burnside SHS enthusiastically and strategically embraces a diverse International program connecting communities on a global level. Prioritising global relationships has seen us nurture and establish the first sister school in India: Risikul Vidyapeeth in Sonepat. A sister school agreement has been signed and celebrated by Education Queensland International. This has seen Ms. Kerri Dunn and Ms. Jo Byrne travel to India in 2016 to start the development of the relationship with Rishikul.

Barbara Ward

NSW Health & Corporates

Barbara Ward is a strong advocate for refugees and IDP’s, and has delivered programs on the ground and provided basis needs such as food and clean drinking water. She is the former MD at Anglican Retirement Villages Foundation (ARV) and San Foundation and was responsible for managing Foundation’s overall operations. She was also responsible for developing and managing relationships with some of the businesses largest partnering organisations. 

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Federation of Indian Communities of Queensland (FICQ)

The Federation of Indian Communities of Queensland Inc. (FICQ) is a secular, not-for-profit peak body formed to play a leadership role in 1997 by reputed Queenslanders of Indian origin to bring all the various regional, cultural and lingual Indian groups together under one umbrella organisation. FICQ started with 5-member organisations and has grown tremendously over the years to 43-member and associate member organisations having people from more than 18 linguistically and culturally diverse areas of India.


Third Man Up

Third Man Up is an organisation established to create social and sporting events to raise funds to support the health, development and wellbeing of young people in Australia. Rather than creating another charity (in what is already a saturated charity market), Third Man Up is a not-for-profit that identified it is better placed to help contribute to the sector by assisting charities to raise funds, and in the process create awareness for the range of issues facing young Australians. Since being established in November 2016, Third Man Up has raised and donated over $15,000 across 5 events. The events include a basketball tournament, a trivia night, an exhibition AFL match and a cocktail night.

Saswati Pal

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Saswati moved to Bunbury 10 years ago and joined a group called Bunbury Multicultural Group(BMG). Joining BMG instilled in Saswati a sense of belonging that she had not previously experienced. She worked as an Interpreter helping the police, department of Child Protection and the judiciary system to help a number of victims of domestic violence. Eventually, Saswati became the Chairperson of BMG. Personally, she is a strong believer in assimilation over segregation.

The United Nations Association of Australia Peace Program ( UNAAPP)

The United Nations Association of Australia Peace Program (UNAAPP), under the leadership of Dr Zeny Edwards, is a support group of the UN promoting the goals and values of the UN to embrace the offerings of multiculturalism through the sharing of food, culture and traditions. The catchcry for 2017 is ‘A safer world, a fairer world, a more sustainable world’. The UNAAPP's main goal is to embrace cultural diversity and promote peace, in as many creative ways. Our focus was on Western Sydney, a richly diverse municipality, the largest representation was India, where 4.1% of the population, or 87,364 people, were born.

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