Genevie Caraan, studying for a Bachelor of Advance Computer Science (Honours) majoring in Artificial Intelligence at UWA, has been nominated for the McCusker Centre for Citizenship Outstanding Intern Award, for her contribution to Vinnies (the St Vincent de Paul Society).
Through a 100-hour internship with Vinnies, Genevie helped create a guide to evaluating the organisation’s services to vulnerable and marginalised members of the community.
“Creating a guide that all services of Vinnies can use for project planning, management, and evaluation will help the organisation effectively evaluate its performance in assisting the community,” Genevie said.
“Effective evaluation means that Vinnies can clearly see their strengths and opportunities to improve and allow them to improve their offered services for clients.”
“Most of my assigned tasks were new to me - they involved project planning, management and evaluation, which were completely different from what I have been studying so far,” she said.
“I had to start from scratch and build my foundational knowledge on those concepts.
“I had the pleasure of working in two offices with a supportive work environment and an even more supportive supervisor, and I was able to deliver outcomes by the end of the internship. It was thanks to this support that I was able to achieve things I have not accomplished before.”
Genevie’s supervisor, Si Lappin, Manager, Outcomes Framework with Vinnies, said that Genevie “threw herself wholeheartedly into the opportunity and delivered results far beyond our expectations”.
“Our aspiration was for Genevie to draft a guide to evaluation for our services so that we can measure performance and impact in a consistent manner, aligned with regulatory, best practice and community expectations - a foundation that we could build upon,” he said.
“Genevie worked out a clear methodology for responding to the challenge and develop a flexible plan.
“Vinnies WA assists more than 61,000 Western Australians a year by providing emergency assistance including food, furniture and clothing, and helping with bills and rent, and also runs a range of specialised services for vulnerable people in WA communities.
“Genevie asked questions to understand why different work at Vinnies was important, what was driving the work and how it benefited the people we serve and serve with, and our funders and supporters.
“We plan to test the guide Genevie has developed at our mental health service over the remainder of the 2023, prior to looking to roll this out organisationally in the new year.”
Mr Lappin said that he was particularly impressed by Genevie’s achievements as student from a STEM background, with no prior experience of a human and community services setting.
“Genevie showed strength of character and resolve, driven by a desire to the make the most of the opportunity to serve her community and a willingness to learn and grow through new experiences,” he said.