This year’s recipients of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Research and Development (R&D) Scheme, have been finalised, with the six projects set to share in nearly $395,000 of funding.
The R&D Scheme is unique to South Australia and is administered annually by the LGA to projects that will build strategic capacity, inject innovation, and transform practices for the benefit of the local government sector.
The R&D Scheme is open to local councils, regional local government associations, education institutions and universities, local government professional bodies, local government unions, State and Federal government agencies, or any organisation that wishes to collaborate with local government in South Australia.
Eligible organisations were invited to submit applications in July.
List of funding recipients and projects:
- City of Onkaparinga – Shaping Local Civic Youth Leaders ($48,812)
- Tatiara District/Coorong/Naracoorte Lucindale Councils – Understanding and Addressing Housing Shortages in the Tatiara, Southern Mallee, Naracoorte Lucindale, and Coorong Local Government Areas ($112,000)
- Torrens University Australia – Local Government Career Pathways and Workforce Toolkit for Regional SA ($18,000)
- South Australian Council of Social Service – Keys to the Digital World: Libraries’ and Community Centres’ Roles in Digital Access and Connection ($99,413)
- University of South Australia – Quality Public Spaces: Developing Placemaking Indicators and Benchmarks ($38,000)
- Flinders University – Ending Homelessness: A Toolkit for Local Government ($78,720)
LGA Chief Executive Officer, Clinton Jury, said the funding would provide valuable support to projects seeking to tackle sector-wide challenges, improve efficiencies and unlock innovation.
“The latest R&D Scheme funding round was extremely competitive, with 32 applicants putting in for over $2.8 million worth of grant support,” Mr Jury said.
“The successful projects met the key focuses of this year’s scheme – that being homelessness and housing, climate and environment, fiscal sustainability, cost pressures, managing reform, community awareness of local government, or community wellbeing and inclusion.
“While each of these initiatives vary in size and scope, they all tackle critically important issues and will provide excellent outputs and case studies that can benefit and strengthen the entire local government sector into the future.”
Previous funding rounds have supported a variety of projects including the creation of a cyber security toolkit, asset management plan templates, climate change planning guides and council training resources.
Featured image: Clinton Jury with University of South Australia Senior Lecturer Dr Sunny Son. Image: Local Government Association of South Australia.
