About the Peer Assessors Panel
The Peer Assessors Panel comprises Traditional Owners from each of the following regions of Victoria:
- Mid North West
- Central North
- North East
- Far East Gippsland
Peer assessors independently assess applications to the program for small projects and large projects.
In September 2020, the Strong Roots Program held the first meeting of the inaugural Peer Assessors Panel online. It was a great meeting and confirmed that we have an excellent panel with broad and extensive knowledge and experience in our 6 inaugural panellists. The panel is meeting regularly to discuss the program and prepare for assessment of applications.
Pilot review
We are reviewing the pilot Peer Assessor Panel and process. In the meantime, we continue to welcome Expressions of Interest from Traditional Owners of the Far East Gippsland, North East, Central North and Mid North West regions and will consider these at this review time. This is an opportunity to expand the panel with any new panellists.
Submit an expression of interest
Traditional Owners from the regions can submit an expression of interest (EOI) to be a part of the Peer Assessors Panel. The EOI asks applicants for the following information:
- Who’s your mob and where do you live?
- What’s your age group?
- Why would you like to be a peer assessor and what would you bring to the assessment process?
- What is your experience and knowledge in one or more Program outcomes of healing, culture and Country, governance, young people, relationships and formal recognition?
- What is your experience in planning and implementing meetings or projects?
You can complete the form below, or download the pdf and send the completed pdf form to nell.reidy@dpc.vic.gov.au
Assessing expressions of interest
The EOI will be assessed against the program principles and the following assessment criteria:
Skills and experience
Understanding and expertise in one or more program outcomes:
- healing
- governance
- young people
- Culture and Country
- building relationships
- formal recognition
Experience in planning and implementing meetings or projects
Diversity of assessors
- 2-5 assessors for each region
- gender balance
- mix of people of different age groups
The program team will make recommendations to the Executive Director of Aboriginal Victoria who will make the final decision to appoint Traditional Owners to the Peer Assessors Panel.
The panel will be formed for 6 months and then reviewed. Traditional Owners can be on the panel for consecutive years.
Role of peer assessors
Assessment of project applications
Peer assessors will be selected from the panel to independently assess applications to the program for small projects and large projects. A minimum of 2 peer assessors will assess each project.
Peer Assessors will not assess projects related to their region or where they have a conflict of interest.
Comments and recommendations
Peer assessors will review project applications against the assessment criteria and will provide comments and recommendations to the program team. These will be provided to the Executive Director of Aboriginal Victoria for final decision about program support.
Payment for assessing applications
Peer assessors will be paid per application. Payments are based on the number of applications and assessment time per application.
- Small project applications will take between 1-2 hours to complete and will be paid at $100 per application.
- Large project applications will take between 2-3 hours to assess and will be paid at $200 per application.
Privacy and information management
The names of the Peer Assessors Panel and the peer assessors for individual application assessments will not be disclosed.
The peer assessors must not disclose any information related to the project application.
More information
Download the program fact sheet:
Reviewed 30 April 2021