Providence was engaged by the Australian Border Force (ABF) to develop a comprehensive training and skilling program for ABF officers involved in the Australian Trusted Trader (ATT) Programme. This initiative aimed to equip officers with the capability to conduct security evaluations, assessments, and assurance activities aligned with legislative requirements and risk-based principles.
To meet the World Customs Organisation’s (WCO) security objectives, Providence conducted over 40 security assessments of commercial entities and co-designed a training continuum tailored to the needs of the ABF. The program included a six-day training course focused on security risk analysis, complemented by individual mentoring for over 30 personnel. A student information manual was developed to support the learning process.
This training enhanced officers’ confidence and skills, enabling them to perform thorough and methodical security assessments. The program has directly contributed to the ATT Programme conducting over 900 assessments, providing the ABF with a sustainable capability to meet its security obligations effectively.
Providence has designed, developed and delivered multiple bespoke training and skilling courses to various clients in Defence. This has included DSA SYINT in 2010, CIOG and Defence Signals in 2011, Estate and Infrastructure Group (EIG) in 2015 and DS&VS SyOps in 2016, 2018, 2019. All courses were individually tailored to client needs after extensive engagement and analysis of required learning objectives and outcomes.
They all included the development of training programs, PowerPoint presentations, instructional content, briefing notes, attendee handouts and in some cases exams and quizzes. Course attendance numbers varied from 8 to 23 with the course duration ranging from 2 days to 5 days. The knowledge and experience of attendees were invariably diverse with some courses attended by people with zero knowledge, and others with in-depth knowledge of the broad instructional concepts.
Each course was characterised by the provision of practical as opposed to ‘academic’ theory. This was complimented by individual and group activities designed to apply, confirm and test knowledge provided in preceding lessons. This, when accompanied by a facilitation approach best described as ‘engaging, enthusiastic and communicative,’ resulted in the successful delivery of all courses to significant client satisfaction. This saw exceptionally supportive feedback provided by attendees to their managers including many commenting the Security Risk training they received was far superior than that delivered by established educational institutions and government agencies.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) sought expert assistance to address identified deficiencies in its Federal Police Development Programme. Providence provided a specialised team to review and enhance the training assessment strategies and competency mappings for new security staff.
Through a phased approach, Providence engaged stakeholders to ensure alignment with organisational needs and compliance with the Australian Qualification Framework and RTO standards. The team revised program documents, lesson plans, and Recognition of Prior Learning criteria.
Key deliverables included the construction of new training programs for the Specialist Response Group, enhancing onboarding processes and ensuring that activities aligned with real-world tasks. This contextualised training facilitated the effective assessment of competencies, significantly improving the initial training experience for AFP security staff.
Adash is Providence’s CEO and is responsible to the Providence Board and Providence’s clients for ensuring the timely delivery of outcomes through advice, guidance and mentoring to Providence’s staff.
