Remote Engagement and Coordination
Key learnings from community consultations
Early research involved CDU and local Indigenous researchers working together to speak with Elders and community members asking them about their experiences of government engagement, and about what good government engagement and coordination means for them.
General Insights
Effective engagement and coordination in remote Aboriginal communities includes:
- Maintaining, and working through, the original and final authority of elders.
- Supporting the development of new generations of leaders and elders, who will learn how to lead by watching how government people and elders engage each other properly.
- Talking to the right people, in the right order and at the right time; while these people may be different for different business, but must always include the landowners.
- Bringing the ‘back-story’ behind government projects – the policies, the funding decisions, the roles of various departments and individuals – out into the open for discussion.
- Learning from history. Both the good history (for example) of how we used to work together and mentor each other properly, and the bad history (for example) of the way poor housing development and land allocation has undermined the community spirit and coherence.
- Recognising that unemployment is destructive for young people, and working, in all areas of interaction between government and community, to produce more stable and properly paid employment opportunities.
- Implementing what could be called a community development approach, recognising that the final goal of effective engagement and coordination is always to bring to life a new generation of strong, respectful, connected young people on country.
Key learnings from evaluation research
Key learnings drawn from the project consultations and evaluation research are detailed here (and in the final project report).
RECIER Key Insights: Service Delivery Findings
RECIER Key Insights: Research Findings
REC-IER Early Findings Report (June 2017)
