Aboriginal-led development

The CHSSC is working alongside Parks Australia to develop an effective and sustainable process for monitoring and evaluating the joint management of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in the Northern Territory.

Over a period of twelve months, the CHSSC has worked with Aboriginal communities of the park and with other Parks Australia stakeholders to develop and pilot a monitoring and evaluation approach to support the ongoing assessment of stakeholder satisfaction with the joint management of the park.

The approach has been developed, tested and refined in collaboration with Aboriginal researchers, paying particular attention to the perspectives and world views of traditional owners and local Aboriginal community members.

Our work with Parks Australia is currently led by Research Fellow Alex Gyles with support from Senior Research Fellow Mardi Grundy.

The CHSSC partnered with the Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory (APONT) in 2022-23 to conduct an evaluation of its Aboriginal Governance and Management Program (AGMP) which was established in 2013 to build the capacity of NT Aboriginal organisations.

The evaluation was conducted in the second half of 2022 and was led by former Senior Research Fellow Danielle Campell with support from then CHSSC Senior Research Fellow Lisa Denney, Research Associate Marlkirdi Napaljarri Rose and an independent researcher Louise Stanley who completed a research thesis with the CHSSC in 2021.

The final evaluation report can be found here.

The CHSSC was engaged by the Northern Institute at Charles Darwin University in 2021-2022 to help develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for the Northern Territory Government (NTG) Remote Engagement and Coordination Strategy (RECS).

The RECS aims to improve outcomes for Indigenous communities by improving government service coordination and regional and remote engagement with Indigenous people.

The CHSSC drew on existing Northern Institute research and consultation with NTG government staff to draw out differences between NTG staff and remote Indigenous community in regard to expectations of RECS and indicators of positive change. This informed an action research project which has enabled each group to separately collect, analyse and use data to assess existing engagement and coordination practice and identify how it can be improved.

This project was led by then Centre Co-Director Linda Kelly and supported by former Senior Research Fellow Danielle Campbell.

The Northern Land Council (NLC) is responsible for assisting Aboriginal peoples in the Top End of the Northern Territory to acquire and manage their traditional lands and seas. This includes supporting the design and delivery of community projects across 18 locations through the Community Planning and Development Program, all of which have a strong focus on maintaining culture, supporting youth and constructing community infrastructure.

In 2021, then CHSSC Co-Director Linda Kelly collaborated with the NLC on trialling and refining three approaches to monitoring and evaluating these Aboriginal-led community development initiatives. These included regular project monitoring and feedback from Indigenous participants and NLC staff, and Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers from Charles Darwin University (CDU). The research explored community perspectives on community development aspirations and outcomes using a ‘Ground Up’ approach and assessing the program’s impact on community wellbeing in one location using an adapted version of the Australian National University’s Mayi Kuwayu Survey.

The work generated interesting and important insights, particularly around the Indigenous Ground Up research approach and the adapted community well-being survey, which were co-presented with CDU researchers at the national Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AITSIS) conferences and in a journal article co-authored with the NLC which won the Australasian Evaluation Society 2022 Publication Award.

The Warlpiri Education and Training Trust (WETT) is a community development project governed and funded by Indigenous people in the Tanami Desert, Central Australia. WETT has been delivering award-winning education and training programs to Warlpiri communities in Lajamanu, Yuendumu, Willowra and Nyirrpi since 2005 with this funded by gold mining royalties earned by those communities.

In collaboration with the Central Land Council, the CHSSC is partnering with WETT to design and support the implementation of the Tracking and Learning project (YWPP).  Over the last five years, CHSSC researchers have worked collaboratively with the Warlpiri traditional owners in the four communities to understand and document their vision for their communities and develop a way of assessing progress that is led by the community members themselves. The results of this tracking and learning enable WETT to keep track of its governance and five major education and training programs, assess progress, capture learning and make changes as needed.

The CHSSC’s work with WETT won La Trobe University’s Research Excellence Award for Industry Engagement and Partnering in 2024.

The work with WETT is currently led by Research Fellow Alex Gyles with support from Senior Research Fellow Mardi Grundy.

The Central Land Council (CLC) represents Aboriginal people in Central Australia and supports them to manage their land, make the most of the opportunities it offers and promote their rights.

The CHSSC has partnered with the CLC for more than 11 years to support the monitoring and evaluation of its community development programs which currently support 35 Central Australian Aboriginal communities. These programs aim to maintain Aboriginal identity, language, culture and connection to country and to improve health, education and employment outcomes. These programs are all funded by Aboriginal people using income from land-use agreements.

In 2021, then CHSSC Co-Director Linda Kelly and CHSSC Senior Research Fellow Danielle Campbell worked with the CLC to redesign the community development program framework and to develop an accompanying monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) strategy. The CHSSC is now partnering with the CLC to support strategy implementation. This includes analysing information collected throughout the year from individual project reports, community-based monitoring, staff reflections and independent evaluations of specific projects. This is supplemented each year by in-depth reviews of selected projects or areas of work. This information and analysis is captured in annual monitoring and evaluation reports written by CHSSC staff.

Since 2021, the CHSSC has also been working with the remote Aboriginal community at Lajamanu in collaboration with the CLC to understand and describe what change is happening in their community. In particular, the project seeks to determine a contextually appropriate measure of wellbeing by drawing out what is required for a good life in the community.

The project then aims to support the community to monitor changes in wellbeing over time using participatory research approaches which promote community ownership of the data and support them to decide any actions to take in response. This includes helping the CLC and other organisations working in Lajamanu to adapt their programs in response to the evidence emerging from the research.

Our work with the CLC is currently led by Research Fellow Alex Gyles with support from Senior Yapa (Aboriginal) Researcher Marlkirdi Napaljarri Rose, Senior Research Fellow Mardi Grundy and Research Associate Louise Stanley.