Final Report: Strengthening Community Research in ... - Ninti One

3. Developing the Community Research teams3.1 Engaging the researchersThe involvement of Arrarnta community researchers is essential to mediate the cultural standpoints that areencountered when an external client, such as FaHCSIA, commissions research and evaluation about theircommunity. The Strengthening Community Research in Remote Service Delivery at Ntaria project demonstratedhow important local engagement is to focus the research, identify the community priorities and obtain therequired demographic and linguistic representation in the data collection.In this project Arrarnta researchers had direct influence over cross-cultural ways of working, which impacted onthe expectations inherent in meeting external clients’ requirements. It was equally important to have a range oflinguistic skills, balanced gender make-up, and a range of ages among the researchers to achieve good engagementfrom the research respondents. This expert local knowledge ensured greater accuracy of research findings andanalysis. The team included people confident and experienced in cross-cultural safety, with good levels ofcommunity engagement and the ability to meet the required research protocols, outputs and delivery. Theposition of local community researchers in relation to their status as community members was consolidatedthrough work practice.The employment selection criteria for the research team aimed to achieve balanced age and genderrepresentation, and to include the skills of working bilingually: using spoken English well enough to make thetranslation from Arrarnta conversation or participant answers; and reading and writing some English, Arrarnta orLuritja.Each individual did not require all of these skills, but everyone was expected to have the capacity to share skillsand meet the workload. At Ntaria the longer-term community researchers have sustained their vision that thework is important to the community, beyond the benefits they feel individually. It emerged that the coreresearchers hold community wellbeing as an important priority, and are committed to the process of positivechange at Ntaria.The project plan aimed to enable a wide community engagement with the research cycles through a communityresearch team of at least six Arrarnta. For Arrarnta, the influence of Anparnintja (skin and kin relationships)brings positive strength to community consultations, and we aimed to engage that strength. Similarly, the mix ofage and gender across the team maximised the capacity of the researchers to identify data gaps and revisit thosedemographic profiles, both at the planning stage and in review throughout data collection.In a sense, Anparnintja was one key for reaching broad demographic representation of respondents in thecommunity and then for eliciting truthful or revelatory answers. It was also a key for Wurla Nyinta engagement asit provided members who represented the demography of their community with equity.Community Researchers undertook to be reliable, motivated to work independently at times, and to keep incontact and be contactable by the research office in Alice Springs. At Ntaria the team also agreed to work in a jobthat involved developing new skills and applying them in a PAR framework.In order to find potential employees to work as community researchers, Ninti One developed an advertisingstrategy summarised in the table below.18 Final Report: Strengthening Community Research in Remote Service Delivery at Ntaria