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

The involvement of the research team in the LIP Refresh was an opportunity to further enhance their skills and alsocontribute to the strategic evaluation processes that were conceived of in the project objectives.7.2 New project and employment opportunitiesThe development of skills within the research team at Ntaria and its existence for a period of over eighteen monthswhile the research work was conducted has led to interest on the part of researchers in further work of this kind andthe emergence of new opportunities.The first new project was the research work carried out the for LIP Refresh process, which is described in section 7.1 ofthis report. It involved consultation, survey and findings to represent community views on the LIP for Wurla Nyinta toconsider in the next LIP iteration for 2013.The team was also engaged by FaHCSIA to work on the Local Cultural Awareness Program (LCAP) evaluation in whichthey worked with community members to arrive at recommendations for Wurla Nyinta on the future of the program.The Mobility Research Project of the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation (CRC-REP) hasinvited the research team to work on their pilot consultation. It is likely that the team will be involved on occasions forthe full term of the research, which is five years.The PlantBiz Research Project of CRC-REP has also engaged the team to work on their program, which could alsoinvolve periods of work over the next five years.In addition, Ninti One has included the Ntaria researchers in tender and bid processes for six additional commercialprojects that are either in the process of negotiation or pending approval from the client.We consider these developments to be a positive indicator of the employment potential that can be generated throughbuilding local research capacity in a remote community such as Ntaria. Most importantly, it represents recognition ofthe skills and knowledge of the team members themselves.7.3 Individual and community developmentA full assessment of the contribution of the project to individual and community development is beyond the scope of theresearch. However, we have gathered some observations on the subject that we consider important enough to includehere. They stem from conversations with community researchers, the responses of community members to theresearch and other observations we have made during the process of planning and conducting the research. Insummary, we have noted the following:The community researchers achieved a high profile for their work locally. This is perhaps logical given the need forthem to speak to quite a large number of people in the course of the research. But, more than this, the visiblepresence of local people doing work that would normally be considered the business of outsiders is significant incontributing to local perceptions of the skills and knowledge that exist locally. In some ways, the researchers actedas strong role models for younger people in the community.The research created opportunities that are rare in remote communities: space and time to work through complexquestions in a way that was facilitated by local people and directed towards both community governance andformal government audiences.89At an individual level, all researchers have continued their employment in other roles. Two people have used theirresearch skills and experience to take on increased responsibility within their jobs. Other researchers havereported to us that their confidence has grown as a result of their experience in the Ntaria research team and that