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

esearchers have facilitated an increase in community awareness and investment in the research and evaluation.They actively develop community representation in governance and decision making by providing tangiblerecommendations to the LRG or other community governance boards or organisations. They provide informationto the community as a key stakeholder on their findings and provide recommendations that support activestrategies and practical outcomes relating to Local Implementation Plan (LIP) actions.In considering future potential, we have observed a number of additional benefits to government work withcommunities including:The PAR process fosters greater community engagement with decision making processes throughparticipation and steering of research projectsThe development of ways to explore divergent community aspirations and identify key communitydevelopment issuesInterest of community members in ways that participatory methods can explore and repair entrenchedcommunity conflict, disaffection and disengagementDescribing cultural standpoints that influence the way that most community members engage withservice delivery, external stakeholders and government policy.A considered overview of relevant aspects of the policy landscape for RSD communities illustrates how theexpectations of those communities are driven by the continued coordinated engagement of the AustralianGovernment.RSD towns: Most RSD communities commonly host numbers of external researchers visiting or revisitingto engage in research that requires local input. At times, there can be a number of separate consultantson-site engaging a community in various types of research for a range of external clients. The mechanismsfor these external researchers to provide feedback to the community regarding process andrecommendations are extremely unclear.Territory Growth Towns: This is the Northern Territory Government (NTG) name for the communities itis working with. There are twenty Territory Growth Towns and fifteen of these are RSD communities inthe Northern Territory. The NTG aims to transform the Territory Growth Towns so that they:− are properly planned and designed− have services, facilities and buildings like any other country town− benefit from targeted investment in infrastructureLocal Implementation Plan (LIP): The LIP describes long-term service delivery strategies that aim atachieving community development and better service delivery outcomes for RSD communities. The rolloutof the LIP involves coordination of Federal and Territory Governments, Shire Council, nongovernmentorganisations, local businesses and Aboriginal Corporations.Local Reference Groups (LRG): The community LRG is the single point of access between communityrepresentatives and all agencies associated with RSD. Regular meetings are the occasion that thecommunity representatives (members) meet as a group to monitor the LIP and review RSD progress,accept reports from service providers, agencies and government representatives, or discuss proposals,plans and priorities. The engagement of community members in these reference groups varies widelyfrom one community to another. The mechanism of consultation with LRGs applies broadly to all the RSDactivity as the LRGs ‘set the community priorities for the Local Implementation Plan’ (Commonwealth ofAustralia 2010. p. 8).There often exists a gulf between policy development and the engagement of residents in policy. Ninti Onerecommends the further development of remote community research teams to foster a network of key sites acrossremote Australia. Where multi-lingual community members undertake high quality research, the research is of directbenefit to those communities, and may be made available to a larger inter-cultural audience.The ongoing, sustainable growth of this network would build on the success of projects undertaken in the previousDesert Knowledge CRC, and maximise new opportunities for Aboriginal community researchers. Developing95