FRSA Webinar: Supporting Aboriginal Ways of Knowing Being and Doing

Описание: FRSA are showcasing presentations from the 2025 National Conference delivered by or in partnership with First Nations peoples, in this webinar series, which will be delivered over the next few months.

In this first webinar Dr Jen Cleary & Jaylene Ware from Centacare Catholic Country SA presented their Conference presentation titled, Supporting Aboriginal Ways of Knowing Being and Doing: Asset- and Place-Focused Service Development and Delivery.

Abstract:

Asset-based Community Development (ABCD) is a community-led approach to empowerment. The foundational ethos is to focus on assets and strengths rather than gaps and deficits – which is more typical of traditional approaches to community service development.

At Centacare Catholic Country SA, our footprint covers an area of approx 980,000km², where our offices are distant to each other, and located across multiple Aboriginal Countries. We have moved away from centrally-managed ‘programs’ to locally managed community-centred service delivery because it makes more sense in geographically large and sparsely populated areas to do so. We understand that every community is different across multiple domains including size, demography, and geography, and in prevailing community narratives. It is for these reasons that we have chosen to privilege ‘people in place’ over ‘programs.’ Central to our approach is that our staff live and work in their communities and are ‘deep-placed’ to support their own communities.

Fundamental to both place-based service delivery and ABCD is knowing that local communities deeply understand who they are; and are therefore able to determine how best they will engage with service development and delivery. Such approaches are also important in supporting the connection to place/Country that is fundamental to Aboriginal ways of knowing, being and doing.

A key part of our place-based delivery framework has been the implementation of ‘Community Development Officer’ roles. These roles focus on community engagement, empowerment and connection and our aim is to have at least one role in each community in which we work. We currently have staff in these roles in three communities and all three positions are held by Aboriginal staff. The roles are not tied to any specific program funding. Rather, we are funding them from across various programs and from within our own resources. This has been important, because it allows the roles to function outside of program KPIs and to focus on ABCD in place. Critically, our staff in these roles are highly visible in their communities and this has the enabling effect of credibility- and trust-building, which in turn means that we are better able to connect with community and potential clients.

Our presentation will highlight innovative examples that showcase the effectiveness of our ‘ABCD-PB’ approach and why it matters in supporting Aboriginal ways of knowing, being and doing, in regional, rural and remote communities.