Mapping First Nations advocacy
28 April 2021 at 5:24 pm
An Indigenous led project will lay out what’s needed to help strengthen First Nations advocacy
A new project is mapping the wants, needs, and aspirations of First Nations campaigners to establish a structured space within the advocacy sector.
Led by Yiman and Gangulu woman Kara Keys, the project will consult a diverse range of First Nations organisations and people to understand what is needed to strengthen First Nations advocacy.
The project was requested by First Nations people during the Australian Progress’ events Progress 2020 and Leadership 2019. Keys has now joined Progress to carve out a space for cross-sector Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander organisations and individuals to get together and support each other’s work.
“There’s no national collective space or hub for intersectional cross-sector First Nations organisations and people to get together,” Keys told Pro Bono News.
“If we can provide the structure that creates opportunities for First Nations organisations and people to build their skills, to build their networks, then that would make a massive difference to the way programs are delivered, for example.”
The first part of the project is a survey to help form an understanding of what First Nations groups and individuals want from the project.
“We’ve got a broad range of people who have filled out the survey, people from the justice sector, from the labor movement, from the disability sector. This will give us a really broad understanding of people’s wants and needs,” Keys said.
She said another important aspect of the project was understanding what was already happening in the space, and how Australian Progress could work alongside the existing activity.
“We can’t assume that every First Nations organisation engages with Australian Progress, so it will be a bit of a desktop analysis of who’s out there, what they’re doing, and how we might collaborate with them,” she said.
“Australian Progress and their partner organisations and networks really have the capacity to advance the needs and provide allyship in the First Nations space.”
First Nations people are encouraged to take part in the Capacity Mapping survey here by Thursday 29 April.
