TARGETED AND STRATEGIC SUPPORT
Indigenous land and sea managers across Australia have their own unique aspirations for how they wish to manage their Country.
Country Needs People work with our partners to identify whether and how we can help secure, strengthen and add value to their existing land and sea management operations.
We have extensive links and experience in working with Traditional Owner-led groups right around Australia supporting Indigenous-led land and sea management. We work in multiple different contexts from the most remote communities to major capital cities.
OUR APPROACH
Country Needs People's formal partner network is currently sitting at 50 separate Indigenous-led land and sea management groups, though we do not confine our work to our formal partners only.
Our aim is to first identify if and how we might add value to local efforts to protect and manage Country, and then apply what resources we can tailored to the needs that we mutually identify with the partner groups we work with.
Developing mutually respectful working relationships with local Indigenous-led groups is the baseline of our approach, collectively identifying where and how we might make a useful contribution, and being clear about not raising expectations beyond what we are reasonably confident to be able to deliver. We work with experienced staff and contractors, choose our work carefully to enable maximum effectiveness, and carefully consider the complexities and pressures faced by the organisations we work alongside including their staff and the traditional owner communities they serve.
Our regular work at the frontline, supporting our Indigenous partners and their land and sea management organisations, serves to keep us grounded in reality and acutely aware of what Indigenous groups need to navigate to achieve the complex task of protecting biodiversity and cultural values on land and sea in contemporary Australia.
This is invaluable in informing the advocacy and policy analysis work we do with and for our partners.
WORKING WITH DECISION-MAKERS
As well as our partnerships with on-ground Indigenous land and sea managers, Country Needs People also collaborates on occasion with government and non-government organisations to achieve our aims.
A key underlying philosophy guiding our work is the 'two-toolbox' approach, which means supporting partnerships between Indigenous land and sea managers and researchers, government agencies, and other land managers that bring together Indigenous and contemporary science knowledge systems.
To achieve these outcomes Country Needs People has built up an extensive network of contacts over the past decade with research institutions, state and federal governments, and key government agencies. This sort of work is largely invisible and time-intensive but it is vital to our, and our partners' success.
We believe that goodwill must be earned every day afresh by the quality and integrity of our work with our partners, whether on practical matters, or in securing outcomes from decision makers.
Our work consistently brings Traditional Owners, Rangers and their local community organisations directly into contact with decision makers in the effort to deliver better outcomes.
PLANNING FOR GROWTH
Over the coming years we are anticipating strong growth in our partner network, hence increased overall need for assistance. As a result we are building our internal capacity to support a larger number of partner organisations and a wider range of on-Country activities.
Success breeds success, and the overwhelmingly positive outcomes of the Indigenous Ranger and IPA programs are their own best argument for continued support and funding.
Banner Image: Tiwi Proposed Indigenous Protected Area by Annette Ruzicka/Country Needs People. Inset: JawaJawa Ranger Jason Hooligan. Photo: Kerry Trapnell/Country Needs People. Image above: Caring for Country with Normanby Rangers. Photo: Annette Ruzicka/Country Needs People.
