19.09.2011: 2010/11 Indigenous Youth Leadership Program Story
When Jobs Australia created its own philanthropic foundation six years ago it seemed a natural extension of the organisation’s core mission: to build a fairer and more equitable Australia. But it’s an unusual foundation in some ways. Its main source of funding is a non-profit organisation; and it has a very specific focus.
The idea, says David Thompson, Jobs Australia’s CEO and Chair of the Foundation, ‘was that we didn’t just want to be good receivers and takers, we were keen to make our own practical contribution.’ The new Foundation decided it could make the greatest practical difference in an area of great need by helping to develop Indigenous leadership. In 2008, it made grants to two outstanding Indigenous organisations committed to nurturing community leaders. The following year, it went a step further and created a new and unique leadership program for Indigenous people.
The Indigenous Youth Leadership Program (IYLP) targets young Indigenous people aged 17 to 25 and Indigenous mentors aged 26 to 55 who have demonstrated an ability and desire to lead change in their communities. It aims to provide these talented young people and mentors with training to develop their capabilities based around powerful, immersive leadership experiences.
The most striking feature of the program was a nine-day trek on the Kokoda Track. This ambitious idea reflected the Foundation’s desire to create something unique and life-changing, David Thompson says. In fact, Kokoda was just one element. It would give young Indigenous people a chance to experience another culture; it would test and expand their capabilities in demanding situations. It would leave them with a store of experience and skills to draw on in the years ahead. But the trek was one part of a much broader training program. And to Jodie Belyea, JA Foundation Manager, the less visible aspects of the program are vital to its lasting effectiveness: learning the discipline of preparation, learning to be confident, to set goals and take action, and for each participant to understand more about their Indigenous identity.
In January last year 24 people were selected from across the country in teams comprising an Indigenous mentor and one or more mentees. Fitness programs and regular mentoring sessions began in March; in May, the whole group met in Anglesea, Victoria, for a pre-trek camp. They hiked, trained, and met veterans of the 39th Battalion that fought at Kokoda. Already one of the key goals of the program – to forge lasting connections between a new generation of Indigenous leaders – was starting to show. Kelsi Forrest, from Geraldton, WA, says she left Anglesea ‘knowing that with whatever challenge or hardship I would face on Kokoda the group would be full of support and by my side.’
The IYLP crew flew into Kokoda that August. Together with filmmaker Amie Batalibasi, recruited to document the journey, they tackled the Track as the 1st Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Trekker Unit.
A year has passed since then. But the trekkers still remember it all. They recall being sung awake at 5.30 each morning by the porters and the beauty of the jungle with its 50m-tall Giant Pandanus trees and Ulysses butterflies. They talk about meeting the children from Menari Primary School on Day 4, and hearing them sing. And they remember every step.
The Track is famously gruelling. But the 1st ATSITU faced extra challenges. Very few participants had been overseas before. Leaving their comfort zones was difficult. ‘Challenging for me was the fact that I was in a new environment with people I didn’t know,’ said Elenn Mitchell, from Nerang, Queensland. ‘Not having family with me… in a way I felt isolated.’ For many, the material poverty of the local people was a shock.
So too was the confronting reality of what a different generation of young Australians had endured and achieved in those mountains. At Anglesea, the group had heard from a veteran who fought at Kokoda. ‘Tread lightly with respect on the ground in Papua New Guinea,’ he told them, ‘because there are mates of mine still over there.’ For the trekkers, the daily struggle to make it to the next camp with swollen feet and aching muscles became a way to honour his experience, and to understand that the tragedy and courage of the Kokoda story is part of their Australian heritage.
The participants finished their trek exhausted, but exhilarated. When they met a month later for a post-Trek debrief in Melbourne, the trust and openness they had built up enabled them to extract full value from their shared experience. Exciting outcomes emerged from that four-day de-briefing and training session. All participants reported a sense of personal growth, and increased positivity about the future, as well as greatly enhanced belief ‘in being able to make a difference to community.’ It also became clear that the Kokoda trek had only sharpened a thirst in the group to learn more about their own Indigenous cultural identities.
The second year of the program enabled them to do just that. Last August the participants embarked on a Cultural Walk led by a team of young men from Jarlmadangah Burru near Broome. With the spinifex and sapping heat, the walk proved almost as demanding as Kokoda. But it inspired in different ways. The trekkers saw rock art that has never been seen by whitefellas; they hunted for goanna, ate bush honey from trees, fished for cherabin and swam in water holes. This is country where the culture and law is very strong, and their young guides’ easy sense of belonging to country deeply impressed the participants. It raised hard questions, too. ‘I felt privileged to be there and so proud to be an Aboriginal woman,’ said Bonnie Smith Robins, from Preston, Victoria. ‘It also made me sad and angry that my family didn’t have the language or as much knowledge.’
SA mentor and Foundation board member Paul Vandenbergh understands this. ‘I felt jealous at points on the walk. But it ignited a fire in me to learn more about my culture.’ An experienced educator, Paul believes it is essential for young Indigenous leaders to reflect on where they’ve come from. ‘A lot of our kids aren’t sure of their identity. It’s crucial to get our young people researching their own backgrounds and cultures, and starting to get proud of who they are.’ For the IYLP participants, this first step on a lifelong journey of leadership ends with a presentation at the Jobs Australia annual Conference, and one final task — recruiting new leaders for the 2012/14 program.
But for the Foundation, this is just beginning. Like the participants, the Foundation wants to learn from experience. A Program Development Workshop was held in March and another in October, at the conclusion of the two-year program, to refine the program’s learning and teaching methods and to review key aspects of the model with the help of experts and program partners Curtin University and the Australian Red Cross. Several soon-to-be alumni are also actively contributing to the development of the program.
Anecdotal evidence already suggested that the program has had a powerful impact on the mental, physical and spiritual strength of its participants. External evaluators agreed. They found that 86% of participants felt more able to stand up and communicate ideas and what they believe in, no matter what; crucially, the same proportion feel more confident that they can make a positive difference to their communities.
Results like these have strengthened the Foundation’sresolve to continue the program with the help of sponsors including Huawei and members of the Jobs Australia network. To reach its true potential, though, the program needs a wider support base. That’s why the Foundation is actively seeking more partners. ‘And not to simply give us resources,’ David Thompson says. ‘We’d like to collaborate with other organisations that can help us make a program that’s well-resourced, but also well-designed and well-connected.’ The Foundation believes that the IYLP represents an opportunity for organisations to get involved in optimistic and realistic social change, change driven by Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians working in respectful engagement with one another to build the future we all want. If one moment from the ILYP pilot stands out for David Thompson, it was the evening in Port Moresby at the end of the Kokoda trek.
‘A number of them said to me just how grateful they were for the opportunity, and my response was: Don’t be grateful. Use it. We’re not looking for gratitude, we’re looking for people to realise their potential.’ Twelve months later, Rhett Burraston, mentee, from Airds, NSW, recalled that moment too. ‘I have mentioned to you before how thankful I am,’ he wrote to David. ‘You said, Don’t be thankful – use it. So that’s how I’m going to show my thanks. You’ll see me in the future doing great things.’
He may not have long to wait. One thing that stands out in the participants’ feedback is a determination to build on the strength and confidence fostered by the program. All have given presentations to schools, workplaces and communities. Three have lost at least ten kilos each on the way to living healthier lives. And as Kaylene Sherwell pointed out in a letter of appreciation to the JAF board on behalf of the IYLP participants, in the past year more than half have changed careers or jobs to move closer to the change they want to be a part of in their communities. ‘I feel confident,’ Kaylene wrote, ‘that the outcomes from this program will be seen by future generations.’
