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In brief 04 A commitment to Indigenous Australians On 18 November 2011, Reconciliation Australia Co-Chair Dr Tom Calma launched AVI’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). Dr Calma said reconciliation was all about understanding, respecting cultures and learning about each others situations and AVI’s RAP embraced these elements. “Reconciliation Action Plans currently cover 20 percent of the Australian workforce, which is a major achievement,” he said. “An objective of the RAP plan is to change attitudes and the more people become informed, the more they can put pressure on political and social systems to drive change. That is why Reconciliation Action Plans are so important.” AVI CEO Dimity Fifer said, “AVI has had a long history of working with Indigenous communities, however launching a plan of action to work with communities now and long into the future is a major and significant milestone for the organisation. Indigenous volunteering initiative launched AusAID’s Deputy Director General – Corporate, Humanitarian and International Group Ewen McDonald with AVI CEO Dimity Fifer, launched the International Indigenous Volunteer Network (IIVN). This new initiative, to be Co-Chaired by Dr Tom Calma and Prof Larrisa Behrendt, will strengthen the linkages, dialogue and networks between Indigenous Australians working in the aid and development sector, and those who have participated in international volunteering. “The International Indigenous Volunteer Network will provide a great opportunity to promote the mutual benefits international volunteering brings to overseas communities and those back in Australia,” Mr McDonald said. “This is a wonderful initiative that AusAID look forward to providing ongoing support to in the future.” The network is in its development phase, but to indicate your interest in the IIVN email info@australianvolunteers.com. Volunteer effort recognised AVI returned volunteer physiotherapist Glenys Davies is a state finalist in the WA Senior Australian of the Year 2011 in recognition of her work with Palestinian communities in the Middle East and at the Handicapped Children’s Clinic in Port Moresby, PNG. At 70, Glenys is still committed to providing physiotherapy support to children in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Ethiopia’s midwifery graduates celebrate Thirteen Ethiopian midwifery students recently celebrated the completion of their three year degree program in midwifery at the Hamlin College of Midwives graduation ceremony in September. AVI CEO Dimity Fifer and current Australian volunteer English Language Tutor - Maternal Health, Sandra Johannessen, attended the ceremony with college staff, supporters and families and friends of the graduates. Working in conjunction with the Ethiopian Government Ministry of Health, will see Hamlin College midwives placed in 11 different rural health centres across four different regions of Ethiopia. AVI’s new offices Over the past six months AVI has celebrated the opening of new offices in Arusha in Tanzania, Amman in Jordan and Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. The new offices are in response to the increasing commitment to vulnerable and displaced communities in the Middle East and the growth of AVI’s programs in Africa and the North Pacific. The move is also responding to the Australian Government’s increasing commitment to international volunteering with the launch of the Australian Volunteers for International Development (AVID) program and the expansion of programs such as the Pacific Technical Assistance Mechanism (PACTAM) which is dedicated to responding to the needs of more Pacific communities. < Top > (l-r) AVI Chair Justice Richard Refshauge, AVI President Margaret Jackson, Reconciliation Australia Co-Chair Dr Tom Calma, AVI CEO Dimity Fifer and AusAID’s Deputy Director General – Corporate, Humanitarian and International Group Ewen McDonald at the launch of AVI’s Reconciliation Action Plan and the International Indigenous Volunteer Network. Photo > Bree Manley/AVI Left > Australian volunteer Physiotherapist Glenys Davies (front) taking an exercise and laughing class in the Dbayeh Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. Photo > Courtesy Glenys Davies
Resourcing PNG’s sustainable nation building efforts » It begs the question “Why?” Perhaps, as a nation, we have been too preoccupied by our rich natural resources and the global interest it brings to PNG, and have spent too little time critically analysing the relationship between community development and national development. I would argue that you cannot have one without the other and that community development is the basis of sustainable nation-building. Above > Dame Carol Kidu. Photo > Christine Walton Sustainable Livelihoods Papua New Guinea (PNG), Australia’s nearest neighbour, has been described by one of its senior Members of Parliament as an island of gold sitting in a sea of oil. PNG’s natural resource base has positioned the country for a future economic boom far exceeding past and present mining booms. PNG’s former Minister for Community Development Dame Carol Kidu writes on the high expectations for national prosperity and how these expectations are tempered by the knowledge that revenues from the existing and past extractive resource developments have not translated into equitable development and improved basic services for all. At Independence, Papua New Guinea inherited social development policy models based on Western welfare models. This model contravened the extensive informal “wantok” welfare system. No policies recognised that family, clan and community are the basis of PNG society. Thus, when I was appointed as a Minister in 2002, one priority was to spearhead the development of a package of social development policies more appropriate to the cultural reality of PNG. Considering the fact that PNG is a nation of over 800 languages and cultural groups, it was not an easy task to set the bureaucrats. Clearly it could not be a “one-size-fits-all” policy imposed from the top down. It had to have the flexibility to encompass the vibrant community development activities already existing throughout the country. Five years of in-country research, comparative global research and broad based consultation resulted in the Integrated Community Development (ICD) policy as the umbrella policy for the Department For Community Development. Resourcing PNG’s sustainable nation building efforts > Dame Carol Kidu 05
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