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areas of agreement, ‘governments and Indigenous people have different criteria forevaluating governance effectiveness’:Both governments and Indigenous people want community organisations to deliverreasonable levels of services, and provide sound financial management andaccountability. The key areas of difference relate to the Indigenous processes andrelationships at the heart of many organisations which emphasise internalaccountability and communication, and governments’ emphasis on ‘upwards’accountability, risk avoidance, financial micro-management and compliance reporting.(Hunt and Smith 2006, p. 6)Box 11.5.2 Collaborative research project on Indigenous governanceThe Indigenous Community Governance Project is a partnership between the Centrefor Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) at the Australian National Universityand Reconciliation Australia, to undertake research on Indigenous communitygovernance. The project is funded by the Australian, NT and WA governments, each ofwhich also collaborates with the research.The Project is exploring:• the current state of community governance, including its cultural, social, economic,legal, policy, service delivery, and historical contexts• the different models of governance emerging in communities, and the governanceprocesses, institutions, structures, powers and capacities involved• the factors influencing culturally legitimate community governance arrangements• the shortfalls in governance skills and capacities, as well as governance strengths• the wider 'governance environments' and policy networks within which communitygovernance operates, including the impact of government policy and servicedelivery on the effectiveness of community governance.Source: CAEPR 2006Consultations with Indigenous people highlighted the role of culture in Indigenousgovernance. Each community and organisation has unique historical and culturalcharacteristics that are reflected in its governance arrangements. This was alsonoted by the Indigenous Governance Project:Governance and decision-making in Indigenous community governance is shaped bymultiple historical, cultural and political relationships. … the family connections, landownership relationships and governance histories associated with particularcommunities and sets of regionally linked communities, are fundamental to communitygovernance dynamics and arrangements. (Hunt and Smith 2006, p. 1)Drawing on the Harvard Project On American Indian Economic Development in theUSA (The Harvard Project 2003-04), the Indigenous Community Governance11.46 OVERCOMINGINDIGENOUSDISADVANTAGE 2007