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• Coordination and decision making mechanisms need to be effective anddifferentiated from each other and decision making needs to be timely. Morewidespread reward and recognition for good whole of government practice isneeded. Staff engaged in whole of government initiatives need training toprovide them with the skills and knowledge on how to do whole of governmentwork. Training is needed across all levels: senior executive, middle managementand field staff.• Consistency in government personnel helps in building effective relationshipsboth between government agencies and with communities.• Shared leadership at the Ministerial, senior executive and planning levels, and atthe level of service delivery, assists in achieving both process and impactoutcomes (Morgan Disney et al 2007, pp. 7-8).The evaluations also identified significant lessons about Indigenous governancestructures and processes and how governments can support them. These lessonsbroadly reflect the key determinants discussed below.Such evaluations are crucial to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.Governments are responsible for monitoring and evaluating policies and programsdesigned to address Indigenous disadvantage. Governments commissioned thisReport in 2002 to measure the impact of changes to policy settings and servicedelivery and provide a concrete way to measure the effect of governments’commitment to reconciliation through a jointly agreed set of indicators (COAG2002). Several states and territories are producing similar reports at thejurisdictional and even regional level (see appendix 2).At the program level, many ‘pilots’ and ‘trials’ are commissioned, implemented,run their course and then cease, with no formal, public evaluation. Opportunities tolearn from experience are lost. Often, monitoring and evaluation are hampered byinadequate data collections and performance information systems. For example,there is limited information on the use of mainstream services by Indigenouspeoples (see the Indigenous Compendium of data from the Report on GovernmentServices for available data (SCRGSP 2007a)) and very little information on thebarriers to access and use Indigenous people face (see section 9.7 on Indigenousengagement with service delivery).This Report supports the Indigenous Community Governance Projectrecommendation for governments at all levels to: better coordinate internally;reduce the number of separate departmental and program-specific consultationswith communities; rationalise government program delivery; undertake acommunity-development approach to governance building; reduce the large number11.50 OVERCOMINGINDIGENOUSDISADVANTAGE 2007