Mentoring

“When they heard about our visits and our work, about our involvement in the community engagement, they started to come up to us, they started to wait around when we got to Maningrida or Oenpelli, there were people saying, “I’ve been waiting for you guys,” and that expectation that I see in people’s faces, it’s real and they’re looking for somebody. They’re looking for those pathways as well. So that’s very, very strong sharing and learning together and connecting with the key Indigenous leaders, people who work in the different areas and belong to the different governance areas … Making a connection with those people and talking… Sharing our stories and learning together was a really powerful way of getting people more motivated, more interested in following up education pathways…They were sharing their visions and concerns as well.”

We also facilitated a workshop with twenty one interagency staff to access family and community perspectives on education in a workshop where the theme of ‘mentoring’ was one key issue highlighted and discussed.

We supported the community to identify actions to strengthen education pathways. In the words of one workshop participant: “In my opinion, and having not seen a programme like this before in action on the ground, the valuable thing that I have seen is the start of a pathway and an education about what higher education can do, and [how it can] be available for people within community.”

We also made sure to engage in activities to promote ‘Uni’ or higher education as an option for community members through the sharing of information, resources and connections with relevant staf. We raised awareness about CDU and BIITE and what ‘Uni’ and other higher education providers can offer.

Another aspect of our mentoring was to provide professional development for staff in key community organisations – through meetings and workshops – “it was an education for them” – giving them access to educational experiences and learning opportunities that they previously were not getting. In addition, funding provided by WCE enabled ARPNet to deliver training to build the research capacity of its newer members.