Leadership

1. Conduct a Social Network Analysis to examine the leadership network in terms of Warlpiri representation on boards/reference groups and committees of local organisations in Yuendumu. 
2. Conduct a Social Network Analysis to examine the employment networks across the various organisations in Yuendumu to determine pathways for Warlpiri leaders to senior management positions. 
3. Collect and disseminate qualitative data on Warlpiri leadership through interviewing leaders on camera to understand the key issues of leadership and education from a Warlpiri perspective.

Social Network Analysis (SNA) is a methodical study of social networks that examines the linkages between two kinds of actions. This SNA study examined the linkages between:

(1) ‘people’ and the boards they are members to better understand the expectations of Warlpiri leaders through their formal representation.

This SNA study then examined the linkages between: 

(2) ‘people’ and the employment positions they hold in the same local organisation to better understand inequities in employment and education and to develop pathways for local Warlpiri people to fill senior management positions.

Two SNA diagrams were created on the formal representation of leaders serving on Boards in 16 incorporated organisations which included: Warlpiri Media Aboriginal Corporation, Warlpiri Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation, Yuendumu Women’s Centre Aboriginal Corporation, Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Association, Salt Church Yuendumu Indigenous Corporation, Yuendumu Magpies Football Aboriginal Corporation, The Living Water United Pentecostal Church. Mampu-Maninja-Kurlangu Jarlu Patu-Ku Aboriginal Corporation (Yuendumu Old People’s Program), Warlpiri Education Board, Yuendumu Health Advisory Committee, Yuendumu Mediation and Justice Committee, Yuendumu Social Club, Southern Tanami Indigenous Protected Areas Management Region Committee, Local Authority Board of Central Desert Regional Shire, Child & Family Centre and Warlpiri Education Training & Trust.

Diagram 1 shows a significant network of multiple local boards and committees operating at Yuendumu.The Community Engagement Leader engaged each local organisation in the study to obtain data on the names and numbers of Warlpiri leaders represented on board/committee members of the 16 organisations:

Diagram 1 shows that Warlpiri leaders perform on multiple boards and this high level expectation does not include their representation on a myriad of regional committees for instance: the Granites Mine Affected Area Aboriginal Corporation (GMAAAC). Features of the Yuendumu Board diagram include the following data sets:

• Size of network: 16 boards, 125 people
• Number of Warlpiri people: 118
• Average number of boards a person is connected to: 1.624
• Board with least members: Living Water (3)
• Board with most members: WYDAC (25)
• Most number of boards an individual is on: 17(node 18)

Diagram 2 draws from the same data; however depicts the connections of individuals who sit on three or more boards.The red circles are individual people and the green circles represent the boards or committees as listed above. Features of the Yuendumu SNA diagram of people who are on three or more boards include:

• 19 people on 3 or more boards (all Warlpiri people)
• 5 people on 5 or more boards

The second aspect of this SNA study examined the linkages between ‘people’ and the employment positions they hold in the same local organisation to determine pathways to senior management positions. Each organisation provided data to the Community Engagement Leader on the numbers of non- Indigenous and Indigenous (local) people employed in the following positions, including:

A Senior Management: constitute CEO positions, General Manager, and identified by the community as the boss of the organisation.

BMiddle Management: constitute Program Manager and qualified employee positions, for instance: doctors, teachers and positions requiring degree level qualifications to perform duties.

CLow work bees: assistants, developers, health workers,

Graph 1 shows the total employment by Board-run organisations in Yuendumu according to position type: senior, middle, worker.The graph also shows the breakdown of the employment of senior level positions in board run organisations, which are all non-Indigenous.The second is employment of middle level positions and the third is ‘worker bee’ level positions.