Indigenous Australia

Caritas Australia: Indigenous Australia development programs

Caritas Australia has been working in partnership with Indigenous organisations and communities for over 30 years.

Why do we have an Australian Indigenous Program? 

Caritas Australia’s commitment to an Indigenous Program within Australia stems from the recognition that poverty and injustice can be found everywhere — it is not just a matter of dividing the world into ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries.

Australian Indigenous Projects

Our Australian Indigenous programs have a particular focus on health, youth leadership, financial management, small enterprise development and leadership programs for women.

Caritas Australia supports sustainable development projects — developed and implemented by, or in close collaboration with, Indigenous Australians, focusing on financial management, education, skills development and income generation. The projects reflect an Indigenous view of the world as well as support Indigenous advocacy issues.

Featured story:

Watch how Caritas Australia is helping to address acute diabetes and chronic health problems in remote Indigenous communities through partnering with Indigenous organisation like the Unity of First People of Australia (UFPA).
[If you have trouble playing the clip, try it on TeacherTube]

A young Indigenous woman involved in the Diabetes  Management and Care Program, Looma.

Ellen Doolan participated in financial management training supported by Caritas Australia.

Also read about the Caritas-supported Kids Future Club in Derby, Western Australia and how it is making difference for kids like nine-year-old Teneille.

Learn more about Caritas' development programs in our Annual Report — presented as a beautiful photographic calendar.
Download the 2008–09 Annual Report Calendar (6.3Mb PDF)  

Tackling Indigenous disadvantage

Life expectancy for Indigenous people is 17 to 20 years lower than other Australians. Indigenous Australians also experience significantly lower standards of health, education, employment and housing — both unemployment and infant mortality rates are three times higher than that of the general population of Australia.

These statistics clearly point to the fundamental disadvantages experienced by Indigenous Australians in terms of life opportunities and well-being.  For this reason, an integral part of Caritas Australia’s Indigenous programs is a strong focus on action for change.

An historic, formal apology to Indigenous Australians was made by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on 13 February 2008 and is an important first step towards eradicating Indigenous disadvantage. However, Caritas Australia also believes that this must be accompanied by comprehensive and practical responses to address Indigenous disadvantage.

Caritas Australia works on advocacy by supporting the ‘Make Indigenous Poverty History’ campaign. The MDGs do not specifically target Indigenous people of the world, yet, as we can see in Australia, they are the most affected by extreme poverty. Caritas Australia actively supports this campaign in order to ensure that Indigenous Australians are not invisible in the pursuit of the MDGs.

The current situation experienced by Indigenous Australians is one that can be changed. Many successful community-run development programs are making a difference.

Indigenous Australia Programs

Regional spend on development programs for 2009/10: AUD $1,189,970

Note: Regional spend figures are not inclusive of emergency funding that may have gone to those regions also.

Australia:

• Manage Your Income, Manage Your Life    www.centacarewf.org.au
• Diabetes Management and Care Program
• Bilingual Family and Community Studies Project    www.nungalinya.edu.au
• Developing Young Indigenous   Leadership    www.erc.org.au
• Tjanpi Professional Development   www.tjanpiaboriginalbaskets.com
• Learning My Dreaming   www.djilpinarts.org.au
• Ghunmarn Culture Centre   www.youtube.com/user/DjilpinArts
• Australians for Healing Truth & Justice (Stolen Generations Alliance)
• Kids Future Club
• Skills Training Program, ACM Penrith   www.acmcssr.org.au
• Advocacy
• NATSICC Partnership Grant   www.natsicc.org.au
  

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