Jawun Secondment 2018

If you're spending six weeks around Alice Springs, you can't pass up on the opportunity to go see one of the most impressive sights Australia has to offer. Uluru presents majestic insights in ancient cultures, history and geology. Two other Jawun secondees and I drove to Uluru last weekend (~ 4.5 hrs by car) to take in the majestic rock and its surroundings, and hear some of the stories that the local people associate with it. It was a magical experience, enhanced by a most excellent tour guide for our walk around the bas e, and the great company of Mick and Jillian.                 Estimates for how long people have lived in Australia vary, with conservative numbers quoting at least 30,000 years, and some studies pointing towards a human presence well over 100,000 years. Hearing some these people's stories that are set around Uluru, about how the rock came to be, and how these stories fit in storylines that connect to neighbouring regions, helped m

We're now over half way of the five weeks that we have to deliver our projects. Yesterday, we had the midway debrief session, with all the Jawun secondees. In style, we got out of town and gathered round a campfire, where every secondee spoke briefly (and some a bit less briefly) about the way they were tackling their projects, how they felt they were progressing and what the major challenges had been for them. I feel very lucky that my project is a very close fit to what I don't get to do much in my normal role, but do enjoy doing very much. And with my work experience in research partnering, I can deliver some very relevant input on the Project Brief. A detailed narration of a project These clay pans would form a brilliant foundation for ice rinks. Just flood and wait for the frosts to come! My Project Brief is a well thought out document that asks me to deliver two things: Develop a process for evaluating research requests, in line with NPYWC strategic object

Because we missed the community-visit to Finke (see one of my previous posts), and not all of us work on projects that require us to go out bush (including me, I’m just pounding away on my keyboard and talking to people!), two of the Directors of the Women’s Council cooked us a bush picnic today. Margaret Smith and Julie Anderson both live in Alice Springs, and showed us how it’s done. We drove a short way out of town, and built two small fires. On these fires, we cooked a damper (a type of bread specific to Australia, baked in the coals of a campfire), sweet and normal potato, and… roo tails. Preparing and eating the roo tails felt a little bit like an initiation.  The ladies clearly have heaps of experience and skill. The way they prepared the damper impressed me to no end. The bread dough was baked in the hot sand and coals, where the fire had been burning for a bit. The sand is covered with flour, the dough (shaped a bit like a focaccia bread) is placed on top, more flour

Target : Process Design for Successful Research Partnerships Weapons of Choice : A stack of Sticky notes Years of experience working "at the other side of the fence"  A good amount of very helpful stakeholder interviews Main challenge : The sticky notes don't actually stick     Upside : A good incentive to move to digitising that stack of notes quickly.  I feel like I'm making good progress. I have made a solid start on the recommendations document, and have transplanted all sticky note wisdom onto my computer, where it forms the basis of a process map with resource recommendations for NPYWC staff who engage in research projects. I have planned a workshop with several people in a week's time, where we'll test drive the process document. One week should be enough to flesh out the current process, as well as advance my recommendations document.  using sticky notes for good, not evil

The induction week gave us some better understanding of the region we’re in, and the history of the respective organisations that we have joined for the next wee while. In week two, the rubber hit the road. Or rather, pens hit notepads, fingers hit keyboards and post-it notes hit walls and desks. The days have been packed and quite intense. Between that, and trying to fit in some exercise, and some further exploration of Alice’s attractions, there has been limited time to write about the work that has actually taken me here.  My secondment takes place with the NPY Women’s Council . The Women’s Council was established to give a voice to the women of the Ngaanjatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunjatjara lands, and their families. Their mission statement is formulated as follows: Our core purpose is to work with the women and their families of the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara region in central Australia to increase their capacity to lead safe and healthy lives with impr

My secondment will be with the NPY Women’s Council, who operate on the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Lands . This Region is defined by and named after the three languages of the people who live on the Lands. Although I will be based in Alice Springs, Alice is not actually on NPY lands. The region covers a vast 350,000 square kilometres, which is about the size of Germany. Twenty-six communities and homelands, of around 6,000 people total, are located in this area, that expands across South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. For us to get an idea of the lands, and to have an opportunity to meet and speak with some of the people who live there, Fran, the Jawun Regional Director, had organised a two day trip to Aputula, or Finke. As the trip to Finke is across several hundred kilometres of unsealed road, on the edge of the Simpson Desert, Jawun requires us to be proficient and safe at driving a 4 wheel drive (4WD) vehicle, changing a tyre