First Nations’ solutions for First Nations’ challenges
Community First Development is celebrating and elevating Indigenous knowledges, strengths, and solutions to address the issues faced by First Nations’ communities globally.
We celebrate the strong relationships we share across continents and countries, and the opportunities we can create for First Nations’ people and their communities, in Australia and around the world to address disadvantage.
We believe connecting First Nations’ communities with other First Nations communities produces the most potent seeds for positive change – that the sharing of capabilities, talents and unique skills between First Nation communities will produce opportunities to grow and thrive, turning disadvantage into opportunity through our own hands.
We facilitate the sharing of capabilities and talents between First Nations’ communities in our region and globally, to find solutions to common challenges, and to provide the framework for successful community partnerships, development and evaluation of impact.
We recognise the challenges First Nations’ peoples have endured and continue to endure globally, and respect the resilience, innovation and capability in First Nations’ communities, born out of those challenges.
We believe that communities succeed best when they can set their own agendas and lead the development of solutions, inviting support as it is needed.
Our culturally responsive development framework, and relationships with First Nations’ communities and organisations globally, give us the skills and knowledge to facilitate and manage partnerships between Australian and international First Nations’ communities, when we are invited.
Managed through best practice
The solutions we facilitate are managed through engagement and development frameworks refined over 20 years of working with our people, for our people. They are underpinned by rigorous and transparent governance and administration and best practice intellectual and cultural property protection. Unique impact measurement frameworks are developed with partners and funders for each program. They contribute to an evidence base we learn from, share and utilise to drive improvement in policy and practice wherever we work.
Designed with First Nations’ expertise
In most instances, the solutions to challenges and issues already exist within communities that have dealt with those same challenges, somewhere in the world. Our approach taps into the First Nations’ capability that already exists, and supports success through strong and collaborative relationships that allow First Nations’ solutions to solve First Nations’ challenges. The process generates powerful cultural exchange with the impact of long-term community owned success and strengthening of cultures.
