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Strengthening Families in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands Project
Murkurla Walyjumunu Kanyilma, NT

Stronger Families Learning Exchange Bulletin No.5 Autumn 2004 p.44-45

A Second Look - the project provides an update on progress

 

What has the project been doing since its last Bulletin report?

When we look back at our last report we wonder what we weren't going to do! Six priority issues were identified all of them worthy of their very own project! After much discussion with the Community and Steering Committee and numerous drafts and redrafts of the Strategic Plan and Evaluation framework the Project objectives are to:

• improve the health of children 0-6 through improving nutrition;
• provide preschool children with a supportive environment and activities that promote their health, education opportunities and social development;
• provide the parents of preschool children with a supportive environment and activities that enhance their knowledge and skills in parenting;
• increase the community's awareness of services that are available, how to access these services and influence how these services are delivered; build participation and involvement in the project; and
• develop a growing understanding and demonstrate the capacity to make collective change.

The Project plans to address the objectives through four spheres of action: Playgroup; Growth assessment and action; Stores; and Women keeping strong. Rhoda Watson started working with the Project in October on Playgroups and Growth assessment and action.

Playgroup

Mukulyanytjulu Walykumunu Kanyinma is providing support to a number of communities who have set up Playgroups and to communities who are planning to do so. At the start of the project there was a Playgroup in Blackstone. There are now playgroups in Warburton and Tjirrkarli and keen interest in getting Playgroup started from Warakurna, Cosmo Newberry and Jameson. In the true spirit of partnerships and intersectoral collaboration, Mukulyanytjulu Walykumunu Kanyinma is working with DCD to implement the ' Best Start' Program in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands. We are in the process of recruiting a Best Start Coordinator who will be based in the Lands.

Mukulyanytjulu Walykumunu Kanyinma was asked to investigate child care training opportunities. We met with Yorganop Childcare Aboriginal Corporation in Perth. Yorganop has developed a Certificate 3 in Childcare in Aboriginal communities. This course is nationally accredited by the Australian National Training Authority. Mukulyanytjulu Walykumunu Kanyinma Ngaanyatjarra College and Yorganop are in the process of signing a MOU for the delivery of this course at Warburton.

Growth assessment and action

Growth Assessment and Action (GAA) is the regular measurement, recording and interpretation of a child' s growth in order to counsel, act and follow up results. The measuring is not an intervention but a strategy that generates action.

Mukulyanytjulu Walykumunu Kanyinma has requested support training and resources from GAA Territory Health to implement a GAA program in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands. The Ngaanyatjarra Health Service is an enthusiastic partner of this initiative. Yarnangu will be encouraged to use their knowledge to address specific nutrition and development issues in the community and then develop action strategies to promote child growth. Growth Assessment and Action is in the process of being implemented in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands. Staff from four communities underwent GAA training in Blackstone in March 2004.

Stores

Mukulyanytjulu Walykumunu Kanyinma, as one of the community development units of the Ngaanyatjarra Health Service, participates in the Store Policy Working Party. The Store Policy will cover a wide range of issues from guidelines for best retail practice to training and employment.

With our involvement we aim to develop a framework which assures improved access to healthy food in all of the Ngaanyatjarra communities. Addressing issues regarding special nutrition needs is also on the agenda. Examples include diabetic and low joules food, and healthy alternatives to sweets and other snacks, and emphasis on the availability of these items is complemented with emphasis on the importance of making good choices.

Thorough consultations with all stakeholders will ensure a transparent process at the end of which we hope to have achieved not only improved nutrition but growing awareness of the connections between health and food availability, food preparation skills and opportunities, physical activity and family income management.

Women keeping strong

This part of our project was initiated by the community, in particular our Senior Project Worker. All activities are aimed at the objectives of looking after young women so they are healthy, have healthy babies and raise healthy children. Health is considered as a complex and holistic concept that includes emotional, mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing.

The program uses a ' both-ways' approach (mainstream and traditional knowledge and teaching methods) and its most important aspect is education. This takes place in different settings, probably most effectively in bush, and teaches young girls and women about their bodies, healthy lifestyle and relationships, nutrition and hygiene, pregnancy and childbirth and about looking after children and family.

We use teaching resources from the health clinics and traditional storytelling, singing and dancing are part of the ' curriculum' as well. We approached NT Health' s Strong Women Strong Babies Strong Culture program for support in training Strong Women Workers, and we will start developing our own resources.

What has been learned since the last report that may be of interest and value to other projects?

We have learned so many things!

• There is no point cold calling meetings.
• It is not a good idea to take yoghurt on bush picnics.
• Patience really is a virtue! There is nothing new under the sun.
• Just because we think it is a priority does not mean the community thinks it is a priority.
• Projects and strategies can be hijacked or derailed because there is not a complete understanding of what Community Development and Capacity Building means or what it involves. To circumvent this and give community development processes any chance of working, Yarnangu and all those working with them need appropriate training in community development skills and processes.

How has the community responded to the project?

We consider the growing community interest and involvement in our project as the most telling response. More and more people talk about our activities, they ' visit' and ask questions about the project and its actions, discuss what they learnt and come back to us with all sorts of feedback. We feel that the project achieved a strong presence not only in Blackstone, the community where strategies are piloted, but in the whole of the Ngaanyatjarra Lands. As one of our workers said: ' Other communities want to do it too and they are looking forward to working with us.' Feedback to one of the Steering Committee members indicates ' a strong level of community ownership and involvement' and that ' young women seem to like the project, although they can't pinpoint why'.

The weekly bush picnics continue to be very popular and are well attended. Looking after our resources became a shared responsibility, reflecting the community' s concern for the project' s success. An example of how even old things gained a new momentum is the comeback of the ' smoking' of newborn babies, a tradition that had great significance for ensuring the good health and good behaviour of the child, but which has not been practiced for a while.