For all members using proxies at our upcoming AGM, please note that all proxy forms are to be submitted by Friday 14 September 2018, 4.30pm. These can emailed, hand delivered or posted, see contact details below. Thank you
Aarnja welcomes members to your AGM
Aarnja welcomes new CEO!
Aarnja’s delighted to welcome our new CEO, Maureen O’Meara. Maureen brings to Aarnja a true commitment to empowering Aboriginal people and communities to design their own future aspirations and goals.
She worked for the Kimberley Land Council at the time of the Crocodile Hole Report and was profoundly moved by the recommendations and the principles set out in this report, which included calls for greater Aboriginal representation, advocacy of Aboriginal rights and concerns, and community empowerment. Maureen says these aspirations, set out by senior Traditional Owners, are being realised through Aarnja’s work.
‘In the early days, the elders set out principles around self-empowerment and self-governance, and these really made sense to me. Now, all these years later we have Empowered Communities, which is about giving power back to Aboriginal people so we can make decisions for ourselves. I’m proud to be a part of this in my new role with Aarnja,’ Maureen says.
Maureen has a wealth of experience. She’s worked for the Department of Health in Western Australia and the Department of Health and Communities in the Northern Territory, where she was part of ground-breaking reforms. She’s served as the regional co-ordinator in both the East and West Kimberley for the Department of Housing and the chief executive of Emama Nguda Aboriginal Corporation. At a board level, Maureen is a director of the Bardi and Jawi Niimidiman Aboriginal Corporation and serves as director and chair of Aboriginal Housing—Community Housing Limited.
She’s looking forward to the challenge of ensuring that Aarnja and Empowered Communities are operating on a high strategic level, rather than a project-driven level. In the next six months, the biggest job will be assessing the organisations that have received IAS grant funding and measuring the effectiveness of their projects in the community to ensure that the funding is properly addressing community needs.
We’re thrilled to have Maureen onboard!
Aarnja staff recognised as powerful emerging leader
Divina D'Anna pictured second from left
Aarnja’s Divina D’Anna is a strong Aboriginal woman who has worked extensively with Kimberley Aboriginal people, specialising in community consultations in the areas of native title, social impacts, self-empowerment and suicide prevention. Last year, she was nominated and then selected to be part of Jawun’s Emerging Leaders program. The program was first established in 2011 to support rising Indigenous leaders to understand and meet the opportunities and challenges of leadership roles. The program is part of Jawun’s broader vision to invest not only in established Indigenous leaders, but also in the next generation. Divina sees a clear path through the pitfalls that often await emerging leaders. “Although changes in generational leadership aren’t so simple in regions like ours, it’s about finding the balance between the old and the new. You can’t forget where the vision comes from. Good leadership involves keeping culture alive and letting it evolve in this new world we live in.” To read more about Jawun’s Emerging Leaders program click here.
Press release: Straight talking women in Broome
Click the image for our official media release.
Aboriginal women will travel from far and wide across the vast Kimberley to converge in Broome next week for the region’s first ever Straight Talk, gaining skills to become powerful advocates and tackle the issues of importance to their communities.
Former senator, Olympic gold medallist and Straight Talk trailblazer Nova Peris, National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples Co-Chair Jackie Huggins and Kimberley MP Josie Farrer are among the highly respected and well-known Indigenous women who will take part in the event.
The three-day event, which starts on Monday 9 October, will be attended by about 40 participants from areas including Beagle Bay, Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek, Kununurra, Derby, Wyndham, Dampier Peninsula and Broome.
The gathering comes after lobbying by Kimberley women who have participated in previous national Straight Talk summits - and has been made possible by a unique partnership between Oxfam Australia and Kimberley Aboriginal membership organisation Aarnja.
Straight Talk facilitator Michelle Deshong, who has been involved in national and regional events that have brought together more than 600 women since Oxfam started the program eight years ago, said Aboriginal women had a powerful role in leading change.
“This regional meeting is about harnessing the capacity of really strong and connected women across the region,” said Ms Deshong, who is also a member of Oxfam’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander board advisory committee.
“The partnership between Oxfam and Aarnja also shows that if you think outside the box, you can achieve interesting things.”
Aarnja Executive Assistant Attika Edgar, who took part in last year’s national Straight Talk summit in Canberra, said she hoped women would leave the event with a greater level of confidence in their crucial roles as leaders in their communities.
“The program is about giving women stepping stones to build on their own skills and strategies that will help them engage with all levels of politics, government and their communities to bring about positive change,” Ms Edgar said.
Ms Peris, a proud Kimberley woman who has been involved in Straight Talk programs since 2010, said the program helped women build a shield of resilience and validated the phenomenal roles they already played in their communities.
“Straight Talk brings together strong, resilient Kimberley women who all have some leadership role within their community and this will further empower them through sharing their stories, their struggles and how they have overcome these challenges,” Ms Peris said.
Kathleen Cox, who will travel from the Dampier Peninsula to participate in the program, said women needed to be a strong voice for their communities, but rarely had the chance to come together and talk about their
shared issues and ideas.
“I hope to gain some knowledge, strategies and skills to help me understand political processes where I can confidently advocate for communities and satellite stations on the Dampier Peninsula,” Ms Cox said.
“There are so many issues in our region, but keeping in mind, the issues should not all be negative – we can choose to focus on positive issues and positive opportunities for growth, and we need a platform to be able to do this.
“I am looking forward to a feeling of empowerment – through everybody sharing dreams, sharing stories and sharing ideas for fixing our problems at the grass root level and supporting each other, particularly in women being involved in business and creating business opportunities for women.”
For interviews or further information, please contact Amanda Banks at Oxfam on 0411 449 653 or amandab@oxfam.org.au or Attika Edgar at Aarnja on 0499 332 020 or admin@aarnja.org.au