This program was designed for and by Aboriginal Communities.
THE FOUNDATION
WHY CO-DESIGN
For too long, training programs about Aboriginal Communities have been designed by people outside those communities.
Connecting Cultures starts from a different place. Community sovereignty is not a principle we apply — rather it is how this program was built. Every decision, every scenario, every design choice has been shaped and approved by the communities whose knowledge and lives are represented within it.
THE PROCESS
THE CO-DESIGN PROCESS
GROUNDING
COMMUNITY
WHO IS INVOLVED
Connecting Cultures has been co-designed with Aboriginal Community members from Yolŋu Country in Nhulunbuy and Yirrkala, Northern Territory, and with Community representatives from Darwin and Communities across Australia.
The program also draws on the expertise of an intersectionality group of co-designers, ensuring that diversity within Community — including people living with disability, LGBTQIA+ community members, and neurodivergent individuals — is authentically represented throughout.
This program exists because harm happens when social workers arrive on Country without preparation, without humility, and without understanding. Connecting Cultures is our commitment to changing that. Built with, and accountable to, the Communities it serves.