Gaia U Orientation at VISFI

On Dec 1st, the Gaia University orientation at the Virgin Islands Sustainable Farm Institute got underway. With 28 people in attendance from 13 different countries, promising to be a rich and rewarding experience for all involved.
Thanks to the work and support of the HERTKH project, a delegation of six Australians are in attendance: Annete Kogolo (continuing MSc candidate), Steven James (entering MSc candidate), Mark Coles (entering BS candidate), Glenn Woods (MSc/PhD candidate), Dr. Anne Poelina (potential adviser to future Indigenous Australian candidates, and PhD candiate) and Michelle Coles (Yirriman project coordinator, and facilitator for NAILSMA).
This experience promises to be a fertile ground for germination of novel approaches to Indigenous tertiary education in Australia, and the design of methodologies for documentation and recognition of the value of Traditional Knowledge as an academic and intellectual asset in the hands of Aboriginal Peoples.

September report

Here is the official progress report to be shared with UNU-IAS TKI, NAILSMA, Gaia University, CDU, and any other interested organizations and institutions.
It contains an overview of phase 1 of the projects, as well as some initial findings and ways forward.

*September HERTKH report*

Project name change

The Higher Education Recognition for Traditional Knowledge (HERTK) project is now renamed the Traditional Knowledge Recognition for Traditional Knowledge Holders (HERTKH) programme. This acknowledged the important fact that knowledge cannot be separated from the people who have inherited, fostered, gathered, created and guarded it, and that, much like their relationship to country, a people's relationship to their Traditional Knowledge is a foundation of their identity.

Marry River Water Forum

This was a meeting at Marry River Lodge with the Federal Government's Northern Task Force and Aboriginal organizations and leaders from accross Northern Australia. It was a good opportunity to witness first hand the work of the Indigenous Community Water Facilitators, as they worked in break off groups and helped discussions focus around important water management issues facing Indigenous communities. Annette Kogolo was among them, working hard and documenting her experience as part of her Gaia University action learning pathway. It will be exciting to see the product of her work posted on hr portfolio in the near future.

TCF Seminar and first Portfolio entries

The Teaching from Country seminar at the School for Aboriginal and Indigenous Knowledge Systems went very well, with Annette Kogolo demonstrating her progress using action learning methodologies to document her prior learning experience as well as her ongoing MsC pathway. To this end, she showcased the progress on her portfolio on the Gaia University Electronic Learning site (GEL), which uses a MOODLE platform and may be viewed here.
Click on the link and then Login as a Guest to view.

Here is a presi link of the material presented at SAIKS:
http://prezi.com/lh9awumbx71x/

And a video of the conference:

Teaching From Country Seminar

The School for Aboriginal and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (SAIKS) at Charles Darwin University has invited HERTK candidates and myself to offer a presentation during their upcoming Teaching From Country Seminar.

This will be a wonderful opportunity to share some of the preliminary insights gained from the project, as well as receive input from other experts.

Annette Kogolo will be traveling to Darwin from Fitzroy crossing to participate. Unfortunately, Alwyn Lyall will not be attending, as he is reconsidering his participation in the HERTK program due to personal reasons.

HERTK Strategies Revision meeting Monday June 15, 2009.

In Attendance:

Hugh Wallace-Smith – NAILSMA
Ameyali Ramos – UNU-IAS TKI
Ian Nigh – Gaia University, UNU-IAS TKI

Issues discussed:
-Challenges current facing HERTK candidates/associates in creating outputs and advancing learning pathways.
-Linkages with HERTK and ICWFN workloads and deliverables.

Opportunities identified:
-Potential for incorporating ICWFN 6 month reports with Gaia U outputs.
-Potential for piloting strategies within HERTK to work through challenges also affecting ICWFN work.
-Incorporating further HERTK workshops with IWPG meeting, fostering “Aha Moments” for candidates.
-Perfecting HERTK template as a learning tool for future Water Facilitators.

Agreements reached:
-Establish weekly teleconference meeting with candidates/associates to review last week's work and set goals/deliverables for next week.
-Plan a workshop around the theme “transforming challenges into opportunities”, possibly inviting other ICW Facilitators (and/or others) to attend.
-Review ICWFN 6 month report format as a possible starting point for an output template for HERTK/ICWFN candidates/associates.

ICWFN meeting in Broome, WA

The first general meeting of the Indigenous Community Water Facilitators Network took place in Broome, Western Australia from May 12-14, and I had the privilege of offering a brief presentation on the HERTK project there. The response was a generally positive one, and there is great interest among the facilitators in the outcomes and possible benefits that action learning and participatory action research can bring to their efforts. It was very instructive for me to get an understanding of the origins and goals of the ICWFN and the different regions and catchments they are operating in. There were several guest presenters at the meeting as well, including leading experts from academia and major research institutions. Several opportunities for enhancing the HERTK support network arose, and some strategic links were made that will strengthen the content delivered to Indigenous associates. For example, a link was made with NAILSMA's communications officer to include an Information Communication Technology workshop in associates' orientation sessions, and develop a HERTK-specific media tool kit for associates to use in developing outputs. This is an important issue for the project, since developing effective means of documenting Traditional Knowledge and diverging epistemologies will be the cornerstone that will allow for peer review and tertiary level awards for the candidates. One very promising technology uses still images in conjunction with audio to create simple "videos" capable of telling compelling stories as well as synthesizing a great deal of information efficiently.

Alwyn-Cape York Associate

The second HERTK candidate was contacted through Balkanu Corporation in Cairns, QLD. He is also an Indigenous Community Water Facilitator and has worked on country in a wide variety of projects related to resource management. He is interested in community engagement and wants to use his work at Balkanu and the ICWFN as the basis for his action learning pathway in pursuing his Graduate Diploma.
Alwyn will be coming to Darwin on the third week of May to go through a one on one orientation week similar to what Annette experienced. This being the second orientation in the HERTK pilot program, it will present opportunities to introduce more material specific to an Australian Indigenous context.
Alwyn's portfolio will also be available for viewing through the Gaia University Moodle site, and may also be published through other channels such as Balkanu and NAILSMA newsletters.

Annette-Kimberley Associate

The first HERTK candidate was contacted in a meeting of the Fitzroy River Catchment Group in Halls Creek, WA. She is an Indigenous Community Water Facilitator, as well as an interpreter and member of the Kimberley Land Council. She has strong ties to community and traditional law and culture. Her main interests have to do with caring for her country by preserving traditional resource management and dream time connections, sharing them with new generations by and nurturing the ecological and social regeneration of the Malmajarri people.
She will be working on her Graduate Diploma portfolio, and will be defining her major shortly. Her work will be available for viewing on the Gaia University Moodle site, and she has also expressed in interest in learning HTML publishing in order to setup her own website.

Gaia Univesrity

As a graduate from Gaia University www.gaiauniversity.org, I realized the potential of the Action Learning model to be a means of empowerment for Indigenous communities. The Ecological and Social regeneration philosophy of Gaia U is also an important element that is consistent with the integrative and holistic ways of knowing that caracterize Traditional Knowledge systems. For this reason, Gaia U was an ideal ally for the HERTK pilot program, and an agreement was reached with the founders to create a special program for Indigenous candidates, which I am responsible for designing and coordinating along with Gaia U advisers Andy Langford and Valerie Seitz.

Proposed Gaia U, UNU - TKI and NAILSMA Collaboration

The HERTK project began in February, 2009, when a collaboration agreement was proposed between the North Australia Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance, Gaia University and the United Nations Universities' Traditional Knowledge Initiative.

My name is Ian Nigh, and I am responsible for the design and implementation of the project in collaboration with Hugh Wallace-Smith, from NAILSMA, who coordinates the Indigenous Water Facilitator Network (ICWFN).