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).