Indigenous Australia Strategy

Vision

Engineers Without Borders’ vision for a reconciled Australia is of a nation whose past is acknowledged, shared, taught and understood both as a common history and a contemporary reality. We look in hope to seeing a nation that celebrates the wide variety, complexity and value of the many cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We envisage a future Australia in which Indigenous and non-Indigenous people are proud of having worked together to overcome the inequalities currently experienced by Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples in terms of life expectancy, health, education, meaningful employment, justice and self-determination.


Mission

To work proudly with Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians to improve the quality of life of Indigenous people through education and sustainable engineering projects. Through these projects the engineering profession and Indigenous Australians will build strong relationships based on a two way sharing of knowledge and cultures. This will further our ultimate goal of a reconciled Australia by becoming more culturally aware and responsible, developing our knowledge and skills, and inspiring others into action.


Core Principles

  • We will assist Indigenous Australians in meeting their own project aspirations, which we can all be proud of achieving (self-determination).
  • We will focus on developing partner capacity through project outcomes and, as much as possible, direct transfer of knowledge and skills (capacity building).
  • Our projects will be based upon, and will further build, long-term, meaningful and engaging partnerships between Indigenous people, the technical sector and EWB (partnerships).
  • Our projects will facilitate personal relationships that promote mutual respect and understanding (personal relationships).
  • We will assist in projects that: (criteria)
    • the partner has the capacity to effectively engage in and maintain
    • EWB has the capacity to effectively engage in
    • benefit the partner’s community
    • are in remote, rural and urban areas
    • focus on projects owned by the community.
  • While EWB is not a funding body we will resource projects with EWB volunteers and create connections to relevant networks and resources where possible (EWB inputs).
  • We will learn from our partnerships and projects, our volunteers and from other organisations to improve our project outcomes (learning and internal development).
  • We will share our lessons and experience to inspire others to work towards positive change (external learning and change).
  • We will contribute towards improved understanding and appreciation of Indigenous culture within the engineering profession and our members by seeking opportunities for Indigenous Australians to share their knowledge and by encouraging members to lead their own discussions and learning (learning about and sharing Indigenous culture).
  • We will respect and observe cultural protocols as agreed with the partner community. This includes recognition of sites and objects of cultural and spiritual significance (cultural protocols).