A two-day workshop to support the development of Aboriginal leaders and communities in South Australia was held last week.

The workshop, attended by senior public servants, was part of the Aboriginal Nation Rebuilding program, which aims to enhance the capacity of Aboriginal communities for effective self-governance and economic development.

The program delivers a State Government election commitment to work with the higher education sector as part of a $1.2 million investment over four years to rebuild Aboriginal governance and leadership.

Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation Minister Kyam Maher said the program, delivered by Flinders, supports the development of Aboriginal leaders and Aboriginal governance by building capable and contemporary Aboriginal governing institutions.

“Nation Rebuilding is about how Aboriginal people can draw on their unique cultural authority, capacity, and strengths to pull together the tools needed to build the futures that Aboriginal communities want – and put them in place,” he said.

Dean of the Office of Indigenous Strategy and Engagement, Professor Daryle Rigney, says the workshop and overall program is built on international best practice.

“The program has been developed collaboratively with the Melbourne School of Government, Melbourne University, the Jumbunna House of Learning of the University of Technology, Sydney, and the Native Nations Institute of the University of Arizona in the United States.”