Key Result Area Guideline 1:

Partnerships with Aboriginal organisations

A Partnership is a formal agreement between Aboriginal community organisations and mainstream health providers to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and expertise, and to provide culturally appropriate and high quality services to improve Aboriginal health.

Some examples of Partnerships

The Rumbalara Aboriginal Co- Operative and Goulburn Valley Health have an effective Health Outcomes Agreement, monitored through a Task Force that meets regularly. Membership includes the CEO and Board Members from both organisations. For further information contact:

Leigh Gibson
Goulburn Valley Health
leigh.gibson@gvh.humehealth.org.au

VACCHO has published a report of a successful partnership built through the Victorian Indigenous blood borne virus (BBV) and injecting drug use (IDU) Training Project. The partnership was formalised with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between VACCHO Inc, the Hepatitis C Council Victoria (HCCV), and Aids, Hepatitis and Sexual Health Line Inc (ASHL). The report - The Making of a Great Relationship - is posted on the VACCHO website and part of the report is summarised below.

The National peak body for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, NACCHO, has a MOU with the Australian Divisions of General Practice. Go to
http://www.naccho.org.au

The Wur-cum barra website also has information about partnerships.

How to build a successful partnership

For a general introduction to partnerships go to

http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/laa/home.do

In summary, the key issues include:

• Defining role and purpose - what is the partnership actually supposed to do?
• Agreeing membership - who should be on the partnership and how are they selected?
• Establishing protocols - what structures and procedures underpin partnership working?
• Behaving properly - setting standards for behaviour and language to build trust and respect
• Sharing power and engaging minority interests - making sure the 'big boys' do not dominate
• Capacity building - supporting community based organisations, community leadership and skill development
• Communication and accountability - letting those outside the partnership know what is going on

The VACCHO report (2005) summarises ten steps to a successful mainstream/Indigenous collaborative project (reprinted with permission):

• A long time-frame
  
  A long time-frame allows the relationship between mainstream and Indigenous organisations to grow at its own pace. A forced partnership will never deliver the same outcome as one that is built on trust. The BBV/IDU project was the outcome of at least five years of relationship-building between HCCV, AHSHL and VACCHO. The MOU between these organisations came well after they 'knew' each other and had worked informally and formally together.
  
  
• Building trust
  
  Trust is a common Indigenous theme. It is tied in with the history of the colonisation of Australia, and the mistrust that developed between two cultures over the past 216 years. Developing a trusting relationship between mainstream and Indigenous organisations goes hand in hand with a long time-frame, allowing it to develop naturally. Mainstream organisations need to work with Indigenous organisations in their time-frame and on their priorities in order to build a trusting relationship. Building on existing relationships between individuals in mainstream and Indigenous organisations is a valuable way to develop further trust.
  
  
• Valuing each other
  
  This step is part of building trust, but is concerned with mutual respect. It is important to recognise and value the skills and experience that mainstream and Indigenous organisations can bring to the partnership. This can be encouraged by listening to each other and respecting different points of view.
  
  
• Get educated
  
  A major issue for Aboriginal people is the effort it takes to explain or answer all the questions mainstream organisations have about Aboriginal culture. 'It's not up to Aboriginal people to educate the mainstream about all things Aboriginal'. Starting a partnership with some knowledge of each other makes it easier to gain trust. Koori organisations will answer the questions, but get burnt out with having to do 'all the work'. Mainstream organisations need to take responsibility for training their own staff about Koori history, culture and values, and about the local Koori community. Before planning a collaboration, mainstream organisations should ensure that they have allowed time and allocated funding for cross-cultural training. A number of Koori organisations offer this type of training for a fee.
  
  
• Good planning
  
  A successful project is dependent on good planning, which should involve all the key stakeholders. The MOU was established before the project was too far developed. Even though it was not recognised that additional expertise was needed from VIVAIDS and VAHS until after the MOU was signed off, all the core partners were involved in planning the training workshops.
  
  
• Useful product
  
  A collaborative project is only as good as what is produced by it. The BBV/IDU Training Project was successful because the workshop participants felt they got something out of it. They gained a lot of new knowledge, and established new working relationships. They also got to share their experiences and stories with other Indigenous health workers. What they learned had direct relevance to their work and made a positive difference to the way they work in their Communities.
  
  
• Community initiated
  
  Hepatitis C was already seen as an issue in the Aboriginal community of Victoria before the BBV/IDU Training Project was developed. This arose from results of the Well Persons Health Checks (WPHC) project. The WPHC was a community based health assessment program designed to provide education, early detection and treatment for a range of health issues, including Sexually Transmissible Infections and Blood Borne Viruses. The WPHC was attended by 1446 people (61% women and 39% men) from 11 Aboriginal Communities across Victoria between 1999-2002. Of the 332 people who were screened for hepatitis C, 13.3 % returned a positive result. There were also a high number of people in the WPHC who had been or were injecting drug users. These results highlighted that hepatitis C and IDU were both major issues in Victorian Aboriginal communities, but the communities were at a loss about how to address them. The BBV/IDU Training Project was initiated to meet this need. Much of the expertise in this area lay with mainstream organisations but the Victorian Aboriginal community initiated the process, through VACCHO.
  
  
• Identifying the partners and formalising partnerships
  
  It is important to make sure you identify all the partners in a collaborative project. Even better, include the partners in a formal partnership arrangement such as a Memorandum of Understanding. This makes all the partners equal and gives the partnership and the project a solid foundation. Problems occur when one of the partners feels excluded, creating a potential basis for conflict.
  
  
• Supportive work environments
  
  To develop an Indigenous and mainstream collaborative project takes effort and time. One of the key findings of this review was the fact that the mainstream organisations involved were committed to making it works. All the mainstream partners spoke of the commitment they felt from their organisations. They were given the time and support from their workplaces who were committed to improving their relationships with Victorian Aboriginal Communities. All of the mainstream organisations embraced the opportunity to make their whole service more Indigenous friendly, from the Executive Board down.
  
  
• Cultural awareness
  
  A key component of the success of the BBV/IDU Training Project was credited to the cultural awareness and sensitivity-building exercise that was held at the start of the project. The fact that the partners had time to exchange ideas and values over a two-day period helped build solid foundations. Cross-cultural training at the beginning of any Indigenous/mainstream collaborative project is highly recommended.

Contact: Koori Human Services Unit, Department of Human Services, 20/50 Lonsdale St, Melbourne 3000
Telephone (03) 9096 7032
Email: koori@dhs.vic.gov.au