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Abstract:
This report presents the findings of an action research project at the remote Aboriginal settlement of Engawala, central Australia (approximate population 135 people). The project was conducted over an 18-month period using a variety of participatory methods. The purpose was to understand resources flows in Engawala and the extent to which these resource flows influence the long-term viability of remote desert settlements. The theoretical basis to the analysis was the Sustainable Livelihoods (SL) Framework, which is a model of practice developed in international development settings. It has increasingly been adapted to Aboriginal settings in remote Australia. Rather than starting with externally derived interventions, the model draws practitioners to consider the range of settlement-based assets that settlements can draw on towards achieving livelihood outcomes. The model holds that even the most disadvantaged people have assets, and that these resources should be seen as the basis of recovery or development The study found merit in an asset-based approach, but otherwise found the SL Framework was limited to the specific contexts found in developing countries. In applying the SL Framework to Engawala, considerable modifications to the Framework were necessary. It was immediately apparent that the types of vulnerabilities experienced in villages in developing countries, as encapsulated by the SL Framework, had little relevance to Engawala (e.g. war, crop failure, commodity price fluctuations, etc). Rather, vulnerability was inseparably intertwined with government-backed funding and services. The basic needs of people in Engawala (housing, water supply, food, income, etc.) were met by the Australian state.
