Design
The Yarrawarra Forum came out of our earlier Pathways Work. We recommended a Forum as means to strengthen IEG's network and to provide the basis for an Indigenous designed outreach approach. A principle of the work was for it to be Indigenous-led. Ultimately, it was IEG's vision that EWB was supporting. This meant providing support within the bounds of IEG's vision, and designing the Forum such that it was led by an Indigenous facilitator, all attendees were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and these attendees designed outputs, but provided endorsement for EWB to support the efforts.
The delegates proposed that the program should be place-based and delivered on Country by Indigenous facilitators with support from friends in the engineering sector – with culture and community at the centre. By engaging younger, primary school and early high school-aged students, their families and community to engineering, the program will address a gap in current initiatives and showcase to students the relevance of engineering at an age before they’ve made up their mind on their future. They also felt the program should showcase how Indigenous engineering is very real and alive today in traditional artefacts and tools to connect engineering to their culture and identity, while combining both modern and traditional skills.
The group also raised the importance of demystifying what engineering is and engaging young people in engineering for Country. They aim to do this by grounding the program in real, local aspirations and challenges by working closely with community to tailor each program. Not only should engineering be made relevant to their community; it must also be tangible by seeing real Indigenous role model facilitators. This will be possible through linking kids to other support organisations and mentoring as they grow older, in order to foster pathways to engineering.
The article we co-wrote with EWB on the Forum can be found here: https://ewb.org.au/blog/2023/03/30/designing-indigenous-led-engineering-pathways-for-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-youth/
Our thanks and photo credit to Wayne Quilliam, you can view his work here.
