What we Do
We facilitate and train entities / groups / organisations to work collectively and collaboratively for mutually beneficial outcomes.
Our Tools
The Walk Together process utilises tools developed over three decades of intercultural learning and adaptation.
Past Projects
Learn more about the mutually beneficial outcomes we have achieved with collaborators in the past.
What we do
Some information about Walk Together's history
Walk Together is a process that can be used to facilitate and train individuals/groups/organisations to work collectively and collaboratively for mutually beneficial outcomes. The Walk Together process utilises tools developed over three decades of intercultural learning and adaptation.
Walk Together initially evolved from the research of Dave Goddard and his experiences working between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal cultures in the 1990s. Since then, in company with Colin Bell and the late Nick Norris as co-directors of Collaborative Systemic Change Pty Ltd, and Arama Maitara, director of Walk Together NZ, Walk Together has been further developed and refined as a tool to holistically manage social and organisational cultural difference, within or between cultures. It is a process that enables relationships between differing groups to be revisited and reset as a means of reconciliation and future benefit.
The input and wisdom of many people, Aboriginal/Indigenous and non-Indigenous social and organisational leaders, are acknowledged. The process of Walk Together is totally compatible with the ways of knowing and doing of the different cultures and entities/groups/organisations which have been undertaken the process.
Who We Are
Dr David Goddard
Dr Dave Goddard has worked for two decades in the area of change management, particularly between Aboriginal communities and public and private sector entities. He has worked with metropolitan, rural and remote Aboriginal communities throughout Australia for more than 20 years, both in education as a Principal and District Director in the Department of Education and as a private consultant.
Dave’s work provides outstanding examples of what can be achieved from “working in the intercultural space.” Some of his achievements include:
A model for the Gumula Mirnuwarni Education Project using Mutual Ways. The Project commenced in 1997 and was the forerunner of some 70 similar Projects operating under the banner of the Graham (Polly) Farmer Foundation program, “Partnerships for Success”.
The Fortescue Metals Group Vocational Training and Employment Centre commenced in 2006 following a model created by Walk Together personnel. It currently has in excess of 600 Aboriginal people on its books and an outstanding record of placing individuals into work in the Pilbara. Mutual Ways was the methodology used to create the Projects.
The Remote Learning Partnership Agreements (RLPAs) required the facilitation of individual agreements between the largest Remote communities in the NT and the Department of Education & Training, NT.
On the basis of his experience, Dave has developed Mutual Ways as a methodology for setting up relationships that enable Aboriginal communities to work collaboratively with government and private sector partners.
Together with Nick Norris, and Colin Bell, Dave also developed the Strategic Action Framework, a process pathway for navigating complex change processes.
Colin Bell
Colin has 22 years experience in organisational change as well as in the education and community development sectors; and has a personal interest in societal change. He has extensive experience in leadership and management, gained from organisational and community roles.
Colin specialises in strategic planning, facilitation, business improvement, leadership and management, organisational governance, organisational development, coaching and mentoring, change management & implementation.
He has also spent 12 years developing and implementing community programs, specifically in the areas of self managed employment, community development and communication education programs. Colin has had extensive experience in the development, delivery and professional development of teachers in enterprise education programs and indigenous education strategies.
One of his recent assignments has been a three year contract as CEO for a group of companies including manufacturing, building and construction, retail (hardware), and property development. Previously he had also has been a CEO of Not for profit organisations.
Arama Mataira
Throughout her long-lasting career in education in Australia and in New Zealand, Arama has experienced high levels of success from the outset. From being the first remote schoolteacher to be awarded the Teacher of Exemplary Practice status to being the youngest principal in the region at the age of 25, Arama’s has bought about impactful change with a broad scope of stakeholders, including state officials and business representatives in extremely complex environments for the past 20 years. The majority of her work has been in Australia’s most remote regions working with Indigenous Aboriginal peoples in Central Australia and in Western Australia.
Arama’s particular interests include coaching and bringing awareness to leadership teams, aspirant leaders, individuals and iwi (Maori Tribe) to work towards change that is collaborative and becomes systemic, that is, the new way of working becomes embedded over time. Through this carefully guided process, she will assist sectors to understand each other. These might include; public, private, NGO and local community groups/iwi sectors.
Arama has collaborated with Walk Together for the past four years and is working as a facilitator under the Walk Together umbrella. She is based in Auckland, New Zealand and is available as an independent contractor.
Our Work
Take a glimpse at some of our completed projects
The company logos immediately below indicate some organisations which have used Walk Together, or elements of it, to achieve immensely positive outcomes. Descriptions of some projects follow the logos.
Some information about our projects
The following projects were all devised using the Walk Together design, with many continuing to this day.
1995 – 2001: Devising a model for Gumala Minruwarni Education Project which underpins Follow the Dream for the Polly (Graham) Farmer Foundation
2000 – 2005: Devising and implementing the Swan Nyungar Sport Education Project (SNSEP) at Balga Senior High School, (WA)
2004 – 2005: Creating a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a Shared Responsibility Agreement (SRA) between the Ngaanyatjarra Council and the Department of Education (WA) including strategies to standardise educational offerings across the Lands to meet the needs of a transient population.
2005 – 2007: Development of Fortescue Metals Group Vocational Training and Employment Centre (FMG VTEC) in the Pilbara Regions of Western Australia involving negotiations with four Language Groups, Education and Training entities in Hedland and Newman, and FMG personnel.
2007 – 2009: Developing Remote Learning Partnership Agreements RLPAs with the largest remote communities in Northern Territory and the Northern Territory Education Department. A total of 13 Agreements were achieved between the divergent cultures of the bureaucratic agency and its rules and the individual communities and individual obligations.
2009-2012: Alcohol Management Plans (AMPs) in the Northern Territory after the Northern Territory National Emergency Response. Seven individual AMPs were successfully developed between NT FaCSHIA (Federal government for Indigenous Affairs) and each community to enable successful alcohol control and consumption
2012-2014: Reviewing a partnership between the Australian Football League (AFL) and FaCSHIA with remote communities in the Northern Territory and South Australia and recommending and assisting in the facilitation of its future
2013 – 2016: Developing 17 school/community partnerships under the auspices of the Western Australian Education Department in the Pilbara and Goldfields Regions of WA.
2002-2016: Involvement in facilitating planning for the Australian Cricket Board (now Cricket Australia) to engage with Indigenous people and assist them to develop pathway to participate in in cricket. The Imparja Cup and the Ballardong Cricket Academy were two products of that work, both continuing for 15 and 12 years respectively
Considerable pride is taken in the longevity and sustainability of so many of these programs, evidence of the success of the partnerships and satisfaction with the outcomes by various stakeholders, and with strong Indigenous participants.
Testimonials
Hear from the stakeholders of our completed projects
Cricket Australia
"Walk Together has motivated the development of cricket for Indigenous people at the local, state, Australian and international levels for nearly two decades. The collaboration developed between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people apparent in all States and territories is in no small way due to the program’s effectiveness. The motivation for and construction of the long-term plan in Indigenous cricket for Cricket Australia (2002) and the recent recognition of the Aboriginal Ballardong Cricket Academy (BCA) at the Cricket Australia awards (2018) are testimony to its longevity and continued success."
--- David Clear: General Manager - Game & Market Development: 2007-2017
Ballardong Cricket Academy National Community Initiative of the Year Award (2018)
Ballardong Juniors (2016)
Wiluna Remote Community School
"As a former Principal of Wiluna Remote Community School, I was introduced Walk Together as a program soon after my appointment. It generated collaboration and cohesiveness in a previously fractured community, leading to a unique school-health partnership, vast community support for the school, and a long-term plan which I understand is still being effected. As a Maori, I found the underpinning principles of the program to be of such interest and value that on returning to New Zealand, I initiated Walk Together NZ which is gaining exceptional interest across the country."
--- Arama Maitara: Former Principal, Wiluna Remote Community School, Western Australia
Wiluna School-Community Health Partnership (2014)
Walk Together Tools
Mutual Ways
Mutual Ways illustrates the need for Walk Together, shows the theoretical basis for enabling productive, effective relationships between differing cultures.
Mutual ways defines “culture” is “our way of knowing and doing’.
Any culture, whether organisational, racial or religious, will have different “ways of knowing and doing” from others in the same sphere. Mutual Ways aims to bring differing, often conflicting cultures, into a “between world” where neither dominate, and both can have shared authority, responsibility for, and input to, ways to improve outcomes for all participants.
Walk Together Design Principles
The key principles should both guide action and monitor the process in its entirety. For the action phase, each principle is a statement of intent. For monitoring, each is a question of successful application.
The principles are:
Community initiatedSustainablePartnershipsLearning by doingTwo-wayMonitoringGovernanceAccountability
Strategic Action Framework (SAF)
The SAF is a road map for change and a method of successfully working in the “Between World” or “Intercultural Space”. It has four key strategies, five phases and twenty objectives requiring attention. If any are omitted, chances of failure increase.
The principles are:
Key Strategies: Relationships, Facilitation, Objectives and Monitoring.
The Five Phases: Pre-readiness, Readiness, Planning, Implementation, Embedment.
Twenty sequential objectives as in numbered boxes in the diagram below.
Monitoring and Review
Monitoring and review is a crucial aspect of the Walk Together Design.
It has three major aspects:
Monitoring as per the Key Design Principles
Monthly and Quarterly Progress Reports to participants and clients
Group reviews of progress reports to plan for the next stage
Two types of measurement data are used:
The achievement of identified outcomes (what is being achieved)
How the process is being undertaken (how the goals are being achieved)
Because Projects are community initiated, the goals identified must be relevant and understandable to community members.
Contact
Dr Dave Goddard
Mail: 7 Hobbs Ave, Como WA 6152
Mob: +61 419 048897
Email:dave@aussieyarns.com
Colin Bell
Mail: 10 Greenshank Mews, Wannanup WA 6120
Mob: +61 415 271 783
Email: Colin@bellsolutions.net.au