Project Proposal

Proposed Project: Close the Gap of Health Inequality between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and Non-Indigenous People in Australia.

My project focuses on making change in closing the gap in health inequality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Australia. One of the biggest reasons for choosing this particular topic is due to my placement experience at Oxfam.

My role as a placement student at Oxfam is a Community Campaigner, and I had an opportunity to learn about Indigenous health and issues relating to this topic. The more I learned about the issue the stronger I felt in making change to close the gap of these inequalities.

My project is based on the collective action because this issue can be only solved through the collaboration work of Indigenous people, non-Indigenous people who believe in equality and voice their stances, and governments who are dedicated to make change through legislations to close the gap. Therefore, my target community involves all the people in Australia. Also, my project aims to be as inclusive as possible through promoting the co-learning process, and encouraging the active participation during the events.

My project aims:

- To raise awareness about Indigenous Health inequality,
- To broaden community members’ knowledge of Indigenous Health through community education,
- To promote a sense of unity through community concern, action, and support (mass mobilisation), and
- To empower community members through the realisation of their power to change using collective action as a tool.

My action plan includes:

-To hold events where I present this particular issue, and encourage people to take collective actions through signing petitions, and deepening the understanding of the issue.

- To hold an information stall during the Dreaming Festival between 14 – 16 of June, and call for collective actions through petitions and promoting the issue.

- To research and participate in events and forums that are related to Indigenous health, and if appropriate contact event organiser to see if I can set up an information booth during the event/forum to call for collective action.

Possible risks for this project include:

- Since the community members’ primary purpose for gathering is not my event, I need to make sure that the event is promoted in advance to attract the participation.

- Because this project aims to call for collective action, I need to make the event inclusive and co-learning process, rather than banking education style. In order to make this project to be co-learning process, I will focus my attention to what each of us as a community member can do to contribute to the collective action to make a change.
Also, by encouraging participants to discuss their opinions and existing knowledge about the issue, I will try to provide the sense of ‘building on’ learning style, rather than information being ‘deposited’ to participants’ memories.