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The Jawun Model

Established in 2001, Jawun is an innovative not-for-profit organisation that is financially and administratively supported by 24 or more Secondment Partners.  (Jawun means ‘friend’ in the Kuku Yalanji language of Mossman Gorge.)

Under the guidance of Patron Noel Pearson, Jawun’s aim is to build the capacity of Indigenous people so they can choose a life they have reason to value.

Jawun places skilled people from Australia’s leading companies and government agencies into Indigenous organisations. These secondees share their expertise and support Indigenous leaders 'in situ' to achieve their own development goals.

Indigenous Australians have the right to vote and access to universal healthcare, education and welfare. Yet average life expectancy for Indigenous Australians is well below non-Indigenous Australians, and in some Indigenous communities unemployment is as high as 80 per cent.  As Jawun Patron, Noel Pearson, has stressed, the solution is not simply providing Indigenous people with more freedom or more choices.

To achieve progress, a different approach was required, a partnership model which emphasised working with Indigenous people, rather than simply providing services to them.  This was especially critical given that the majority of previous reform efforts had been unsuccessful in achieving sustained improvements for Indigenous communities.

In an effort to move away from a passive welfare economy and to effect real change in our communities, we didn’t want money … We wanted skills and expertise, and we wanted to have the opportunity to develop our skills and enhance our capabilities in order to take ownership of our future.

We were in search of people with skills and expertise that could assist us in pursuing our reform agenda … It is from this notion that Jawun was born.

The four components of the Jawun model

The Jawun model consists of four key components. These components not only make Jawun effective in achieving progress for Indigenous communities, they also make it unique when compared to other development organisations around the world.

*           An emphasis on Indigenous-led organisations and initiatives

*           A local or ‘place-based’ focus

*           Partnerships across different sectors

*           Programs which utilise the unique skills of our partners

Presently, 24 or more Secondment Partners (drawn from Australia's largest banks, law firms, accounting firms, insurance, corporate and government agencies) travel to one or more of the below nine Regions to work on specific programmes (which utilise the unique skills of the Partners) with local indigenous Australians for up to 2 months:

1.    Cape York, Qld

2.    Central Coast, NSW

3.    Inner Sydney (Redfern and La Perouse), NSW

4.    Goulburn Murray, VIC

5.    Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Lands, Central Australia

6.    North East Arnhem Land, NT

7.    East Kimberley, WA

8.    West Kimberley, WA

9.    Lower River Murray, Lakes and Coorong, SA

Westpac is a founder Secondment Partner.   Below is a quote from a Westpac website page "STRONG, THRIVING COMMUNITIES":

        "Since 2001, more than 620 Westpac Group employees/secondees have contributed more than 80 years’ worth of time to Indigenous organisations through Jawun secondments".  This equates to 48 days per secondee in one or more of:       

  • Cape York (Queensland);
  • Inner Sydney and Central Coast (NSW);
  • Goulburn Murray (Victoria); and

  • Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) lands of Central Australia.

Case Studies of some of the Secondments to the above nine Regions are at:  1.  2.