Welcome to the first ELP newsletter, which we’ll be bringing you monthly. ELP supports and fosters grassroots microenterprise development in remote Australia to enable the creation of new economic opportunities that support family and community goals. ELP is a small but growing organisation that has been steadily working to create a supportive environment for microenterprise development in remote Australia since October 2010.

Introducing the ELP team

I’ve had a passion for using innovative business models to address social issues since 2005. After completing a double degree in Arts/Commerce, I volunteered with a small organisation in India that was working to create economic empowerment opportunities for women; it was here that I first saw microenterprise being used as a tool for community development.

When I returned to Australia in 2006 I began working in the remote Ngaanyatjarra Lands as a Youth Development Officer with the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku. I started exploring how microenterprise would work in a remote Australian context and found that it was well suited to remote Aboriginal communities as it:

• helps create new economic opportunities that support family and community goals
• is flexible and can respond to the realities and rhythms of life in remote communities
• is sustainable
• can be customised to the local context
• builds on people’s interests and strengths
• embraces innovation and creativity
• contributes to sustainable livelihoods.

Once I realised there was a dearth of support in this area, I began developing an organisation to help people living in remote communities develop the skills, confidence and experience to explore and develop their ideas.

ELP was registered as a company limited by guarantee in October 2010 and has been steadily working to create a supportive environment for microenterprise development in remote Australia.

Steve Fisher is ELP’s Strategic Development Advisor. Steve is the Director of Community Works and brings his extensive experience in participatory training and facilitation in a wide range of community, Indigenous and cross-cultural settings. His specialised skills include international development practice, monitoring and evaluation, community development and appropriate technology, as well as professional coaching, strategic development and attracting resources for new ventures. Steve’s knowledge and expertise have been invaluable to the growth and development of ELP.

Shannyn Palmer is the lead facilitator of ELP’s Ngaanyatjarra Lands project. Shannyn is based in Alice Springs and is currently working towards a PhD under the theme of Deepening Histories of Place. She is passionate about working alongside people in communities to create spaces where Aboriginal people can realise locally driven ideas and projects, and believes that learning and capacity-building in a cross-cultural context go both ways.

Sharratine Campbell is our community-based facilitator in Yarralin community. Sharratine is a Traditional Owner of the Ngarinyman people and has been working with ELP since September last year to explore and develop enterprise initiatives with community members in Yarralin. Sharratine has a two-year-old son Tayo and also works part-time at the Yarralin Safe House.

Dominique Costello recently joined the ELP team to support ELP’s work in Yarralin community. Dom is a very proud third generation Kamilaroi woman, with family connections to remote central New South Wales. Dom is passionate about facilitating a space for Aboriginal people to be expressive, self-determinate, cultural, engaged, encouraged and valued within the broader community. As a business owner herself, Dom is excited about the ways in which micro-enterprise can enable the growth of strong and sustainable communities into the future.

Rhett Hammerton is a freelance photographer based in Alice Springs and contributes his skills to ELP through his role of Creative Director. He provides photography and design expertise across a range of projects and has assisted a number of enterprises with logo design. Rhett’s current work with ELP involves assisting members of Yarralin community to develop a calendar. He looks forward to sharing his passion for photography with people living in remote communities and will continue to work alongside ELP to support individuals exploring photography-based enterprise opportunities.

Calendar

In June, Rhett Hammerton and I travelled to Yarralin to facilitate a ‘Family Portrait’ project. The initiative was designed to make family photos affordable and accessible, to provide skill development opportunities for local community members with an interest in photography and to assist community members to explore the feasibility of various photography-based enterprise initiatives. The project created a fun and inclusive environment for families to come together, celebrate and create positive memories.

During the visit, we discussed a range of different ways we could use photos. One idea that was floated was the possibility of using the portraits in a calendar. This idea captured the interest of many people in the community and ELP staff were fielding requests from people wanting to ensure their photo was included in the calendar!

We spent the rest of the week exploring the microenterprise aspects of this: how would we market it? How much will it cost to produce? How much will we sell it for? What is the profit margin? Where will profits go?

Rhett will return to Yarralin in late August to finalise the images for the calendar and to workshop more of the business aspects of this project with community members.

Dominque starts in Yarralin

Our work in Yarralin is enabled through a partnership with The Smith Family as part of the Australian Government’s Communities for Children initiative. ELP provides an enterprise facilitation service to community members who are interested in setting up and running income-generating ventures. In Yarralin, we conduct regular informal sessions for community members to discuss new ideas and aspirations for economic participation. We also design and facilitate a range of enterprise activities to enable people to learn the process involved in putting an idea into action. ELP has been working in Yarralin since May 2011 and has recently signed a contract with The Smith Family which will enable our work to continue until June 2014. Dominque has joined the team to work alongside ELP’s community-based facilitator Sharratine Campbell. Dominique travelled to Yarralin for the first time during the last week of July to meet the community and see firsthand the various enterprise initiatives that are in development.

Ngaanyatjarra Lands

I have been working with Blackstone Community in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands since 2006, when I was there as the Youth Development Officer with the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku. One of the microenterprise ideas that was very successful at that time was soap making, and it was partly its success here that led ELP to begin similar work in Yarralin.

ELP, with the support of Papulankutja Arts, was able to begin this work again in Blackstone in May 2012. Our lead facilitator for the Ngaantyatjarra Lands, Shannyn Palmer, has been out in the Lands over the last couple of weeks, and found that the effects of the May workshops are still being felt.

Veronica Scott, one of the women who was particularly engaged in the May workshops, is making sure that her commitment to and sense of ownership about the work are included in reports to the Department of Communities. She has many ideas to develop the microenterprise, including making other products such as bush medicine cream and shampoo.

The idea is spreading to other communities in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands as well, with Veronica saying that she would like to be able to make the soap in Wanarn, to the north-west of Blackstone, and interest coming from Janice Stevens at Tjuntjuntjara, to the south-west.

Other microenterprise ideas are beginning to be established, with Shannyn working on strategic enterprise development plans with organisations such as Wilurarra Creative at Warburton, and meeting with other organisations that have expressed interest in this way of working.

Strategy Day

ELP held a Strategy Day at the end of June with the dual aim of reflecting on our progress thus far and looking at how we will build on this into the future. We refined our theory of change, discussed the aspirations we’re hearing from the people we work with in communities, and set the tone for ELP as a learning organisation. We reiterated that ELP is not an organisation afraid to confront challenges; we see microenterprise as a tool for community development, not a panacea, and we are committed to having honest conversations about the barriers and challenges, along with the enablers and successes. We are dedicated to raising awareness about microenterprise as a tool for sustainable community development, and providing support and resources to those who are interested in engaging in microenterprise. ELP has produced a current thinking paper on the subject of microenterprise in remote Australia and invites others to join in on the conversation. You can email feedback to me at laura@elp.org.au until 20 September.

Until next time,

Laura Egan

Director, ELP