Jawun (formerly named Indigenous Enterprise Partnerships) is an

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organisation which manages secondments from the corporate and public sectors to a range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partner organisations in urban, regional and remote communities across Australia.

Name

Jawun means 'family or friend' in the

Kuku Yalanji The Kuku Yalanji, also known as Gugu-Yalanji, Kuku Yalandji or Kokojelandji, are an Aboriginal Australian people originating from the rainforest regions of Far North Queensland. Language The traditional language of the people is Guugu Yaland ...

language of Cape York, Queensland.

Operating model

Under the Jawun operating model, Indigenous partners determine their development priorities. Working with Jawun, these partners identify projects and areas for secondee support, then Jawun engages corporate and government secondees who apply their skills to assist Indigenous partners in achieving their development goals, while simultaneously gaining an opportunity for personal and professional growth. Generally, secondments are five to six weeks in length.

History

Jawun was established in 2001 when the

Boston Consulting Group Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the Big Three (or MBB, the world’s three largest management consulting firms by rev ...

and

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seconded several executives to work with Indigenous Australian leaders in communities in Cape York. The model for Jawun was based on concepts in

Noel Pearson Noel or Noël may refer to: Christmas * , French for Christmas * Noel is another name for a Christmas carol Places * Noel, Missouri, United States, a city *Noel, Nova Scotia, Canada, a community * 1563 Noël, an asteroid *Mount Noel, Britis ...

's 2000 book ''Our Right To Take Responsibility''. Since 2001, Jawun has expanded to include a total of 12 regions across Australia; Cape York, Goulburn Murray, East Kimberley, Inner Sydney, Central Coast, West Kimberley, Central Australia (NPY lands), North East Arnhem Land, Far West Coast of South Australia, Lower River Murray, South West Australia, and the Pilbara. Jawun now partners with over 70 Indigenous organisations, and 25 corporate/government organisations, with more than 3500 staff members from secondment partners having taken part in Jawun secondments with Indigenous Australian organisations. The

Australian Public Service The Australian Public Service (APS) is the federal civil service of the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for the public administration, public policy, and public services of the departments and executive and statutory agencies of the G ...

commenced participation in Jawun in 2012. Staff from agencies including the

Defence Materiel Organisation The Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG) is an organisation within the Department of Defence (Australia), Australian Department of Defence, responsible for Military acquisition, acquisition and Military supply chain management, su ...

, and the

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, have participated since that time. In 2015, an

Australian Public Service Commission The Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) is a statutory agency of the Australian Government, within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, that acts to ensure the organisational and workforce capability to meet future needs a ...

evaluation found participation in Jawun was delivering significant professional development for public service staff. Jawun celebrated its 15th anniversary at a celebration dinner in Canberra on 16 June 2015. A KPMG review of Jawun, delivered in April 2016, found that Jawun had brought benefits both to communities and to their corporate and government partners. The review was funded by the Australian Government and the Commonwealth Bank.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jawun Non-profit organisations based in New South Wales Organizations established in 2001 Organisations serving Indigenous Australians