Thesis abstract:

«p»Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) work is carried out in the tension between local community, funders, and the wider society’s dominant cultural expectations. NGOs play an important role in contributing to social justice. In a complex environment their ability to achieve this aspiration needs constant critical reflection. In remote Australia, in the cross-cultural encounter of Aboriginal people with dominant Australian culture, this complexity is particularly acute. The under-representation of Aboriginal people employed in Central Australian NGO workplaces, is an example of social injustice; it limits the distribution of financial resources to Aboriginal families and results in services that are void of Aboriginal voice and presence. Globally, pressures to maintain public and funder validity have moved NGOs away from their grassroots, social movement origins that derive from the lifeworlds of their members and into highly professionalised organisations requiring globalized employee skill sets that are reflective of the system. Attempts to address under-employment of Aboriginal people regularly focus on training Aboriginal people. Rarely do NGO workplaces question the dominant western frameworks that underpin their workplace practices and service delivery models. Placing a deficit focus on Aboriginal people with endless work-ready programs takes the focus away from the lack of recognition of Aboriginal lifeworlds in the way NGOs function. This lack of recognition of the validity of Aboriginal lifeworlds is a problem at the core of social injustice for Aboriginal people and it can play itself out at every level for NGOs from seeking and maintaining funding through to the everyday practices of their staff and volunteers. Aboriginal people have overwhelmingly called for the ability to have control over the way services are delivered to their communities. This narrative enquiry research project will use in-depth interviews with Aboriginal employees to critically reflect on the fit between their lifeworlds and the workplace practices and service delivery models in NGOs in Central Australia, with the aim to identify strategies, structures and practices that increase employment participation and agency within workplace roles.«/p»