East Arnhem Land Youth Model

The East Arnhem Land Youth Model, also aptly named Guŋga’yunga Djamarrkuḻiny (Helping our Children), is a pilot research program that is facilitated by ALPA and funded as part of a joint venture between The Northern Territory Government and National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA).
 
Local ‘Leadership Groups’ in Gapuwiyak, Galiwin’ku, Milingimbi and Ramingining are the core of this program. These groups of community leaders direct which projects and activities should be trialled in their communities to strengthen young people. The Leadership Groups manage a pool of funding to support the right activities, run in the right way aligning with a locally developed strategy.
Through careful monitoring and evaluation of these activities, we work with the Leadership Groups to monitor what has and hasn't worked to strengthen youth.

In the second year of the project, the most successful EALYM activities and learnings will help create a wider regional approach to the local challenges. ALPA together with the local communities will advocate for this local strategy to become the guiding document for local youth engagement. The key to this program is to show that local Yolngu people are best placed to make meaningful and informed decisions for their young people; consequently proving that local decision making and governance is the best course of action for remote communities.

 
We are encouraged to see our community members and leaders own this program and we look forward to seeing many projects taking place in the near future all with the goal to prepare young Yolngu to thrive as they grow up.