Working together: A collective impact research project

The Working Together research project supports the long-term work of First Nations Community Leadership Groups to promote self-determination, and improve the social, economic, and cultural determinants of their community’s health and wellbeing. This five-year multi-institutional collaboration is funded by the Medical Research Futures Fund. Dr Leigh-ann Onnis is a Chief Investigator on this project which is co-led by Professor Janya McCalman and Ruth Fagan from Central Queensland University’s Jawun Research Centre.

The multi-institutional research team are working with First Nations Community Leadership Groups from Yarrabah, Doomadgee, Woorabinda and Deadly Inspiring Youth Doing Good (DIYDG) to co-design, implement and evaluate a collective impact approach to the four Priority Reform Areas which underpin efforts to progress the National Agreement on the Closing the Gap Strategy.

The Priority Reforms are central to the National Agreement and how governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The Four Priority Reforms are:

1. Formal Partnerships and Shared Decision Making

2. Building the Community-Controlled Sector

3. Transforming Government Organisations

4. Shared Access to Data and Information (data sovereignty)

In the first year of the project the researchers and First Nations Community Leadership Groups met regularly, including two Research Summits bringing together industry stakeholders, First Nations community leaders and researchers from across Australia to make new connections and strengthen old ones. The Research Summits in June and December were opportunities to identify shared values and principles, common agendas and goals, and to explore the priority reform areas and how they support First Nations Community Leadership Groups to strengthen community-led structures and systems. In the project’s first year, the Research Summits have provided a space to consider and identify the overall goals of the collective impact approach towards better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Leigh-ann looks forward to working with the Jawun Research Centre researchers, the First Nations Community Leadership Groups, and community and industry partners over the next few years to co-design, implement and evaluate the collective impact approach.

Issued January 2025

Images: (top inset) Leigh-Ann Onnis with Barry Walden, Board Chairman of Gunawuna Junga (Doomadgee), the collective at the Working Together Research Summit Dec.2024. Credit: Jannah Dryden.