COUNTRY NEEDS PEOPLE

KEEPING ONE ANOTHER HEALTHY

“Country needs people, and people need country,” says Patrick O’Leary, Executive Director at Country Needs People (CNP). “The two are inextricably linked together to keep one another healthy.”

First supported by the ACF Impact Fund in 2017, CNP partners with over 40 Indigenous land and sea management organisations to support on-Country work protecting nature and benefiting communities.

“To manage land well and to protect biodiversity and nature, we need the people who have managed this continent for over 60,000 years,” says Patrick.

While Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) were introduced nearly 25 years ago, the lack of a coherent policy or funding framework meant communities long struggled to secure enough long-term funding to support land and sea management.

Over the past five years, CNP has worked with partners to help change the story. By building cross-partisan support to maintain and increase funding for Indigenous land and sea management, CNP helped secure:

• a commitment of $746 million in 2020 to support over 80 community-led Indigenous ranger groups between 2021 and 2028.
• a $12 million commitment from the Northern Territory Government to extend the Aboriginal Ranger Grants program.
• a doubling of the number of Indigenous ranger jobs funded through Queensland’s Indigenous land and Sea Ranger Program.
• an increase of $50 million for Western Australia’s Aboriginal Ranger Program.
• $11 million for 9 new marine Indigenous protected areas.

CNP continues to make the case that demonstrates a clear benefit to Indigenous communities and wellbeing from working on country.

“Traditional land contemporary land management practices combined reinforce communities’ connection to land and culture, and provide a source of employment and wellbeing,” says Patrick.

The CNP model is now being adapted internationally with the Land Needs Guardians movement in Canada seeking to achieve the same recognition of the benefits of traditional land management for both country and people.

#OURDEMOCRACY

A NEW ALLIANCE CAMPAIGN TO STRENGTHEN DEMOCRACY

^{Members of the Hands Off Our Charities Alliance, another campaign led by the Australian Democracy Network, meet at Parliament House.} 

A new alliance campaign involving over 30 nonprofits, including five ACF Impact Fund partners, is facilitating collective action for a stronger democracy.

In March 2020, as Australia grappled with its first Covid-19 outbreak and the underlying inequalities it brought to the fore, a new project working for a fairer democracy was born: the Australian Democracy Network (ADN).

A joint project from the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Human Rights Law Centre and the Australian Council of Social Service, ADN’s mission is to bring together civil society organisations and enhance communication and connectedness across the social change sector for a thriving democracy.

In early 2021, Australian Communities Foundation provided funding for ADN to hire a Campaigns Director to lead four campaigns, including #OurDemocracy – an alliance advocating for stronger laws that regulate political donations and lobbying to reduce the impact of corporate capture.

“This new alliance brings together a powerful group of allies, working in different areas but with a shared vision of tipping the scales back in favour of people and planet,” says Margaret Quixley from the Alliance for Gambling Reform, one of the participating organisations.

Since launching, the campaign has generated significant awareness of the issue of corporate capture, largely through a partnership with the Big Deal documentary – an ACF Impact Fund partner.

“It’s been an incredible opportunity for us to bring new people into our movement,” says Saffron Zomer, Executive Director, ADN.

“The 24 hours after the documentary aired on the ABC saw 2,500 contacts join our list. This is an incredible start to our campaign.”