Collaborative and Participative Research: Accountability and the Indigenous Voice

Informal workshop (chat session)

This article looks at the disparity between Western and Indigenous ways of understanding accounting and accountability. The author reflects on an experience in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia, with community members rewording a version of an application form for Australian government funding. The wording and repetition in the application were identified as barriers to accessing funding.

Collaborative research based on prior relationship building. The researcher acknowledges her positionality.

This paper aims to address the barriers to accessing government funding and negotiate the concept of accountability through valuing Indigenous knowledge and adapting to local cultural contexts (instead of expecting Indigenous people to go along with Western systems).

Workshop data: description of workshop conversation

A simplified (less jargon and unnecessary repetition) version of a funding application form was created to be used by community members.

"The basis of a simplified version of the funding application form and funding process unfolded during this workshop. This was not the original intention of the workshop. Importantly, it did demonstrate the ability to break down the barriers, giving rise to an empowering form of communication based on mutual understanding… Participants felt empowered and proud of their group-negotiated results" (p. 73).

Indigenous Knowledges and Education