A regional CDEP for four remote communities? Papunya, Ikuntji, Watiyawanu and Walungurru

Abstract

The four remote Aboriginal communities involved in this study have not been among those with a Community Development Employment Project (CDEP) over the last ten or twenty years. Some interest in these communities having CDEP was expressed in early 2000, and as a result this study was commissioned by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC). Papunya was given a CDEP with 50 participant places in October 2000, so by the time this study was conducted in June and July 2001 one of the four communities already had a CDEP. <p> Interviews based on a structured questionnaire were conducted in each of the communities with 20 Indigenous adults. Less structured interviews were also conducted with Council Clerks and with some other employees of organisations which might potentially take on CDEP participants as employees. ATSIC officers involved in CDEP administration in regional and central offices were also interviewed.