Welcome to the Indigenous Services Team first e-newsletter. The purpose of this newsletter is to update and promote projects that we are currently involved in and strengthen our networks. This newsletter will be a quarterly occurrence so if you do not wish to receive this in the future please let us know by return email. Please feel free to forward this email onto others.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Ngarrindjeri Land & Progress Association (NLPA) Governance Course

Rural Solutions SA in conjunction with MLCS Corporate has delivered a six day Corporate Governance training course to members of the NLPA Organisation. The workshops were held over a 3 month period with topics covering, Use of the Constitution, Roles and Responsibilities of Board Members, Monitoring Financial Management and Budgets and Managing a Board Meeting. The program will also include a further six months mentoring for the NLPA Committee to assist them in implementing future governance structures. The program has been funded by DEWR. For more information contact Peter Marin or phone on 0427 015 079

NRM Resource Manual

NRM Officers across the state have repeatedly requested information about the range of mechanisms and processes available to better engage Aboriginal stakeholders in NRM. To facilitate this, the Joint Commonwealth/State Steering Committee has funded a project to compile a user friendly manual to support Indigenous engagement in the SA NRM regions. The project is being managed by DWLBC and the Indigenous Services team are acting as the Project Consultants. The project is currently undertaking desktop research and consulting with relevant key agencies with a number of interviews to occur over the next few weeks to develop case studies relating to Aboriginal engagement in NRM. For more information contact Rachel Coates or phone on 0428 117 370 or Cherie Heyes or phone on 0428 117 322

Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Course

Rural Solutions SA Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Course was recently included onto the SA Government register of providers for cultural awareness training. Rural Solutions SA has delivered a number of cultural awareness courses to government, industry and not for profit organisations. The course can be tailored to suit your needs and involves a two day training workshop. The course aims to encourage people to become more aware of cultural differences by giving participants an appreciation of the diversity of Aboriginal cultures within Australia. For further information contact Jason Downs or phone on 0428 830 473

Mount Serle Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) Plan

Mount Serle is a pastoral property located in the Northern Flinders Ranges in South Australia. It supports a diverse range of vegetation communities, landforms, animal species and ancient cultural sites. As a result the Yadlhiauda Aboriginal Corporation sought support to investigate the opportunity of protecting sections of the property through an Indigenous Protected Area. To assist in this Rural Solutions SA was contracted to undertake an environmental plan for the property. The plan has been completed and is now being used as the basis for a Shared Responsibility Agreement for the Yadlhiauda Aboriginal Corporation. For more information contact Bart Dessart or phone on 0428 102 920

For information on any of the services provided by the Indigenous Services Team please feel free to contact any of the above mentioned people.