Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa - Walking the talk

The government talks reform, but continues with business as usual, indicating an inability to move away from its traditional methods. Government needs a new strategy to ‘walk the talk’ of the National Agreement and put it into practice.

Our impact

SVA and KJ worked together on a landmark report, Walking the Talk: What Government Can Learn from the KJ Model. The report presents the KJ Model as a living, proven example of how governments can work differently with Aboriginal communities — grounded in culture, driven by community development, and built on genuine partnership.

Background

Independent reviews of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap have found that governments are failing to deliver on their commitments. Of 19 targets, only five are on track, and none of the four Priority Reforms have been meaningfully implemented. Governments continue to operate in siloed, top-down ways that exclude Aboriginal voices and priorities.

Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa (KJ), a Martu organisation in WA’s Western Desert, has developed a model over nearly two decades that directly addresses these failings. The KJ Model is built on cultural foundations, community development, and genuine partnership between Martu and non-Martu. The Walking the Talk report describes this model and explores how it responds to the systemic issues identified in national reviews.

Vision and objectives

The project aimed to:

Describe the KJ Model in detail, including its cultural foundations, community development ethos, and partnership approach.
Analyse how the KJ Model contrasts with government’s conventional approach, particularly in areas such as design, implementation, evaluation, partnership and governance.
Draw out lessons for government, showing how the principles of the KJ Model can guide a shift away from business as usual.
Support reflection and reform, offering a real-world example of what genuine power-sharing and community-led development can look like.

Two First Nation rangers in black uniforms sitting in a white vehicle, smiling at the camera.

Role we played

SVA partnered with KJ to research, analyse and produce the Walking the Talk report. This included:

Synthesising findings from independent reviews of Closing the Gap and KJ’s own evaluations.
Documenting the history, principles and programs of the KJ Model.
Analysing how the KJ Model addresses systemic failings in government approaches.
Supporting KJ to prepare the report for government audiences and policy stakeholders.

SVA also helped ensure the report was accessible, compelling and grounded in both Martu and non-Martu perspectives.

Outcome

The Walking the Talk report points to the KJ Model as a living example of how governments can work differently with Aboriginal communities. It offers practical insights into how power-sharing, cultural grounding and community-led development can be put into practice.

KJ and SVA are now working together to share the report more widely with government, funders and other stakeholders, with the aim of supporting meaningful reform and stronger partnerships with Aboriginal communities.

Meet the team

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