Councils across Australia can benefit by tapping into the resources and services available through the Indigenous Sport Program (ISP). The ISP is a national strategy based on a simple concept – sport and recreation opportunities help build the capacity of individual Indigenous people and Indigenous communities.
It aims to improve the participation of Indigenous Australians in sport and recreation, catering for their needs within a broad community development focus in conjunction with other agencies.
The Federal Government’s new sports policy, Backing Australia’s Sporting Ability – a More Active Australia provides additional funding to support the joint ATSIC/ASC Indigenous Sports Program.
The program will be expanded to provide additional program support to the Indigenous Sport Development Officers (ISDOs) operating within the 35 ATSIC regions across Australia.
This network of 50 Indigenous Sport Development Officers uses innovative programs to encourage Indigenous people to take up and stay involved in sport and recreation.
These officers are funded through the ISP but employed and coordinated by state departments of sport and recreation.
The additional program support from the Federal Government will be used to provide more grassroots sports programs and sport related training and development opportunities to benefit Indigenous people through tangible outcomes.
For example, the ISP’s Cross Cultural Awareness Package – Understanding and Tolerance has been developed to assist sport service providers improve their understanding of Indigenous Australians.
It includes a one day training course that provides information about Indigenous people and offers a practical guide for working with Indigenous communities.
The ISP has also collated case studies and models of good practice resulting from innovative and proactive programs conducted in communities.
The resource, available free to Active Australia Local Government Network members, describes five community programs designed to increase the participation of Indigenous people.
Local Councils can benefit enormously by collaborating with their local Indigenous Sport Development Officer.
To find out more about the delivery of the cross cultural awareness training package or other mutually beneficial opportunities, contact an Indigenous Sport Development Officer or your state department of sport and recreation.
Contact details can be found by visiting www.activeaustralia.org
