EAST KIMBERLEY

 

OVERVIEW

The Kimberley region is located in far north Western Australia, comprised of the West Kimberley towards the coast and the East Kimberley towards the Northern Territory border. Jawun began working with the Indigenous communities of the East Kimberley in 2010, and in 2012 broadened its boundaries to include communities in the West Kimberley region. 

The East Kimberley region includes the towns of Kununurra, Halls Creek, Warmun, Wyndham, and over 50 smaller communities – extending all the way from Balgo in the south, Kalumburu in the north, and Malangan near the Northern Territory border. 

Indigenous people in the Kimberley region face the same enormous challenges they face across Australia. In the East Kimberley, the greater community is being supported through programs addressing education, health, welfare, housing, childcare development, and employment.

However, there has been considerable opportunity for improving the lives of Indigenous people as a result of agricultural developments in the Ord area in the last decade, which has brought with it jobs and investments in transitional housing. Additional opportunities exist in new business development, land and sea management (ranger programs) and tourism, hospitality and various other fields.

WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY

FIELD TEAM

  • General Manager, Regional Investment

    Sarah joined Jawun as Regional Director for the Lower River Murray, Lakes and Coorong, and Far West Coast Regions in South Australia in May 2019 before moving into General Manager Regional Investment role in November 2022. 

    Sarah comes to Jawun from a career in project management across the community based and higher education sectors, delivering diverse projects to support the housing, health and wellbeing needs of people sleeping rough in Adelaide. This included service delivery model review, establishment of a social enterprise to provide training and employment opportunities, and coordination of a peer-to-peer disaster resilience project, delivering safety messaging and assistance during extreme weather events to people sleeping rough. Sarah played a key role in a sector-wide collaboration to address, and end, rough sleeping in Adelaide through the delivery of SA’s first two annual Connections Week projects to better understand and support people sleeping rough. 

    Personally, Sarah is committed to supporting young people to make positive choices in their lives. Sarah mentors high school students through The Smith Family’s Learning for Life program and is guardianship carer for a young person through Time for Kids.

CASE STUDIES

Case studies show how Jawun secondees have achieved real results. If you are interested to learn more about Jawun's work in this region, click on the case studies below.

WUNAN FOUNDATION AND KRED

EMPOWERED COMMUNITIES

WUNAN FOUNDATION

WUNAN FOUNDATION

GELGANYEM TRUST

WUNAN FOUNDATION

WARINGARRI ABORIGINAL ARTS

MENKAWUM NGURRA
AGED CARE HOSTEL

WUNAN FOUNDATION

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