National Year of Reading 2012: indigenous literacy initiative

The project was initiated by the National Year of Reading 2012 founding partners, with the Australian Library and Information Association as the auspice body. The project concept was prompted by recognition that there were many challenges being faced by providers of early literacy programs in remote Indigenous communities. With vast distances involved, the cost and difficulty of travelling to remote communities, the small size of the population in each location, the different language groups, the shortage of experienced workers, the time to build up trust and intense competition for funds mean that work in remote communities creates many barriers to sharing and partnering.
 
The goal of the project was to facilitate input from service providers of early literacy programs in remote Indigenous communities with a view to understanding what early literacy programs (outside of the formal education framework) are being delivered in remote Indigenous communities and to develop initial insight into the hallmarks of a good practice framework that can guide future government investment and non-government organisation (NGO) focus. It is intended that the outputs from this project will also encourage knowledge transfer, capacity building and collaboration across the early literacy sector.