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Earlier this month, the Yarnin’ Money team was invited to Auckland, New Zealand, to participate in the conference “Exploring cultural perceptions of money and wealth”, hosted by the Financial Education Centre at Massey University. The conference, held at the Westpac Bank on October 11^th & 12^th, brought together practitioners, academics and government agencies with an interest in financial literacy, financial counselling and budget advice, investing, lending and working in diverse communities.  As it was ICAN’s first international conference, the team was very excited to present on the Yarnin’ Money program and to share best practice in financial capability with practitioners from New Zealand, India and the UK.

The conference theme: “Exploring cultural perceptions of money and wealth” allowed us to discuss the cultural influences that affect how people and institutions save, spend and approach money.  For our team, it was our intent to share our experiences of our learnings, outcomes and challenges thus far in delivering Yarnin’ Money – ICAN’s financial literacy outreach program – to remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

The conference opened with a Welcome ceremony by Te Aroha Morehu, of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei.  After the welcome, Dr Pushpa Wood, head of conference and the Financial Education Centre at Massey University, presented findings from their international survey conducted prior to the conference, on understanding the role of culture in people’s lives when it comes to making money related decisions.  ICAN’s Yarnin’ Money team was first cab off the rank to present on our narrative approach framework for delivering financial literacy training to remote communities in Far North Queensland and the Torres Strait.  We discussed how the program was purpose-built upon a strengths-based approach, recognising existing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural worldviews and knowledge as the foundation to build new financial capability skills.  You can listen to our presentation here:

You can also watch a video of the presentation by following this link: http://webcast.massey.ac.nz/

Highlights from the conference included presentations by:

• Dr Jason Mika from Massey University, spoke about “The Indigenous entrepreneurs’ dilemma: balancing commercial and cultural imperatives in business using Indigenous values.” Dr Mika took us on a journey to ‘explore the role of Maori values in communal Maori enterprises’, exploring ‘the extent to which Indigenous values and reciprocity, can and does alleviate the Indigenous entrepreneurs’ dilemma’…
• Alexander Stevens from the NZ Commission for Financial Capability, wowed us with his presentation on the “Making Sense of Cents” a campaign created for the Commissions’ ‘$orted’ website, as part of NZ’s ‘Money Week 2016’.  Our favorite was “Kōrerō (Talk) Money Week Videos”, a unique series of financial capability campaign clips which utilizes the NZ shilling coin as well as other past and present NZ currency. The videos aim to pay respect to NZ indigenous history and also connect people to messages regarding money.
• Nick Watkins, Head of Insight and Evaluation at the Money Advice Service in the UK, presented on “Identifying the key enablers and Inhibitors of financially capable behaviour by consumer type” – a fascinating insight into consumer & financial behaviour in the UK!
• Teresa Tepania-Ashton, Chief Executive of the Māori Women’s Development Inc, who presented on “Indigenous approaches to strengthening wahine [women] and whanau [family] financial capability.” Teresa discussed MWDI’s ‘Hinepreneur’ program, which builds the ‘capability of wāhine Māori to be trained as certified Hinepreneur Capability Coaches, who in turn, support their clients to reflect on their financial position and find ways to build their personal/Whanau and business wealth potential.’*

The Yarnin’ Money team delivered two Workshops on how to use narrative approaches in delivering financial literacy education to Indigenous peoples.  Eddie Buli and Jon O’Mally, Developers and Trainers of the Yarnin’ Money program, took participants on the Yarnin’ Money journey, through the Photo Narrative and Timeline activities, in order to understand how life events and one’s environment impacts upon our views, values and use of money.

Many participants reflected on the personal connections made during the Photo Narrative activity. “In one hour of sitting with people you had never met before we all gained a tiny glimpse of something special from each and every soul in the room”, said Michelle Wikita, Finance Manager at Orakei Marae, and Workshop participant.

Participants also gained insight into how the team has built its Yarnin’ Money Wheel as a method to capture issues at individual, family and community levels and how the wheel reflects ourselves and our money. “The Yarnin’ wheel presented to each individual what was real and important to them when it comes to life and the money we utilise to live it”, Michelle reflected.

For Alexander Stevens from the NZ Commission for Financial Capability, the Workshop provided a platform for the exchange of ideas and Indigenous worldviews.“I was invited into a sacred space of learning. I was humbled by the team at ICAN who openly shared indigenous worldviews with our Australian counterparts which was a beautiful spiritual experience.

“To see the framework being used to enable and empower Aboriginal people to create a space where financial literacy and capability can occur is truly amazing,” he said.

“It was a great pleasure have the ICAN’s / Yarnin’ team at our conference”, said Dr Wood, Head of Conference. “The team was really generous with their time and I wanted to make sure that all conference participants had an opportunity to share the indigenous culture centred approach that the team has developed. For our indigenous people in New Zealand, it was great to see how the Yarnin’ model is operating on the ground and the difference it is making to people’s lives. It was great to hear this first hand!”

“I could see a lot of similarities between the Centre’s philosophy and approach with the Yarnin’ model,” said Dr. Wood. “It is my hope that we will be able to collaborate in future with the ICAN/Yarnin’ team especially in the area of research and evaluation related to improving financial capability of indigenous people in our two countries.”

For the Yarnin’ Money team, we felt humbled and privileged to present at the conference, and to make new connections with many wonderful people who share the same mindset and values as we do, when it comes to delivering financial capability education for Indigenous peoples. For Eddie, there were many personal and professional discoveries in being able to hear from other Indigenous financial education programs. “From the first day with the welcome, the various presentations, discussions, programs and experiences made that camp fire atmosphere amongst us”, he said.

“Hearing about how financial literacy education is being delivered in other places, highlighted the similarities and challenges we share as Indigenous in this financial and consumer space”, said Eddie.

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Yarnin’ Money is a three-year outreach program aimed at providing financial literacy tools and skills for local service providers and community residents in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Far North Queensland, funded by Financial Literacy Australia, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the Department of Social Services.

*Source: Māori Women’s Development Inc, http://www.mwdi.co.nz/hinepreneur/

Catching up with family, Professor Kerry Arabena at The University of Melbourne, Indigenous PhD Familiarisation Program. (Photo courtesy of @ArabenaKerry – Twitter)

A few months back, I saw that the Melbourne Poche Centre for Indigenous Health (The University of Melbourne) was advertising for Expressions of Interest (EOI), to attend the inaugural Indigenous PhD Familiarisation Program.  After a few enquiries, I thought I would submit my EOI, utilising the Yarnin’ Money Program as my proposed area of research.

The manner in which we’ve designed and deliver the Yarnin’ Money Program has been based on using the yarn of old cultural ways of passing on knowledge to connect with new knowledge in financial literacy, where our unique delivery style that makes those meaningful connections between the ‘old’ and the ‘new’.  In essence, the Yarnin’ Money Program is founded in Indigenous ways of knowing.  Having delivered the training now for a year and a half, we believe that – based on those cultural ways of ‘knowing’ – the program works.  It has further received good evaluation feedback and as a Trainer, I’ve witnessed light-bulb moments for participants.  But I’ve been curious about how to substantiate this belief, by possibly examining Yarnin’ Money further, through my own study.

So I threw my hat in the ring, with the attitude I’ve got nothing to lose and only something to gain. Well, in an unexpected surprise, I was offered a placement to attend the national workshop down in Melbourne earlier this month.

The Familiarisation Program is about making pathways for Indigenous people academically who are at a phase in their life, where pursuit for a higher research degree is attainable over 5 years.

I went to the workshops with my own expectations about what advice and direction I could ascertain regarding the Yarnin’ Money Program. From day one the workshop had a high engagement and interaction that was a mix of intense interaction and discussion.  It was like a spinning washing machine on my shoulders as I lay on my bed back at the accommodation each afternoon – and I mean this in a good way!

The sharing of ideas, an in-depth question and discussion period, listening and learning from the different academic presenters and what’s really involved with undertaking a PhD such as: the barriers, time management, decrease in money for a while, perhaps relocating, the motivations and challenges… just to name a few. A lot of my dormant brain cells got a quick and refreshing awakening!

To see the enthusiasm, encouragement and support available for Indigenous people at the University of Melbourne, out-weighed whatever overwhelming feelings I initially experienced down there. The Workshop brought out a depth of thought and required action for the Yarnin’ Money Program, and in myself. I also found some more relevant literature, academic staff, disciplines and direction that can link back to the Yarnin’ Money Program. I immensely enjoyed my time at the Workshop and felt privileged to be a participant of the Indigenous PhD Familiarisation Program, as I reflected upon our old people who fought, endured and struggled to make these opportunities possible for us.

“I went down with an idea and I came back with so much more!”

As we celebrate the half-way point in our three-year Yarnin’ Money program, ICAN reflects on the opportunities and challenges we’ve faced in developing and delivering a culture-centred financial literacy training program to remote communities across Cape York…

Yarnin’ Money, funded by Financial Literacy Australia and the Department of Social Services, is a three-year outreach program aimed at providing financial literacy tools and skills for local service providers and community residents in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Far North Queensland. The program aims to overcome geographical barriers by providing local financial literacy training coupled with ongoing support, by connecting ICAN’s financial counselling and literacy services to remote communities across Australia.

In creating Yarnin’ Money, it was ICAN’s goal to take a strengths-based approach to delivering financial literacy education. Here, we don’t look at participants as ‘deficient’ in skill, ability or knowledge. Rather, Yarnin’ Money is developed and delivered through a culture-centred training approach, which recognises existing Indigenous cultural worldviews and knowledge as the foundation to build new skills. We spent our first six months in the development stage, with the drive to create a training program that would make financial literacy meaningful for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants. “The training is based on the concept of ‘yarnin’, and takes participants on a journey to look and see money – and money issues – from a historical, cultural, personal, family and community view” said Eddie Buli, Yarnin’ Money Coordinator and Trainer. “The delivery of the training is about our mob, our communities, our style, our yarn and the way we yarn.”

In our first year of service delivery, the team has delivered seven training sessions: five Yarnin’ Money – Service Provider sessions to: the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA, located at the top tip of Cape York), Napranum community, Cairns and Townsville; and two Yarnin’ Money with the Mob sessions to Weipa for Rio Tinto and the NPA. 

There are a unique set of opportunities and challenges for remote service delivery in financial literacy education. First – the challenges!

1) Finding participants and filling seats can – at times – be challenging!

In our first year of training delivery, we’ve had a wide range of participation levels in the Service Provider and With the Mob courses. In our remote community delivery of the Service Provider course, we have consistently found lower participant numbers than the ‘with the Mob’ counterpart. What we know – is that local service providers are in high demand in their communities, and that work-related and community issues may arise on the day of training, which can all impact on whether or not they can attend. We are very aware that – because of the positions that local service providers hold in their communities – NGOs and all levels of government often ask them to partake in a wide range of community engagement activities with varying levels of commitment.

We recognise that it is a huge ask of local service providers to give up their time to do the Yarnin’ Money training and we are grateful for:

-> Their advice and the wide range of support they provide to assist ICAN with the logistics of delivering Yarnin’ Money in their communities;
-> The providers who are able to attend our training;
-> The overall support we receive from the communities to be able to deliver Yarnin’ Money.

2) The ability to adapt is necessary.

Unpredictable circumstances can arise the moment we arrive to the community, so the trainers have to be able to easily adapt. For example, we had a trip scheduled for one community in late 2015 which was not able to commence when local service providers had to suddenly prepare for the Prime Minister’s visit.

3) Transport remains a big issue – for both trainers and participants.

Although some of the communities we deliver training to, are small ones, some communities are clustered together, such as the five Aboriginal and Islander communities in the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA). At times, the team has scheduled training in a centralised location, to cater to the needs of all community members, and this has been able to work for some Service Provider training. At other times, centralised locations cannot always meet the needs of all participants. Being mindful of the transport issues for communities of this nature is helpful for delivering Yarnin’ Money in the future.

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However, the opportunities have so far outweighed the challenges. Our greatest opportunity thus far, has been finding innovative ways to marry culture and financial literacy and to deliver the material in ways that will make personal meaning for Yarnin’ Money participants. Using a narrative approach to training has created opportunities for two-way and peer-to-peer learning to occur, through yarnin’. Here, there are no trainers or students, just the yarn about historical, cultural and present day views of the role of money in one’s life.

The Yarnin’ Money team was recently invited to Weipa, to deliver training to eighteen Rio Tinto trainees, as a part of their induction training. It was a fantastic opportunity to be able to highlight the role of financial literacy education to new workers in the mining industry. Many of the eighteen participants who took the training in late June commented that the interactive Money Smart Budget activity was the highlight of the day:

• “I will definitely be using the budgeting tool given, to help me accomplish my future goals.”
• “Definitely the budgeting calculation program. I think it’s going to make my budgeting a lot clearer.”
• “Money budget was great!”
• “Money smart budget was great.”
• “Budget is now important to me.”
• “It has changed my personal view of how to budget and manage money properly.”
• “Budgeting skills was excellent.”

The Yarnin’ Money training also presents an opportunity for participants to voice concerns about consumer issues affecting their communities, and for the team to follow these up through financial counselling or putting the participants in direct contact with consumer regulators who can address the systemic nature of the issues. We had a recent example of a systemic issue arising from the NPA Service Provider training, when one participant raised a matter they were personally dealing with relating to a recent vehicle purchase from a car yard in Cairns, where finance was also provided. This catalysed discussion among participants, who were also affected by the same issue, but had not previously spoken to any one about it. Word of mouth quickly spread around the communities that day, and the Yarnin’ Money team took ten similar complaints. ICAN has since been working with the regulators on the matter.  Here, Yarnin’ Money can utilise those links between financial literacy outreach and financial counselling to achieve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living remotely.

As we move into the second half of our three-year program, we’ll continue to tackle the challenges and communicate the opportunities and outcomes, in order to continually refine the training and its delivery.

There have also been recent developments for the Yarnin’ Money program!  First, the Commonwealth Bank has come onboard as a sponsor, which will provide program sustainability and broaden the reach of the training delivery.  Second, the Yarnin’ Money team will be heading to the Pormpuraaw and Mapoon communities in mid-August to deliver training.  And finally, the team has also been invited to present in Auckland, New Zealand in early October, exploring Indigenous cultural perceptions of money and wealth via the Yarnin’ Money Program.  Stay tuned for the next Yarnin’ Money update!

In early December, the Yarnin’ Money team visited the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA) of Cape York to deliver the first “Yarnin Money with the Mob” training under “Yarnin’ Money”, ICAN’s three-year financial literacy outreach program.  The Yarnin’ Money program, funded by Financial Literacy Australia and the Department of Social Services, seeks to assist remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to develop financial literacy skills through a culture-centred training model, which recognises existing cultural worldviews and knowledge as the foundation to build new skills. “Yarnin’ Money with the Mob” training is the community-based delivery stream of the program that runs parallel to its local service provider counterpart delivered to NPA community service organisations earlier this year. In order to achieve the widest impact in the NPA, ICAN teamed up with My Pathway’s Remote Jobs and Communities Programme, who organised for ten student participants to undertake the training.

The training takes participants on a journey through their own timeline, to understand where and how money fits into one’s own cultural worldview and centres discussion on how histories and life events impact our view and use of money.  It also features group discussion of the impact of financial and consumer issues at a personal level through the ‘Yarnin’ Money Wheel’ exercise, where participants were able to explore the issues unique to their community.

Eddie Buli, co-developer and facilitator of the Yarnin’ Money Program, discusses how introducing a new photo narrative activity into the training for the first time, has assisted students to pass on the yarn.  “The Photo Narrative activity facilitates trust in a culturally sensitive environment for participants and trainers, with an emphasis on listening, storytelling and sharing,” he said.  “As a training facilitator, it’s important not to try to control the yarn in an environment where members feel relaxed and comfortable to communicate their individual experiences with money and their personal financial goals.

“The process of yarning as a form of Indigenous knowledge exchange and teaching is the component we want to emphasise,” Eddie explained. “In the right environment, learning can occur when one person can pass on that yarn, through telling stories and sharing information, which has always been part of our traditions.”

The importance of yarnin’ in financial literacy education for Indigenous peoples, was recently highlighted at the National Financial Literacy Stakeholder Forum in Sydney in late November.  With a theme of ‘Innovation’, the Forum brought together over 150 key stakeholders from the government, business, community and education sectors who are working to improve Australians’ financial literacy*.  ICAN was invited to discuss how the Yarnin’ Money program innovatively meets the challenges ICAN faced with limited resources, to effectively deliver a meaningful financial literacy outreach program to Cape York and Torres Strait communities, in ways that can make personal connections for participants.

Eddie Buli explained how those connections occur through connecting ‘old’ knowledge of cultural worldviews, with ‘new’ knowledge in financial literacy education.  “Connecting ‘old’ knowledge (our culture) with new knowledge (financial literacy) can create personal meaning for people where they are building upon what they already know, to learn new skills within a cultural framework” said Eddie, who presented at the Forum.  He further explained how the process of ‘yarning’ is utilised in the training to facilitate those connections.

“’Yarnin’ takes participants on a journey to look and see money – and money issues – from a historical, cultural, personal, family and community view,” Eddie said. “The delivery of the training is about our mob, our communities, our style, our yarn and the way we yarn.”

“If the training provides just a meaningful Yarnin’ Money moment for someone and that experience is shared on, if we can see how that information has an impact first at an individual level, and how it grows to the family and community levels – then that’s the yarn.”

The Yarnin’ Money team received positive feedback from their first “Yarnin’ Money with the Mob” training delivery in the Northern Peninsula Area, which differs from their first NPA training delivery to local community service providers.  “Students asked for one-on-one time with the facilitators to work on their individual budgets and asked about future, ongoing financial literacy training, including online options for taking the training course” said Jon O’Mally, Yarnin’ Money Facilitator.

The Yarnin’ Money financial literacy outreach program aims to overcome geographical barriers by connecting ICAN’s financial counselling and literacy services to remote communities across Australia. The program, which will be delivered to twelve communities over three years, focuses on three delivery strands: Yarnin’ Money (Service Provider), Yarnin’ Money (Yarnin with the Mob). Both training programs will eventually be expanded into online professional development (train the trainer) programs for financial counselling/capability workers and community services providers nationally.

ICAN’s Indigenous Financial Counselling Mentorship Program was also featured in MoneySmart’s new video “Building the financial capability of individuals, families and communities”, which was launched at the National Financial Literacy Stakeholder Forum, watch below.

The next Yarnin’ Money training will be delivered to the Western Cape communities: Mapoon, Weipa and Napranum in May and June 2016.

Financial Literacy Australia (FLA) is a not for profit organisation committed to advancing financial literacy in Australia. See http://finlit.org.au/ for more information.

Source:

ASIC – National Financial Literacy Stakeholder Forum 2015

http://www.financialliteracy.gov.au/strategy-and-action-plan/strategy-2014/forum-2015

ICAN staff in Cairns and Townsville recently underwent training through its “Yarnin’ Money” Program, to become trainers in the new outreach program aimed at providing financial literacy tools and skills for local service providers and community residents in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Far North Queensland. The Yarnin’ Money program, funded by Financial Literacy Australia, seeks to assist remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to developing financial literacy skills through a culture-centred training model, which recognises existing cultural worldviews and knowledge as the foundation to build new skills. And now, the ICAN staff are yarnin’ money too.

ICAN decided to integrate its Yarnin’ Money program into staff development, with the aim of having staff become trainers of the program, to provide a wide range of knowledge, skill and delivery styles under the program. It was further identified in ICAN’s early evaluation that the program would benefit by having both male and female trainers when delivering to remote Indigenous communities.

The first staff training was held in Cairns on August 7th, where the trainers tested its Yarnin’ Money Wheel and Timeline activities with the staff. Following on from its evaluation feedback from delivering training in the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA), the trainers incorporated a new activity involving telling personal narratives through photos. Cairns Staff Leeanne Griffiths and Sandy Rosas discuss some of the highlights from the staff training:

“A highlight of the training for me was the ‘Yarnin Money Wheel’. Not only was it visually effective, but the whole concept was excellent and relevant to Indigenous communities,” said Leeanne, ICAN Financial Counsellor.

“The idea that the ‘tread’ was where an individual was at in their current situation depending on how their budget fared and what issues (spokes) were present as to whether they were able to move forward, stagnate or reverse into further financial stress.

“If a person begins to track their money by using a budget, this may result in achieving momentum to reach their personal short-mid-long term goals.”

Sandy Rosas discusses the benefits of learning to use the timeline activity in training. “My colleagues Edward Buli and Jon O’Mally presented an outstanding Training Session showing staff a great new concept in helping our mob in the communities to maybe gain a better understanding of their financial responsibilities, through a timeline activity.

“During this training session, Edward drew a ‘Timeline’ on the white-board that represented his life span. He explained how his life only consists of the time that he was born to the present time, but then he extended the line backwards to show way before his time on the timeline, there was his parents life and before that his grandparents, then his great great-grandparents and so forth. He said he could go around the world thousands of times to show how far our people go back in history. What really hit me was when he said ‘We are a RESILIENT people’.

“If we as Aboriginal peoples can withstand all of what we’ve had to endure and fight against over the past and present years, I’m sure our mob can soldier on and overcome the financial issues that we face in our communities.”

The Townsville training was held on August 26th and was received well by the staff. A huge success was the narrative photo and timeline activities. Participants understood the importance of creating a yarn and get people to talk about their life experiences that in turn have an impact on their financial situation.

The Yarnin’ Money financial literacy outreach program aims to overcome geographical barriers by providing local financial literacy training coupled with ongoing support, by connecting ICAN’s financial counselling and literacy services to remote communities across Australia. The program, which will be delivered to twelve communities over three years, focuses on three delivery strands: Yarnin’ Money (Service Provider), Yarnin’ Money (Resident). Both training programs will eventually be expanded into online professional development (train the trainer) programs for financial counselling/capability workers and community services providers nationally. The Yarnin’ Money team will be heading to Thursday Island (in the Torres Strait) to provide its next training session in mid-September.

Financial Literacy Australia (FLA) is a not for profit organisation committed to advancing financial literacy in Australia. See http://finlit.org.au/ for more information.

The ICAN team visited the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA) located at the top of Cape York last week, to deliver the first training session under Yarnin’ Money, a new outreach program aimed at providing financial literacy tools and skills for local service providers and community residents in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Far North Queensland. The Yarnin’ Money program, funded by Financial Literacy Australia, seeks to assist remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to developing financial literacy skills through a culture-centred training model, which recognises existing cultural worldviews and knowledge as the foundation to build new skills.

“The Yarnin’ Money training is a new initiative by ICAN, where ‘yarnin’ takes participants on a journey to look and see money – and money issues – from a historical, cultural, personal, family and community view” said Eddie Buli, Yarnin’ Money Coordinator and Trainer. “The delivery of the training is about our mob, our communities, our style, our yarn and the way we yarn.”

The first training session was delivered to local service providers from the five individual NPA communities: Injinoo, Umagico, New Mapoon, Bamaga and Seisia. Service Providers from My Pathway, the Northern Peninsula Area Family and Community Services, the Northern Peninsula Area Women’s Shelter and the Remote Area Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Care, participated in the training to develop financial literacy skills and gain access to financial counselling and consumer advocacy services by providing that initial support and ‘yarn’ towards supporting their own clients.

The training takes participants on a journey through their own timeline, to understand where and how money fits into one’s own cultural worldview and centres discussion on how histories and life events impact one’s view and use of money. The training also features group discussion of the impact of financial and consumer issues at a community level through the ‘Yarnin’ Money Wheel’ exercise, where participants were able to explore the issues unique to their community. “The Yarnin’ Money Wheel was a great activity that provided opportunity for a robust group discussion on budgeting” said Jon O’Mally, Yarnin’ Money Trainer.

Importantly, the training in the NPA has catalysed discussion and information exchange on systemic consumer and financial issues affecting the area. When the trainers raised examples of financial issues that can arise when purchasing a car, word spread from the training to the community, leading ICAN to assist local people to lodge financial counselling complaints relating to a flood of recent car sales (by one trader) affecting the five communities. One of the training participants further assisted ICAN in the process, by taking an active role in ten client interviews regarding the issue. “It was so valuable to have a local community worker, who was putting her training into practice, assist in the financial counselling process” said Jon.

In developing the program, Eddie explains that the program seeks to create discussions and empower decisions around money. “If we start Yarnin’ about this thing – money and budgeting – and we understand this thing in our lives, we can be boss of it as best we can” he said. “For me, yarnin’ about money is the start of where we are today, to where our young people and generations to come are going, in relation to how we look at money.”

The trainers are further excited for the potential of the program to create community-wide impact. “If the training provides just a meaningful Yarnin’ Money moment for someone and that experience is shared on, if we can see how that information has an impact first at an individual level, and how it grows to the family and community levels – then that’s the yarn.”

The Yarnin’ Money financial literacy outreach program aims to overcome geographical barriers by providing local financial literacy training coupled with ongoing support, by connecting ICAN’s financial counselling and literacy services to remote communities across Australia. The program, which will be delivered to twelve communities over three years, focuses on three delivery strands: Yarnin’ Money (Service Provider), Yarnin’ Money (Resident). Both training programs will eventually be expanded into online professional development (train the trainer) programs for financial counselling/capability workers and community services providers nationally. The Yarnin’ Money team will be heading to Thursday Island (in the Torres Strait) to provide its next training session on August 17th.

Financial Literacy Australia (FLA) is a not for profit organisation committed to advancing financial literacy in Australia. See http://finlit.org.au/ for more information.

Eddie Buli and Carmen Hegarty from the Yarnin’ Money team have been clocking up the miles again in April, crisscrossing the country from Cairns delivering training for “Yarnin’ Money with the Mob”, and “Yarnin’ Money with Service Providers”.

The team were excited to receive training invitations from the Local Aboriginal Council in La Perouse, Sydney, as well as the Nirrumbuk Aboriginal Corporation and Kimberley Employment Services in Broome.  These trips were especially meaningful for the team, as it was the first time these organisations would experience the unique Yarnin’ Money training style that takes into account the participant’s history, culture, personal situation, and community.

Whether the team are delivering to big business in the city, an industry group conference, or to a remote community like the visit to Thursday Island in March, the innovative Yarnin’ Money method is transferable across different forums.  “From a small town to the big smoke, we’re showing something different, doing something different, and this is acknowledged by the participants who share their own stories.  It’s about asking them to trust us while we take them on an unknown journey starting as strangers, but where we finish up walking together at the end” said Eddie.

“One of the advantages of taking Yarnin’ Money on the road around our vast country, is that we have an opportunity to produce a ripple effect, which is the essence of Yarnin’ Money.  We’re creating knowledge, not only among communities and service providers, but within the team itself.  We’re passing on information, looking at budgeting in a different view, raising awareness of consumer issues, and hopefully creating yarns about financial literacy and consumer rights for generations to come” explained Eddie.

“Yarnin’ Money travels nationally, training different organisations and communities for the first time, where we not only make new contacts, but as time goes by we make new friends and family as well” said Eddie.

While in Sydney, the team were honoured to have Brad Cooke, Senior Manager, Indigenous Engagement & Innovation Enterprise Services at the Commonwealth Bank Australia, walk them on his country.  Brad not only provided an Indigenous history of his lands, but shared stories of his upbringing on the same lands where the training was conducted, providing the team with a privileged insight to the La Perouse community.

Broome also offered the chance for the team to make connections as Indigenous people, with both Eddie and Carmen running into family and friends from FNQ and Darwin during the training.  As Eddie explained “I met a cousin for the first time on my mother’s side, where we descend from the Torres Strait Islands and Kingston, Jamaica.  I then soon realised I also had a mutual connection with another member of the group who’s Aunty had lived in Ravenshoe, FNQ”.

Carmen also realised one of the training participants in Broome was an old friend from Darwin.  “During our lunch break one of the participants who looked familiar approached me and said ‘you’re Carmen hey’.  I then realised who she was and she refreshed my memories from 14yrs ago!  I was so happy to see someone that I knew, and of course once someone in the community knows you really well, you’re accepted as one of the mob, which is a great honour” explained Carmen.

With the experience of training different groups in so many diverse locations, the team have learnt to maximise the Yarnin’ Money experience for organisations with limited training time. By conducting a community profile prior to training, the Yarnin’ Money team can familiarise themselves with the local demographic to increase their own awareness of the community landscape, allowing them to target the geographic, social, and economic characteristics of a particular community.

Being on the road presenting to different industries and communities also allows the team to collect feedback to ensure the training remains relevant.  “We always ask the participants to be completely honest in their feedback, as they are out best critics and their feedback will help shape future Yarnin’ Money programs and make us better trainers.  We learn something new from every training session we conduct” said Eddie.

Looking ahead, the team are excited to have booked additional Yarnin’ Money training for La Perouse in July, with other requests for Cairns, Mareeba, Townsville and the Gulf of Carpentaria also scheduled.

But wait, there’s more!

The Yarnin’ Money program is going international in May, when Eddie joins ICAN’s Research and Communications Manager, Carmen Daniels, for the ABLE Financial Empowerment Conference in Canada.  “I’m privileged to have the chance to present the Yarnin’ Money Program at this conference in Vancouver” said Eddie.  “For a small team, we’re making big tracks.”

Yarnin’ Money is an Indigenous financial capability supported by the Commonwealth Bank, Financial Literacy Australia, the Department of Social Services and the Queensland Department of Communities, Disability Services and Seniors.

* Queensland Government. (2018). ‘Labour force – small area: unemployment rate (smoothed) (per cent), qtr ended 31 Dec 2017.’ https://statistics.qgso.qld.gov.au/qld-thematic-maps. **Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2018). ‘2016 Census Quickstats: Thursday Island.’ http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC32851 .