Strategy
Karabena Consulting develops strategies, plans and frameworks, designs models of care, builds Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce approaches, and conducts the research that gives boards, departments and communities something solid to decide upon. Our clients include state and Commonwealth departments, health services, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, universities, philanthropy and industry.
Our approach is Indigenist, beginning with the aspirations communities hold for themselves and grounded in the cultural determinants of health, so that a strategy carries both the authority of the people it is written for and the evidence an organisation needs to fund it and implement it.
We stay with the work past the document, and much of what is below includes the governance arrangements, implementation pathways and measurement frameworks that allow a plan to be carried through.
The work below shows where we have done it.
Professor Kerry Arabena facilitated two days of strategic planning for the Annamila First Nations Foundation, gathering its majority First Nations Board and leadership on Bunurong Country to shape how the Foundation contributes, convenes and influences.
May 2026
Karabena Consulting was engaged by Public Skills Australia (PSA) to manage and deliver the First Nations Workforce Participation Research. The project examined First Nations employment, qualifications and workforce pathways across PSA's six industry-sectors: Fire and Emergency Services, Police, Defence, Correctional Services, Local Government, and Federal and State/Territory Government, collectively referred to as the Public Safety and Government industry-sectors.
April 2026 – June 2026
Karabena Consulting worked with Vicsport to support Victorian sport organisations receiving Sport and Recreation Victoria funding to strengthen their First Nations commitments. By 2027, medium and large sports were expected to have a Reconciliation Action Plan, while smaller sports were expected to have a First Nations Policy or commitment statement.
July 2025 – June 2027
Karabena Consulting was engaged by the Victorian Department of Education to develop an interim Koorie Communications and Engagement Strategy. Families of Koorie children make decisions about early childhood education within the realities of culture, kinship, work, transport, health, service access and trust, and the Department needed a stronger evidence base for how its communication about kindergarten participation, reforms and early childhood workforce pathways is heard, carried, trusted or lost before it reaches families.
November 2025 – May 2026
The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) commissioned this Indigenist review to deepen understanding of the experiences of Aboriginal doctors within Emergency Medicine (EM) training and practice. Initiated by an Aboriginal ACEM Fellow in response to sustained cultural and colonial load, and supported by ACEM through its Indigenous Health Strategy, Reconciliation Action Plan, and Specialist Training Program Support Project, the review provides an evidence base for strengthening Aboriginal participation, retention, and leadership within the EM Fellowship pathway.
October 2024 - December 2025
In response to Recommendation 69 of the Family is Culture Review, the NSW Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) and BOCSAR developed the Linked Data Asset (LinDA). This is an internal DCJ client centred database that links records from social housing, homelessness, child protection, out-of-home care (OOHC), and justice. The data can be used to highlight opportunities for cross-sectional policy responses, inform targeted service delivery and build analytical models that identify client risk.
December 2024 – May 2025
Karabena Consulting was engaged by the DTP to deliver a two-stage project focused on improving road safety outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Victoria.
The first stage (September 2023 – January 2024) involved a comprehensive review of literature, examining evidence-based strategies and actions to enhance road safety for First Nations communities in Victoria.
September 2023 – January 2025
As two stages of OCHRE evaluation demonstrate, there were many achievements over 2013- 2023 including ARA being established over significant parts (but not all) of NSW. But a statewide healing program did not progress beyond the consultation stage. There was also slow progress in transferring decision-making powers to Aboriginal communities. From 2018-2019 onwards, OCHRE was increasingly overshadowed by the negotiation and roll out of the Closing the Gap program in NSW.
In 2023, the Victorian Government committed to integrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge in antenatal, Maternal and Child Health (MCH), and early parenting services to strengthen the early years health sector for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families in Victoria from preconception to school age.
August 2023 – August 2024
Karabena Consulting worked with VAHS to design and implement a comprehensive strategy to enhance workplace safety, health, and inclusion for Aboriginal staff. The project was part of VAHS's broader efforts to promote respectful environments for their staff in Victoria and address cultural safety.
The project provided VAHS with practical tools and strategies to ensure compliance with occupational health and safety (OHS) standards and to promote a safer, more inclusive environment for employees.
May 2024 – October 2024
Karabena Consulting partnered with Swinburne University's Moondani Toombadool Centre (MTC) to develop a Strategic Plan for their Indigenous Innovation Hub. This plan is aimed at nurturing Indigenous entrepreneurship, aligning with the cultural values and needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Project Timeline: September 2023 – January 2024
Karabena Consulting was engaged by VACCHO to independently measure the ‘health’ of their partnerships with four Victorian cancer organisations. This involved disseminating a Partnership Health Check survey, conducting team interviews, and facilitating a reflection workshop with VACCHO and its participating partners.
Project Timeline: August 2023 – October 2023
Karabena Consulting was engaged by Mercy Hospitals Victoria Ltd to lead the co-design of their 2023-2026 Aboriginal Employment Plan.
Project Timeline: September 2022 – June 2023
Every year, the CTG Campaign prepares a response to the Commonwealth’s Closing the Gap Annual Report, and in late 2022 commissioned Karabena Publishing to write and produce its 2023 Report, which was launched in Sydney on 16 March 2023.
Project Timeline: 1 December 2022 – 8 March 2023
The project focused on the development of a Business Case for the Albury Wodonga Aboriginal Community Strategic Plan. In partnership with atticusnow, Karabena Consulting led one of the strategic initiatives of focusing on inclusive and sustained decision making among people in the region.
Project Timeline: May 2022 – December 2022
Karabena Consulting was engaged by VACCHO through a competitive tender process to support the organisation develop a partnership evaluation tool and process, to independently measure the ‘health’ of their partnerships and the extent to which they are enabling self-determination.
Project Timeline: August 2022 – December 2022
In 2022, the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association celebrates its 25th anniversary. To mark this occasion, AIDA commissioned Karabena Publishing to develop a publication of its 25-year history to be launched at its conference in October 2022, and a short film to be shown at its Gala Dinner in June 2022.
Project Timeline: July 2022 – September 2022
Karabena Consulting was engaged to develop the Victorian Aboriginal Cancer Journey Strategy (the Strategy) and the Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Framework, with the work overseen by VACCHO.
Project Timeline: April 2022 – August 2022
Karabena Consulting was engaged to facilitate consultations with various stakeholders in the Victorian Aboriginal community housing sector to inform the development of a 20-Year Vision.
Project Timeline: November 2021 – June 2022
Karabena Consulting was contracted to facilitate a process of healing for Ngunnawal families, the Traditional Owners of the region in the ACT, and consider ways in which Treaty can facilitate self-determination.
Project Timeline: May 2022 – June 2022
The City of Melbourne, through its Aboriginal Melbourne team, is considering ways in which to ensure all Indigenous Australians living and working in Melbourne city have opportunities to be actively involved in progressing its major initiatives.
Project Timeline: June 2022
Mullum Mullum is an Aboriginal community controlled organisation based in the Eastern Metropolitan Region of Melbourne.
Project Timeline: April 2022
Nalderun is an Aboriginal-led service provider to the Aboriginal community of the Mount Alexander shire in Victoria. Karabena was engaged by Nalderun to facilitate a strategic planning workshop and deliver a report of outcomes to support the development of the Nalderun Strategic Plan 2022-2025.
Project Timeline: March 2022 – April 2022
Karabena Consulting was contracted by the Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing to lead community consultations and contribute to the review of the Victorian Aboriginal Sexual and Reproductive Health Plan 2022 – 2030 (the Plan).
Project Timeline: June 2021 - October 2021
The City of Melbourne is the location for around a quarter of all employment in the greater Melbourne area including the great majority of high value jobs. While the City has been heavily impacted by COVID-19, it is likely to spring back strongly over the next year or two and will continue to be the largest employment zone and a home to innovation and future industries.
Project Timeline: March 2021 – October 2021
The project’s primary aim is to understand the needs and aspirations of First Nations people living in the City of Greater Dandenong, and to determine the feasibility of establishing a First Nations community space in the region.
Project Timeline: February 2021 - July 2021
The East Gippsland and Wellington Household Survey was an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led research project that aimed to provide evidence to inform the development of services, programs and policies to improve the life outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, families and communities in the Outer Gippsland region of Victoria.
Project Timeline: August 2020 – June 2021
The project aims were informed by ACEM’s vision to step towards achieving reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by providing quality, culturally safe health care in EDs across Australia. To support this vision, ACEM commissioned Karabena Consulting to study cultural safety in ED settings from the perspectives of emergency service providers and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service users.
Project Timeline: June 2019 - December 2020
This project was funded to identify possible solutions to address the issue of housing affordability, sub-quality housing and homelessness and the associated impacts on health and wellbeing in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Project Timeline: January 2020 – October 2020