How the Fellowship expanded my impact to empower Indigenous families

Motivated by lived experience, Audrey Deemal is encouraging other First Nations changemakers to apply for a Westpac Scholarship, to amplify efforts in tackling complex social challenges in remote communities around Australia.

 

Audrey Deemal had witnessed the positive difference her work was making to the lives of the families in her home community, but she’d never labelled it ‘social enterprise’.

 

“I hadn't really thought about the fact that what we were doing fitted into that box,” reflects the Dhirrtharr Warra woman who works with the Cairns headquartered Cape York Partnership, a non-profit group of 10 entities working to empower Indigenous families in remote communities across Far North Queensland.

 

That changed for Audrey when she was asked to speak about one of the initiatives she drives, the Mayi Market, at the 2022 Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) in Brisbane – an experience that opened many new doors, including an invitation to apply for a Westpac Social Change Fellowship.

 

“Mayi Market was set up when COVID hit, and the women of Aurukun and other remote places were distressed about food shortages impacting them during lock downs. Food was already almost triple the prices paid in regional centres like Cairns and the implications brought about by COVID amplified food insecurity,” she explains.

 

Working with local food producers and suppliers to keep prices as low as possible, and employing local Indigenous people, Mayi Market delivers produce fortnightly to six remote communities, including Audrey’s hometown of Hope Vale, at fairer prices in line with those paid in regional centres. Since launching in 2020, more than 4,400 boxes of fresh food have been delivered, but Audrey admits the operation faces big challenges, particularly around keeping costs low, sustainably.

 

A welcome shock

 

After hearing stories at the SEWF of other socially-minded organisations facing similar challenges, Audrey was keen to soak up lessons from across the social enterprise sector and apply the learnings to Cape York Partnership’s work.

 

It was the nudge she needed to throw her hat into the ring for a Westpac Social Change Fellowship to invest in her social change capabilities – although the thought of applying was “completely daunting”.

 

"I'd never been through a process like that before, writing an application like that, the video interview, and sitting in front of a panel,” laughs Audrey who had previously worked in the health care sector after completing her Bachelor of Health Sciences and Masters in Epidemiology, before she joined Cape York Partnerships in 2011.

 

“They were all things that I didn't know I could do and was actually shocked that I did them! It ended up being really helpful because it gave me a chance to think and talk openly about what I wanted to do, and what I thought I needed to learn."  

 

Transformational tour

 

Following her successful selection, the fellowship funding supported Audrey to take a six-month study tour in 2023 to meet and learn from other social enterprise leaders across Australia and in the Netherlands where she travelled to attend the 2024 SEWF. 

 

She says the tour, coupled with the leadership programs offered as part of the scholarship and the new connections made within the Westpac Scholars network, have helped her to approach her work in ways that she couldn’t have before.

 

Push hesitations aside

 

Audrey is keen for other Indigenous social change leaders to get a similar boost, by considering applying for a Westpac Scholarship, but is concerned that, like her, they may not think they could be eligible as they don’t see the connection with the work they do.

 

“But what I keep telling our mob is that social enterprise is something that we've been doing for decades,” she says. “If you’re supporting people to build their own capabilities, and you’re creating jobs, that’s what social enterprise does." 

 

She believes another stumbling block for many Indigenous people may be that the fellowship is “all about investing in you as opposed your organisation”.   

 

“That's sometimes hard for us, because we tend to put everyone around us first, and ourselves last. But at the end of the day, if you come out with more capabilities, it makes you a more effective leader for your community,” she says.   

 

Her biggest challenge was overcoming a lack of social confidence, as she admits she is “definitely not a social butterfly”. “But this scholarship forced me to step out of my comfort zone and get out there, travelling around by myself, talking and initiating conversations. That’s been one of the biggest things for me – I’ve still got to psyche myself up, but now I have the confidence to know I can do it.”  

 

A swag of people needed

 

Audrey hopes many others will similarly benefit. “We need a whole swag of people together tackling the entrenched and complex challenges that our old people so fiercely advocated for decades before us,” she says.

 

“It needs a whole lot of people collaborating with the right tools and levers, and a Westpac Scholarship can help you along that pathway.”