One big happy community?

No Comments //

I recently spent a couple of days in Port Pirie, a small town about 3 hours north of Adelaide with a population of around 13,000.  The aim of my visit was to help my client identify ways to work with the Aboriginal community to promote healthy eating.

One of the easiest traps we can fall in to in our work is popping people in to neat little categories that support our strategic targets and goals.  Frequently used categories include the Aboriginal community, the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse community, low income families and people with disabilities.

Whilst people do have commonalities and specific needs that should be considered, we must not think that an entire community can be worked with in the same way.

The biggest lesson for me on my trip to Port Pirie was how despite the Aboriginal population in the area being a relatively small one, it was very clearly fractionalised into smaller groups within the community.  It was blatantly clear that by providing a service that would attract one section of the community, another section of the community would be put off.

I certainly don’t think this is limited to the Aboriginal community in Port Pirie.  I think it is reflective of everywhere and we need to remember to try not to categorise people just for the sake of our strategic plans!