Governance

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Curriculum

Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State Curriculum

Welcome to “Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State,” a ground-breaking curriculum initiative made possible through federal, state, and tribal funding. This project seeks to build lasting educational partnerships between school districts and their local tribes via elementary,…

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Indigenous Governance Toolkit

Indigenous Governance Toolkit

The Indigenous Governance Toolkit is an online resource developed for Indigenous nations, communities, individuals and organisations searching for information to build their governance. It covers all the basics — your rules, values, culture, membership, leadership, and decision making — and has…

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Does more equitable governance lead to more equitable health care? A case study based on the implementation of health reform in Aboriginal health Australia

Does more equitable governance lead to more equitable health care? A case study based on the implementation of health reform in Aboriginal health Australia

There is growing evidence that providing increased voice to vulnerable or disenfranchised populations is important to improving health equity. In this paper we will examine the engagement of Aboriginal community members and community controlled organisations in local governance reforms associated…

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2014 Native Youth Report

2014 Native Youth Report

In June 2014, President Obama embarked on his first presidential visit to Indian Country, where he and Mrs. Obama witnessed the tale of two Americas. Standing Rock Reservation, like many others, faces myriad social, economic, and educational problems. Together, those problems are coalescing into a…

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Development of a Kaupapa Maori Governance Model from a Literature Review and Key Informant Interviews

Development of a Kaupapa Maori Governance Model from a Literature Review and Key Informant Interviews

Kaupapa Māori sets the theoretical framework within which ideas and research about governance were explored. This review incorporated both indigenous and non-indigenous governance literature. This set the scene for interviews with six key informants with Māori who are knowledgeable about…

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Indigenous Peoples’ Good Governance, Human Rights and Self-Determination in the Second Decade of the New Millennium – A M?ori Perspective

Indigenous Peoples’ Good Governance, Human Rights and Self-Determination in the Second Decade of the New Millennium – A Māori Perspective

This brief paper addresses the nexus between good governance, human rights and Indigenous peoples’ self-determination particularly from Articles 3-6 and 46 of the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The paper is placed within a Māori good governance context with some broader…

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Wrapping Our Ways Around Them: Aboriginal Communities and the CFCSA Guidebook

Wrapping Our Ways Around Them: Aboriginal Communities and the CFCSA Guidebook

This Guidebook is based on the belief that Aboriginal peoples need to know, and work with, the systems that impact children and families today such as the Child, Family and Community Service Act (CFCSA), Provincial Court (Child, Family and Community Service Act) Rules (Rules), Child, Family and…

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Supplemental Recommendations of Tribal Leaders on the President’s State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience

Supplemental Recommendations of Tribal Leaders on the President's State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience

Tribes and Alaska Native Villages feel the effects of a changing climate in ways that are unique to their ways of life, geography, and relationships with the Federal Government. According to the National Climate Assessment, “the consequences of observed and projected climate change impacts have and…

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President's State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience: Recommendations to the President

President's State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience: Recommendations to the President

As the Third National Climate Assessment makes clear, climate change is already affecting communities in every region of the country as well as key sectors of the economy. Recent events like Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast, flooding throughout the Midwest, and severe drought in the West have…

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Food Sovereignty Assessment Tool

Food Sovereignty Assessment Tool

There are many assets related to Native food systems. Increased consumption of healthy and traditional foods may lead to better health among community members, preserving one of the most important assets in any community, its people. Of course, healthy, productive people are a cornerstone of any…

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Traditional Governance and Constitution Making among the Gitanyow

Traditional Governance and Constitution Making among the Gitanyow

This paper is a report on traditional governance and constitution making among the Gitanyow people prepared for the Gitanyow and for the First Nations Governance Centre. The Gitanyow are well along in the development of a national constitution based on traditional governance, and this paper will…

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Ngurra-kurlu: A way of working with Warlpiri people

Ngurra-kurlu: A way of working with Warlpiri people

Ngurra-kurlu is a representation of the five key elements of Warlpiri culture: Land (also called Country), Law, Language, Ceremony, and Skin (also called Kinship). It is a concept that highlights the primary relationships between these elements, while also creating an awareness of their deeper…

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Enabling the Data Revolution: An International Open Data Roadmap

Enabling the Data Revolution: An International Open Data Roadmap

Open data in the context of indigenous peoples and communities can be understood as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, open data can help indigenous communities, both internally and externally. Internally, it can be used to inform policy, allocate resources, and set a vision for indigenous…

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Indigenous Women and Governance in Guatemala

Indigenous Women and Governance in Guatemala

The concept of governance goes beyond institutional relations to encompass the integration and cohesion capacity of a particular political system. Hence, the effective functioning of the institutions of representative democracy is an important condition of governance, but it does not satisfy its…

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How Does Household Income Affect Child Personality Traits and Behaviors?How Does Household Income Affect Child Personality Traits and Behaviors

How Does Household Income Affect Child Personality Traits and Behaviors?

Existing research has investigated the effect of early childhood educational interventions on the child's later-life outcomes. These studies have found limited impact of supplementary programs on children's cognitive skills, but sustained effects on personality traits. We examine how a positive…

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Processes of Native Nationhood: The Indigenous Politics of Self-Government

Processes of Native Nationhood: The Indigenous Politics of Self-Government

Over the last three decades, Indigenous peoples in the CANZUS countries (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States) have been reclaiming self-government as an Indigenous right and practice. In the process, they have been asserting various forms of Indigenous nationhood. This article…

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New Zealand’s Constitution: A Report on a Conversation He Kotuinga Korero mo Te Kaupapa Ture o Aotearoa

New Zealand's Constitution: A Report on a Conversation He Kotuinga Korero mo Te Kaupapa Ture o Aotearoa

The appointment of the Constitutional Advisory Panel in August 2011 was another step in a longer and continuing conversation about how to govern the people, land and resources of Aotearoa New Zealand. The Panel was appointed as part of the Consideration of Constitutional Issues, which was agreed to…

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Culture and Law: Preliminary Findings in a Review of 100+ Tribal Welfare Codes

Culture and Law: Preliminary Findings in a Review of 100+ Tribal Welfare Codes

Over the last 35 years numerous tribes have created their own child welfare standards. By crafting child welfare codes that balance traditional culture and contemporary needs, tribes both protect member children (and their families) in culturally appropriate ways and reaffirm their sovereign…

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Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians: Elders Council Code

Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians: Elders Council Code

The Elders Council shall be organized for the purpose of: A. Providing guidance for the membership, Tribal Council, Judiciary, Executive, and Legislative branches of the Pokagon Band government on matters relative to history, traditions, and culture. B. Recommending to the Tribal Council goals and…

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Report on Best Practices in Developing Effective Processes of American Indian Constitutional Reform

Report on Best Practices in Developing Effective Processes of American Indian Constitutional Reform

The Executive Session on American Indian Constitutional Reform is a national working group of constitutional reformers from 12 American Indian nations and leading academics. The Executive Session meets twice a year to rethink strategies for strengthening tribal constitutions and constitution-making…