Community education for social change: the development of driver licensing educational strategies in north Queensland Indigenous communities

Abstract

There is a pressing need for education in remote Indigenous communities around road safety and driver licensing to address high levels of incarceration and road trauma resulting from unlicensed driving. This paper outlines a program to identify, educate, resource and support community members to be road safety and driver licence educators and coordinators, and to develop appropriate educational materials and strategies. The program is developed on a community-by community basis through negotiations between government agencies and self-selected communities. It aims to ensure that each community's program is fully embedded in community aspirations and programs, and is financially self-supporting. Self selection and negotiation are designed to ensure community ownership, and the linkages between the program and community economic needs and development potentials are crucial to ensuring sustainability of the program in each community. Community ownership is crucial to ensuring that the program is not dismissed as just another government imposed development. The program has potential to contribute to social change by enhancing community capacity, including increased capacity to take advantage of employment opportunities, and the reduction of disruptions to family and community life through incarceration and road trauma.