Tjungu

Tjungu is a Pitjantjatjara word meaning ‘joined up solutions’ and is an apt description of the partnership between Anangu elders, UniSA and UnitingCare Wesley, who are driving a social entrepreneurship project that not only focuses on building community capacity for innovative Anangu social enterprises but also addresses the elders desire for shared understanding between people on the lands and those outside its borders.

This innovative project has come about through the expressed wish of Anangu partners to advance social entrepreneurship initiatives which elders and communities have been trialling.

Communities on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands in northern South Australia have been leading participatory action research trials of a range of local social enterprises including a homelands hand-made soaps and body creams venture, a car parts recycling initiative, a community based second-hand clothing store and homeland cultural tourism enterprises.

Tjungu: Learning Country aims to establish a social enterprise hub and microfinance enterprise fund to support social entrepreneurship on the lands. At the same time UniSA and UnitingCare Wesley are partnering with the social enterprises as mentors, trainers and clients – enabling both ways learning between academics and students and Anangu social entrepreneurs while supporting the fledgling social enterprises through their first steps.

Bebe Ramzan from the Warrabaleena homelands on the APY lands made a video pitch for the Challenge, which due to exigencies of creating it with limited resources in a remote area, does cut off part way through her lovely presentation, but you can see the first part of it here.