‘Fanning the flame’: Aboriginal girls, women, and their communities define success for the Shooting Stars empowerment program

Abstract

Education and engagement programs for Aboriginal young people tend to propagate Western, colonial paradigms: Aboriginal populations are targeted, yet Aboriginal voices are rarely heard throughout the planning, delivery, and evaluation stages of program implementation. It is essential that the voices of program participants – and the communities within which these programs serve – are provided a platform to determine what those outcomes are to be, and how they are to be achieved. Shooting Stars is a holistic engagement program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls based in 20 remote and regional schools in Western Australia and South Australia. Shooting Stars staff (85% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) facilitate yarning circles with program participants, local steering committees, and broader community groups in order to tailor program delivery to local needs and assess the effectiveness of the program. From 2020 to 2021, we yarned with our participants, communities, and localised steering committees about their definitions of success and how Shooting Stars can help to grow successful young women. In this article, we explore a complex, multidimensional definition of success defined by program participants and their communities, and describe how we are reflecting and implementing this definition across program delivery and evaluation.