Webinar: ‘Understanding the Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Humanitarian Response’

As NAIDOC Week begins, it’s the perfect time to reflect on a session that Te’o Lau Dr Vili Iese, the Vic Hub’s Associate Director – Drought Resilience, took part in recently: “Understanding the Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Humanitarian Response”.

Vili said overall, there is a difference between a good intent to use Indigenous knowledge, and actually enacting it, leading to a misalignment between the need to prioritise integration and doing it. In the webinar run by the Humanitarian Advisory Group (HAG), which was attended by people across Australia and the South Pacific, Vili outlined three key aspects.

He said, “I don’t want to look at this as just ticking a box just to satisfy an agenda to say it’s okay to put ‘the Indigenous tick’.

“I want people to see that Indigenous knowledge systems and values provide an added value in order to make humanitarian actions more efficient and more effective, with very good impacts in saving lives, as improved by the principles in the Human Rights Charter. Alignments of these practices, and understanding what practices should be there, how to do them, and understanding where they fit, is really, really critical.”

Vili spoke as part of “Meet the Ideas Session 2: Understanding the Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Humanitarian Response”. The session was part of the People, Power and Local Leadership (PPLL) stream of Humanitarian Horizons 2021–24, HAG’s flagship research programme that aims to support the momentum for change towards a more equitable and impactful humanitarian system. For more information visit HAG’s website.