What is Indigenous Data Sovereignty?

 
 
 

What does it mean for us at Community First Development and the communities we partner with?

Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDS) is the “Rights of Indigenous Peoples to govern the collection, management, access, interpretation, dissemination and reuse of data related to them” (Snipp, 2016).

As a First Nations’ led organisation we are committed to Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles and practices in all of aspects of our work.

Following, the inception of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP 2009), in 2011 our CEO Stephanie Harvey was one of the First Nations’ voices, with a delegation of First Nations’ people from Australia, that went to speak with the United Nations in New York (Balit Ngulu, 2011). This was a significant event for Community First Development as it paved the way for further education, raising awareness and principled actions on First Nations’ data and related responsibilities.

For Community First Development, Indigenous Data Sovereignty is everything that relates to First Nations’ life worlds — it covers everything that impacts on First Nations’ lives. In First Nations’ communities everything is connected, like an eco-system, this includes cultural knowledge, language, Country, and information that is shared with us. Indigenous Data Sovereignty is a crucial part of this ecosystem.

Our Practice

Our Community Development Framework brings theory, research, and practice together to outline our way of working. We have a principled approach to Indigenous Data Sovereignty, and this is clearly seen in our practice and the methods that we use to gather data. Indigenous Data Sovereignty is recognised as one of ten key outcomes in our Story of Change — the logic behind the work we do, which prioritises First Nations’ perspectives and their voices. At the heart of our organisational eco-system is self-determination for First Nations’ communities. This reaffirms our obligations to respect the knowledge (data) and to recognise that data belongs to First Nations’ communities. 

Our values include a commitment to ethical actions and decision-making, recognising and respecting First Nations’ cultures is at the centre of everything we do. This includes the way we gather, hold, and share data. It is through collaboration and working together that we prioritise self-determination and agency as the foundations of our practice and honour the relationships and responsibilities that we have in our business practices and First Nations’ relationships.

First Nations’ Stories are in the data

Indigenous Data sovereignty is not just about numbers and research — it’s about story ownership. It’s about having access to relevant evidence to have informed views. Indigenous Data Sovereignty increases First Nations’ access to control decisions and the narratives that affect them and their communities.

Indigenous Data Sovereignty is data about Indigenous resources, environment, land, history geographical information, titles, and water information. It’s about social data, legal, health, education and use of services. This also includes traditional, cultural data, archives, oral literature, ancestral knowledge, and community stories (Walter, 2020).

Maiam Nayri Wingara Indigenous Data Sovereignty Collective

In 2016 and again in 2021, collaborations between First Nations’ academics and leaders made significant contributions to the field of Indigenous Data Sovereignty (Taylor et al, 20165; Walter et al, 20216) and (Snipp, 2016). These discussions voiced that Indigenous Data Sovereignty has the power to be an agent of change towards de-colonisation. Data sovereignty is important for both First Nations’ organisations and non-First Nations’ Australian institutions as it can become a key driver for shared understandings of evidence can be one of the pathways towards conciliation and healing.

In 2018, the Maiam Nayri Wingara Indigenous Data Sovereignty Collective developed an Australian set of Indigenous Data Governance protocols and principles2, which evidence the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to:

1.       Exercise control of the data ecosystem including creation, development, stewardship, analysis, dissemination, and infrastructure. 

2.       Have access to data that is contextual and disaggregated. 

3.       Ensure that data that is relevant and empowers sustainable self-determination and effective self-governance.

4.       Create data structures that are accountable to First Nations’ people and their communities.

5.       Protect data, that respects First Nations’ individuals and First Nations’ collective interests.

Community First Development recognises that Indigenous Data Sovereignty can be expressed through the creation, collection, access, analysis, interpretation, management, dissemination, and reuse of Indigenous data that are both qualitative (stories and yarning) and quantitative (numbers and statistics). The principles of Indigenous Data Sovereignty are also expressed through our Action Research Projects3, community development approaches, and sector leadership on best practice methods of engaging and working with First Nations’ communities.

Community First Development supports the foundational work of Maiam Nayri Wingara Indigenous Data Sovereignty Collective that is led by First Nations’ people. It is strongly aligned with our own principled approach and practice when working alongside First Nations’ communities.

Trust and Respect

At Community First Development we work alongside communities with high trust and respect. This cannot be understated; this trust and respect comes from our long-term relationships with First Nations’ communities. This is part of our foundation and is reflected in our principles and practice.

Our agenda is clear and strategic — we will continue to promote and contribute to the strengths of First Nations’ communities and their dreams. This process actively decolonises and deprioritises deficit narratives.

Our approaches and practice of managing and endorsing Indigenous Data Sovereignty is through:

  • Recognising the cultural dimensions of statistical literacy – cultural transmission and knowledge, language, customs and lore practices, and consent considerations.

  • Acknowledging that many First Nations’ communities are ‘over-surveyed’ and promoting the principle of not engaging in research where meaningful data already exists. Using secondary sources first, and only conducting primary research where data does not exist, and communities are leading the project.

  • Promoting understanding of the impacts on data and the individual and collective rights to say ‘no’ to participation in research and data collection.

  • Ensuring strong participatory approaches to data collection, as demonstrated in our Action Research Projects.

  • Enabling participants and interested communities to receive their data contribution back for their own use and decision making, including but not limited to transcripts, videos, pictures and recorded audio, and de-identified survey responses.

Indigenous Data Sovereignty is about truth telling, strength-based narratives and First Nations’ ownership. Community First Development will continue to contribute to international, national and jurisdictional conversations on Indigenous Data Sovereignty, promoting First Nations’ voices in issues of data reform, evaluation, and research practices and ultimately nation building for First Nations’ people and the countries they reside in.

We encourage policy experts and researchers to consider changing western analytical lens to First Nations’ led approaches to data collection, data storage and data ownership.

If you would like to learn more about the practical aspects of how we manage and respect Indigenous Data Sovereignty, you may like to read some practice case studies that demonstrate our step-by-step practices:

Evaluating with Kunkgas Can Cook

Evaluating with Littlewell Working Group

References

Balit Ngulu. (2011, May 18). Indigenous Peoples Organisations (IPO) Network. Retrieved from Balit
Ngulu: https://balitngulu.org.au/assets/2015/05/Press_Release__An_Aboriginal_and_Torres_Strait_Islander_voice_at_the_UN__180511.pdf

Macquaire Government. (2022, March 22). Data Sovereignty. Retrieved from Macquarie Government: https://macquariegovernment.com/glossary/data-sovereignty/#:~:text=Data%20sovereignty%20means%20keeping%20Australia's,by%20Australian%20people%20and%20companies.

Snipp, C. M. (2016). What does Data Sovereignty imply, what does it look like? In Tahu Kukutai and John Taylor, Indigenous Data Sovereignty: Toward an agenda (pp. 39-55). Canberra: ANU Press, The Australian National University.

Walter, M. (2020, October 8). 'Delivering Indigenous Data Sovereignty [Video]. Retrieved from Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia 2020 Fay Gale Lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCsCZJ8ugPA