Participatory Policy Development: Reflections on Designing the Strong Roots for Our Futures Program in Victoria

ABSTRACT In this paper, we trace the journey to create the Strong Roots for our Futures Program, a government program to resource and support Traditional Owners to undertake a range of activities in areas where no state recognition existed. We provide a background to state recognition in Victoria before considering the program design, leading to an exploration of the Strong Roots program. We draw attention to the ways of working of the project team and consider in what ways government has worked differently in this context. We finish our discussion by reflecting on what made the process work, what are some ongoing challenges, and celebrate important wins. We offer that this process may be transformative in the way that government staff understand their own positions from one of ‘policy making’ to ‘policy co‐developing’, and highlight research, facilitation, communication, knowledge of community, and community engagement as core skills to undertake work in these contexts. We finish by suggesting that by achieving positive results for Traditional Owners in regions that have historically been neglected, and where communities are splintered, the Strong Roots program offered a new way of working with government and renewing a foundation of nationhood for Traditional Owners.