Dharug Strategic Management Group (DSMG)

Event at the Blacktown Native Institution Site.

This case study has been co-authored as part of our latest Action Research Project on measuring long-term outcomes with communities. It centres on Dharug Strategic Management Group (DSMG), a Dharug-led, not-for-profit organisation based in Blacktown, NSW.

DSMG’s dream is to heal Country on the Blacktown Native Institution site which was handed back to the community in 2018. The site is of national, state, and local heritage significance because of its combination of historical, social and archaeological values for the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities.

DSMG first invited Community First Development to work with them in 2019 and we have since worked together on five projects.  This case study focuses on DSMG’s dream and some of the progress towards this dream through working together with Community First Development. It also provides DSMG’s reflections on the concept of, and approaches to, monitoring and evaluation.