Digital Women Rangers

Program overview

The digital women ranger program began in early 2022 and has been delivered as part of the Healthy Country AI and digital initiative. The program was formed following requests from Indigenous women rangers to offer a culturally safe way to collect, use and share data to make decisions to care for Country.

Indigenous-led co-design principles

Indigenous ranger groups across Northern Australia have worked with a team of researchers to co-design the program based on several key principles.

• Ensure each component of the program is Indigenous led.
• Self-determined to ensure the program respects and honours Indigenous rights and cultural ownership.
• Community specific that respects the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and peoples.
• Deep listening and two-way learning to ensure respectful, culturally specific, and culturally safe communication and interactions are practiced.
• Impact of design. Ongoing review and reflection to ensure the program is respectful and delivering benefits desired by local Indigenous communities and ranger groups.
• Indigenous knowledge to ensure the program recognises, respects and is improved with Indigenous knowledge that Indigenous men and women collaborators wish to share.
• Share and build new knowledge to build the program together.