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Reading list
Today, Indigenous organisations and leaders need to be aware of both new governing demands and traditional cultural values, and systems of authority.
Some of the things you can do to build and keep cultural legitimacy are:
| Be clear about your organisation or community’s identity – who are your members and who aren’t? |
| Make sure that all your group/members are recognised, have a voice in your discussions and decision-making and are fairly represented and responded to. |
| Try to clearly identify the areas where your legitimacy is weak |
| Understand what it is about your current arrangements that has allowed those weaknesses |
| Consider what legitimacy means to your group/members – who can speak for whom, to whom and regarding what? |
| Find out how community members would feel about governance changes – don’t impose change without talking first. |
| Understand how current arrangements came to be and changes your ideas about how to govern if necessary |
| Consider ways of engaging stakeholders in your broader governance environment to ensure wide credibility and support for your solutions |
| Be open to using new technologies, or changing your ideas about how to govern if necessary |
| Don’t change what already works – just work on those areas where governance has lost its cultural legitimacy |
| Be realistic about what you can tackle and what is going to be workable and effective in your wider environment |
