Marninwarntikura Fitzroy Women’s Resource Centre (MWRC)

Marninwarntikura Fitzroy Women’s Resource Centre (MWRC) aims to create a positive, safe and supportive work environment to assist staff to deal with trauma and minimise the risk of internal disputes.¹Australian Indigenous Governance Institute and Reconciliation Australia, Strong Governance Supporting Success: Stories and Analysis from the 2016 Indigenous Governance Awards, (Canberra: Australian Indigenous Governance Institute, 2018, Prepared by A. Wighton), 78. MWRC describe their dispute minimisation strategy:

“With the growth of the organisation, MWRC has developed a series of policies and procedures … part of the healing approach that the organisation has adopted is to ensure that all staff feel safe and are in a caring environment and that they are free to express their concerns and worries.”

Part of their approach to dispute resolution involves a specific position for a Workforce Development Manager. According to MWRC, this process has:

“Allowed grievances to come to the surface quickly and be solved by offering staff non-monetary benefits such as time away from a higher trauma environment, flexible working hours, additional long weekends throughout the year, on Country experiences etc.”