Deslin Foster

For 12 month Deslin has been the Project Manager for the National Indigenous Money Management Agenda (NIMMA) project. The Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA) has funded Reconciliation Australia to investigate banking and financial literacy issues for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Deslin’s duties include co-ordinating the project, completing research to inform stakeholders of current issues, making recommendations for action, influencing key stakeholders to take action to address identified issues and gaps, managing all stakeholder relationships and reporting progress to FaCSIA. An Indigenous Banking Reference group has been established to provide input into the project. The NIMMA project focuses on reducing poverty and building wealth for Indigenous communities through encouraging financial security. Deslin is developing an Indigenous cultural awareness training program for RA to promote its business with government and community organisation partners. She hopes the training will provide her with a greater understanding of human rights obligations, current issues and tools that she can use to influence the outcome of the NIMMA project and future work she is involved in. Deslin is completing an MBA at Deakin University. Through the training, Deslin hopes to develop an understanding of human rights obligations, current human rights issues and tools. This will enable her to influence the outcome of the NIMMA project and future work she will be involved in with Reconciliation Australia. Deslin is also keen to share her working experiences with industry and government to implement policy change and to learn from others who work in Indigenous policy development and advocacy roles.