Serena Lillywhite is a highly valued DTP trainer. She has just stepped back from her most recent position as CEO of Transparency International Australia, the leading anti-corruption NGO. Serena is a leading international expert on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. She is regularly invited to speak at high-level OECD and UN forums. Serena was recently awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) recognising her many years of service through NGOs such as the Brotherhood of St Laurence, Oxfam, OECD Watch and Transparency International, as well as her contribution to higher education at institutions such as RMIT in both Australia and Wuhan, China.
Serena has contributed her knowledge and expertise in many DTP courses, on Business and Human Rights and on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. One focus has been on how advocates can use the complaint mechanism of the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises. This includes sharing lessons learned from past complaints, how to build and raise a case and the evidence advocates need to collect.
“It’s become essential that community leaders and NGOs have the knowledge and skills about international human rights law and an understanding of the mechanisms and tools that they can use in their advocacy efforts to try to hold corporations and governments to account.” In this regard, Serena thinks “the DTP is doing fantastic… it’s an incredible program“.
In her more than 25 years of working in the not-for-profit sector, Serena has seen and heard first-hand how big businesses has had adverse impacts on the lives and livelihoods of communities across Asia and the Pacific. In Serena’s view, the most marginalised in the communities, including Indigenous peoples, women and girls, are disproportionately impacted by projects lacking checks and balances and sometimes backed with corrupt social and environmental assessments.
“For a long time, I’ve been interested in the complaints process (NCP) of the OECD Guidelines because it is one of the few non-judicial mechanisms available for communities to use.”
One of the common problems is the violation of Indigenous peoples’ right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). Serena also leads DTP sessions on FPIC, one of the key rights recognised in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
“DTP ensures that community and NGO leaders have an understanding of FPIC and that it is grounded in international declarations such as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Through the DTP program we link this to business and human rights – even though not all governments and companies uphold these rights.”
In Serena’s view, one of the unique aspects of DTP’s training programs is how extensive they are, usually running over ten days:
“These are intensive programs that bring in skilled trainers and cover an enormous amount of material, and that is incredibly unique for training programs…. We always did a bit of a role play, imagining that we were using the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises, and participants had to prepare for what it would be like if they were bringing a case to an NCP. And that was always great fun with quite a lot of theatre and good humour.“
Serena also remembers “solidarity night” as a highlight of the training programs when participants wear the national dress of their country with great pride. It often involves dancing and singing. “That’s always a great aspect of the DTP programs.”
Serena has high regards for DTP’s other training programs as well. DTP is one of the few organisations “to consistently focus on the issue of decent work and the issue of migrant workers in particular and just how open they are to exploitation and the need to continue to shine a spotlight on this.”
Serena’s upbringing played a significant role in making her passionate about social justice, human rights, gender equality and accountability.
“I have grown up in a family and with friends that have always been interested in politics and interested in social justice issues; the broader issues around equity including gender equity.”
Serena has maintained contact with many DTP alumni and shared this about a recent encounter with Sheena Watt, the first Victorian Labor Party Female Indigenous MP:
“Recently I was fortunate to bump into Sheena Watt. She came racing out of a restaurant; we had a big hug; it was great to see each other again after several years and see just how she’s putting her advocacy training into practice. Now she is the first Indigenous woman elected to Parliament in Victoria, which is just incredible to think of, and that’s one of a number of stories of the DTP alumni that is very powerful and very satisfying to hear.”
DTP acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we work, the Bedegal people of the Eora Nation. We recognise their lands were never ceded, and we acknowledge their struggles for recognition and rights and pay our respects to the Elders – past, present – and the youth who are working towards a brighter tomorrow. This continent always was and always will be Aboriginal land.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this website contains images or names of people who have passed away.
DTP acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we work, the Bedegal people of the Eora Nation. We recognise their lands were never ceded, and we acknowledge their struggles for recognition and rights and pay our respects to the Elders – past, present – and the youth who are working towards a brighter tomorrow. This continent always was and always will be Aboriginal land.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this website contains images or names of people who have passed away.
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