Advancing education outcomes for First Nations girls

The Advancing education outcomes for First Nations girls social impact investment (SII) supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls in Years 4 to 9 to strengthen school engagement and cultural connection during the transition from primary to secondary school, through community-led programs in Armidale, Uralla and Nambucca Valley.

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About the program

The Advancing Education Outcomes for First Nations Girls social impact investment aims to:

Advance cultural connection and education outcomes for First Nations girls through an outcome-based approach
Support Aboriginal organisations to design programs with the greatest impact for their community, recognising the right to self-determination
Trial an outcome-based approach to invest in the growth of Aboriginal businesses and the Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO) sector.

The programs are delivered in partnership with Aboriginal organisations:

Murawin, an Aboriginal owned and led organisation delivering programs in Armidale and Uralla
Jaanymili Burraga, an Aboriginal community-controlled organisation delivering programs in Bowraville

Partnering with Aboriginal organisations ensures programs are culturally appropriate and meet the unique needs of each community. Through this partnership, we are supporting First Nations girls in grade 4 to 9 to strengthen their engagement with school, deepen their cultural identity and raise aspirations for education and careers during the important transition from primary to secondary school.

Key Features

Investment type: Payment-by-Results portfolio (2 service providers)

Government payments: up to $7 million

Contract length: 4 to 5 years + 6 months set-up phase (commenced June 2025)

Partners:

Aboriginal service providers - Murawin and Jaanymili Burraga
Government agency - Department of Communities and Justice

Outcome payment metrics:

Educational engagement - measured by maintaining or improving school attendance compared to each participant’s baseline attendance in the prior 2 years
Cultural connection and wellbeing - measured through improvements in participants’ wellbeing and connection to culture through participant and community surveys, designed by service providers.

Where we are now

The service providers have completed their set-up period and are commencing service delivery in 2026. Early activity has focused on building trust with schools and communities, finalising program design and workforce, and establishing governance and data arrangements.

Innovative delivery approach

The investment supports place-based, community-led programs that supplement school learning and strengthen cultural identity. The features embedded in the outcome-based contract were developed jointly with service providers and considered their individual context. Innovative features included:

A 6-months set-up period to support providers to focus on community-led program design, workforce development and partnership building.
Phased expansion to additional schools and participants.
Fixed funding in the early years, with outcome-based payments weighted to later years, to allow programs to bed-down and realize its impact
Outcome measures that include both a measure of education engagement (quantitative) and cultural connection (qualitative) through participant/community surveys designed by service providers.

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