“Bringing us back to our origin”: adapting and transferring an Indigenous Australian values-based leadership capacity-building course for community development in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

The pilot delivery of an Indigenous Australian community development leadership training program was examined to determine its appropriateness and relevance for Papua New Guinea (PNG) public health leaders. The training program comprised two steps: the implementation of a values-based personal capacity-building process, which aimed to address the social and emotional well-being of individual participants; and delivery of selected topics of the program to participants' families, workplaces or community groups. Employing a constructivist grounded theory approach, the study found that participants “took ownership” of the two-step process, citing its benefit as “bringing us back to our origin”. To ensure sustainability, the program was endorsed as a core requirement for PNG postgraduate public health programs and cross-institutional agreements were developed for further program delivery and support. The study is potentially useful for other researchers and program managers attempting cross-national translation of leadership development approaches and their sustainability.