Combler le fossé : créer une plateforme de données où les communautés autochtones s'approprient leur histoire

The Challenge

As of 2023, 6,414 Aboriginal children were in out-of-home care in New South Wales. Of those, only approximately 1,400 were managed by an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO). The rest were managed by non-Aboriginal NGOs, organisations that, however well-intentioned, lack the cultural knowledge and community connections that Aboriginal families and children need. The national Closing the Gap agreement set a target to reduce Aboriginal children's overrepresentation in out-of-home care by 45 percent by 2031. Reaching that target requires a fundamental shift: transferring hundreds of cases annually from NGOs to ACCOs, and ensuring ACCOs have the tools, data, and capacity to manage them.

AbSec, the NSW Child, Family and Community Peak Aboriginal Corporation, needed a technology partner to build two interconnected solutions. The first was a Case Management Tool (CMT) for ACCOs to manage casework related to Closing the Gap Target 12 (children not overrepresented in the child protection system) and Target 13 (families and households are safe). The second was an Aboriginal Data Platform (ADP) to replace manual spreadsheets with a structured digital system that could centralise data from multiple priorities, generate quantitative reporting, and support data-driven advocacy.

The challenge was not purely technical. AbSec works with approximately 35 associated organisations, each with different data types, formats, and levels of digital maturity. The platform needed to serve organisations ranging from well-resourced Sydney-based ACCOs to smaller regional services. And everything, every insight, every data point, every piece of workshop material, had to be owned by AbSec and the Aboriginal communities it represents. Data sovereignty was not a feature request; it was the foundation.

The Approach

Kablamo structured the engagement around three phases, with co-design and cultural intelligence embedded in every decision.

Phase 1 - Discovery and Co-Design (10 weeks): Using Double Diamond and DVF frameworks, Kablamo facilitated deep discovery across AbSec's network. The process included stakeholder mapping, empathy mapping, persona development, user journey mapping, and benchmarking against existing systems. Interviews and workshops with ACCO executives, caseworkers, CFOs, IT personnel, and community leaders surfaced the real operational picture: operational capacity, geographical coverage, accreditation status, and tool readiness.

This data was critical. To scale from 21 annual case transfers to the target of 500, AbSec needed to understand not just the policy aspiration but the actual capacity of each ACCO to absorb additional families. The forum captured program innovations and unique approaches that individual organisations had developed.

Kablamo presented the discovery findings to the AbSec board. The presentation covered the co-designed solution, the data platform vision, and a phased implementation roadmap, securing board endorsement for the build phase.

Phase 2 - MVP Build: Kablamo designed and built the foundational platform on AWS, transitioning manual spreadsheet-driven data capture into a structured digital system. The team analysed existing redacted spreadsheets to identify common fields, structures, and gaps. Digital data capture forms were designed and validated with stakeholders, replacing the manual processes that had limited AbSec's ability to report at scale.

The platform was built with strong data governance and scalability using AWS best practices. The capabilities spanned human-centred design, data strategy, cloud data platforms, analytics and reporting, machine learning, and data visualisation, all designed to support future AI-driven insights such as identifying at-risk children before they enter out-of-home care, or uncovering patterns across ACCOs that could flag potential risks.

Phase 3 - Further Development and Support: Ongoing improvement, expansion to additional data delivery channels, and structured handover to ensure AbSec's teams could sustain and extend the platform independently. All documentation was stored in accessible project documentation, designed to preserve cultural intelligence alongside technical knowledge.

Data sovereignty was enforced throughout: all insights, data, interview content, and workshop information remained owned by AbSec. Kablamo operated as a technology partner, not a data custodian.

The Results

Kablamo delivered the Case Management Tool and presented the completed platform at the End of Phase showcase in November 2024. The CMT provides ACCOs with a unified digital environment to manage casework for Closing the Gap Targets 12 and 13, replacing fragmented manual processes with structured, reportable workflows.

The Aboriginal Data Platform established the foundation for transforming manual spreadsheets into a centralised digital system. The platform is designed to ingest data from multiple sources (including the new ACCO-owned CMT and Census data), transform it into quantitative reporting, and visualise it for advocacy and decision-making. The phased architecture means that after completing Priority 12 data integration, the same approach can be applied to subsequent Closing the Gap priorities, with a defined investment for the full Priority 12 platform.

The engagement demonstrated that technology partnerships with Aboriginal organisations require more than engineering skill. The co-design methodology, the data sovereignty framework, and the culturally intelligent approach to stakeholder engagement were as important as the AWS architecture and React frontend. AbSec's board endorsement of the discovery findings validated that the approach had earned trust across the organisation and its network.

Looking Forward

The AbSec platform represents a model for how technology can serve Aboriginal community self-determination. As the Case Management Tool matures and the Aboriginal Data Platform incorporates additional Closing the Gap priorities, the system will grow into a comprehensive intelligence capability for Aboriginal community organisations across New South Wales. The goal is clear: increase annual case transfers from NGOs to ACCOs from 21 to 500, reduce the transfer timeline from six months to six weeks, and ensure each caseworker manages a maximum of five households. Kablamo continues to support AbSec, with the shared goal of ensuring Aboriginal communities have the data, tools, and digital sovereignty to close the gap on their own terms.