Australia's Closing the Gap (CtG) targets represent the social, cultural and environmental determinants of First Nations' health. Australia is failing to meet the CtG targets; of the 15 targets for which national data are available, 11 are improving but only four are currently on track. The CtG targets are themselves influenced by political determinants; represented by four priority reform areas recently agreed upon by the First Nations Coalition of Peaks and Australian governments. These aim to shift power to community for decision making and data sovereignty, build community organisation capacity, while also improving the cultural safety and responsiveness of government organisations to improve the health of Indigenous peoples.
Yet there is a dearth of research at community levels about how coalitions of First Nations organisations can operationalise political determinants (such as the four priority reforms), and with what effect. This research program partners with four community coalitions in remote and regional Queensland to co-design, implement and evaluate a collective impact approach to achieve the reforms underpinning the CtG targets. The research works with and across community coalitions to prospectively assess how community organisations can operationalise the four priority reforms underpinning the Closing the Gap targets, and with what effects. The research will develop, coordinate and evaluate action across a common agenda for systems change, shared measurements, mutually reinforcing activities, and communication and knowledge plans across communities.