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With the continuing high levels of Indigenous youth unemployment and low levels of school attendance among Indigenous youth, Indigenous communities and education systems are seeking new approaches to increase Indigenous youth participation in education, training and employment. This priority among Indigenous and government stakeholders is not restricted to Australia but also applies internationally among many Indigenous peoples. One potential source of employment is the natural resources sector. This paper reviews the wide range of strategies currently being used to encourage Indigenous youth engagement in natural resource management as a way of achieving better educational outcomes and improving employment opportunities. Examples from Australia and North America are presented. These examples highlight the importance of both Indigenous knowledge and western science when developing suitable educational programs, and the role such programs can play in the intergenerational transmission of Indigenous knowledge. The review draws attention to the complexity involved in establishing clearly articulated pathways for Indigenous youth to enter and then retain employment in the natural resources sector and its management.

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Discussion of welfare and work for Indigenous Australians leads quickly to the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme. Introduced by the Fraser Coalition Government in 1977, CDEP was both a response and an alternative to increasing eligibility for social security unemployment payments among Indigenous people in remote areas. The idea was to make grants to Indigenous community organisations to employ community members part-time who would otherwise be eligible for unemployment benefits. How is it that an employment program designed to avoid Indigenous reliance on social security payments in 1977 became reframed as part of the welfare system 32 years later? How does a popular and successful solution to a significant public policy problem come, over time, to be seen as part of that problem? These questions are explored under the following headings: Legislative recognition and complaints of discrimination; Administrative inclusion alongside Work for the Dole; Employment in and out of CDEP: ATSIC's balancing act after Spicer; DEWR's contractualism and employment service model; Pearson's 2007 reversal and the Northern Territory Intervention; Equalising CDEP and income support: FaHCSIA's contribution; From CDEP to RJCP: Service integration and reframing confirmed.

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Capacity development has become a key concept in international development in recent years. Older approaches involving technical cooperation, in which knowledge and skills were to be transferred to developing countries, have been unsuccessful. In contrast capacity development is viewed as an endogenous process within organisations and communities which are themselves embedded in wider systems. Understanding the features of these systems which might support rather than inhibit capacity development is therefore important. The paper first clarifies aspects of the term ‘capacity development’ and then draws on recent research and experience of capacity development to draw out some of the key international lessons, especially in relation to the ‘enabling environment’. It then outlines a number of community and organisational approaches to capacity development, but cautions that cross-cultural issues may affect capacity development at different levels. The paper concludes by raising questions about the implications of this international development experience for thinking about capacity development in Indigenous Australia. It particularly argues for a greater focus on removing the constraints in the enabling environment in order to better foster Indigenous capacity.

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