We are thrilled to announce that Indi Kindi has been named a finalist for the prestigious Human Rights Medal as part of the 2026 Australian Human Rights Awards!
Indi Kindi was recognised for its extraordinary contribution to advancing human rights, self-determination and educational equity. The winner of the 2026 Human Rights Medal will be announced on International Human Rights Day (Thursday 10th December) at a special awards ceremony in Sydney.
Indi Kindi is centred on the belief that every child has a universal human right to access safe, culturally rich early education. Delivered by our 100% Aboriginal educator team, Indi Kindi provides a free on Country early education service to children aged birth to five years across remote Northern Territory communities – Borroloola, Robinson River, Tennant Creek, and Mungkarta, with groundbreaking outcomes in education, health, wellbeing and employment.
Nationally, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children face severe structural inequality, entering school 2.5x more likely to be developmentally vulnerable. Conventional early education models often fail remote communities due to rigid infrastructure that excludes local languages and kinship systems. Indi Kindi redresses this by embedding the principles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into practice:
- Self-determination and cultural rights: Established at the request of senior Law women and guided by local Community Advisory Groups, Indi Kindi ensures Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have control over early learning. Through its proprietary Walking Learning® curriculum, children learn on Country in “classrooms without walls”, preserving local languages, cultural identity, and traditional knowledge.
- Educational equity: Indi Kindi is radically inclusive. The program guarantees universal access in the communities where it runs by replacing rigid physical infrastructure with a mobile, fee-free service that provides door-to-door transport and real-time simplified enrolment.
- Right to health and wellbeing: Health touchpoints are integrated directly into daily sessions, protecting children’s fundamental health rights. This includes nutritious meals, clean water, hygiene practices, and culturally adapted developmental screenings.
- Workforce and economic security: In regions with around 50% unemployment, Indi Kindi employs 100% local Aboriginal women and offers tertiary qualification pathways for early years education. This achieves an average educator tenure of over five years – more than double the sector average – building long-term community capacity and economic resilience.
This innovative model has achieved unprecedented success. In Borroloola, the program has been associated with reduced developmental delay from 74% to 42%, effectively reversing a worsening national trend in remote regions (Deloitte Access Economics). Beyond educational gains, the program builds long-term economic resilience by providing meaningful employment for local women, achieving an extraordinary 5+ year staff tenure in regions with high unemployment.
Recognition as a finalist, honours the incredible educators who are supporting young learners to be strong in wellbeing, education and connection to Country, so they can transcend disadvantage and thrive.
The Australian Human Rights Awards were established by the Australian Human Rights Commission in 1987 to recognise the contributions of individuals across the nation who made it their life’s mission to champion human rights, social justice and equality for all.
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