An Aboriginal-developed program revealed that lasting social change depends not only on structural reform, but on people discovering and using the agency they already possess.

When I first arrived in Australia, I believed social change worked rather differently. My academic training had taught me that lasting progress came primarily from challenging unjust structures and institutions. Those struggles mattered deeply, and still do. But soon after arriving in Alice Springs, colleagues and I at the Menzies School of Health Research were asked to evaluate an Aboriginal-developed program called Family Wellbeing. That assignment quietly transformed how I thought about power, politics and change.

By then we had evaluated a range of health and community initiatives. Evaluation budgets of $20,000, $50,000 or even $100,000 were not unusual. Family Wellbeing, the first Indigenous-developed program I encountered, came with just $3,000 to evaluate its impact. I assumed the modest funding reflected its significance.

Over the following months, we encountered something unlike any program we had previously evaluated. Family Wellbeing did not begin by telling people what to do. Instead, it invited participants to reflect on their experiences, recognise strengths they already possessed, understand how power operated in their lives and support one another to take action. Many spoke of finding the confidence to repair fractured relationships, confront violence or addiction, return to education, assume leadership roles and create change within their communities. We realised we were witnessing something far more significant than the budget suggested.

Family Wellbeing treats empowerment as both an individual and collective process. Its underlying........

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