Principles

AMRRIC has achieved great success in a challenging field. This success is due to an approach based on the following principles which underpin AMRRIC's Best practice Guidelines:

1. Respect: Respecting the cultural traditions of each individual community and the right of the community to manage their animals and animal programs.
2. Wholistic approach: Recognising the Indigenous cultural perspective that the dogs are integral to the fabric of remote communities; that the health of the dogs is intrinsically linked to the health and well-being of the community.
3. Ownership: Building awareness of animal management problems and ownership for their effective management within Indigenous communities and government at the local, regional and national level.
4. Agreement: Recognising that sustainability is only possible with strong community support and ownership.
5. Community empowerment: Supporting local communities to identify their needs and source training and other resources. Proactively support and encourage community employment opportunities.
6. Sustainability: Dog programmes must be designed to function continuously with decreasing reliance on external resources.
7. Practicality: Utilising available resources to meet immediate needs generally requires compromise, flexibility, creativity and negotiation.
8. Service provision: Sourcing and enabling professional veterinary services.
9. Competition: Veterinary services are to be provided and sourced in an open, free market environment.
10. Commerciality: In the spirit of an open market place and to ensure sustainability, all Veterinary services should be paid for at an acceptable commercial rate rather than given as charity. This ensures commitment from the funding body and ongoing availability of veterinary professionals.
11. Cost effectiveness: Optimising dog management in each case to realise greatest benefit for investment.
12. Accountability: To all stakeholders in the provision of services.
13. Bench marking: Identification of success factors, measuring endeavour against outcomes to quantify the effectiveness of strategies used.
14. Flexibility: Addressing cases individually, and in an ongoing fashion to deliver the best service at any particular time. Building trust and methodology to enhance this process.
15. Collaboration: Purposefully building partnerships with all stakeholders e.g. local Indigenous councils, public health bodies, animal welfare groups, universities and commercial interests etc. This includes a focus on partnerships across the spectrum of Indigenous representative groups including Indigenous coordination centres, commissioners, land councils, land management groups and community government councils.
16. Capacity building: Creating networks, building the knowledge and resource base and promoting the work to generate movement and investment.
17. Enabling environment: Building awareness of fundamental issues that have an impact on animal management and community health e.g. housing, waste water, animal and pest control, home management, rubbish disposal, hygiene education, community environmental health surveys, public facilities, land care and feral animal control etc. Progress in these areas will create an ‘enabling environment’ where health programmes will thrive and the community, prosper.
18. Modifying behaviours: Promoting and improving dog management in remote communities, by supporting and enhancing the roles of all stakeholders, including the members of the community, the local health workers, the local government, the veterinary community and state and federal governments.
19. Facilitation: Facilitating the work rather than providing it.
20. Leadership: Providing direction, being an authoritative source, stimulating debate and research, promoting the cause and staging educational events.
21. Advocacy: Engaging with government, corporate, Indigenous, commercial and research bodies.
22. Academic rigour: Ensuring all research is scientifically sound. Building a scientific evidence base for human and animal health in remote indigenous communities. Benchmarking of animal management practices.
23. Excellence: Maintaining world-leading practice in all aspects of the work.
24. Streamlining: Supporting regional government with resources and expertise that ensure delivery of sustainable animal management in a transparent, professional and cost-effective manner.
25. Administration: Utilising best practice with regards to reaching or maintaining agreements; in particular, with government bodies e.g. meeting statutory requirements, codes of practice etc.
26. Whole of Government approach: Linkages between agencies at commonwealth, state, territory and community government levels will be coordinated to achieve corporate outcomes.
27. Independence: Remaining an independent organization working on behalf of remote Indigenous communities.
28. Philanthropy: Maintaining a generous, supportive focus in the service of remote indigenous communities.
29. Integrity: Acting with integrity to build respect and trust with all stakeholders.