Indigenous Outcomes Strategy and Reporting

In making Investment Decisions, the NAIF Board must be satisfied that the proponent has met all mandatory eligibility criteria including the Indigenous Engagement Strategy (IES) criterion.

NAIF Staff looking at project map while discussing indigenous outcomes

A satisfactory IES is one that provides appropriate opportunities for participation, procurement and employment which reflect the regional Indigenous community, commensurate with the nature, scope and location of the project, and the capacity and any existing operations of the proponent.

NAIF encourages proponents to develop sustainable and viable targets for the project however these are not mandatory.

The IES Guidelineopens PDF file provides practical advice to proponents in the development of a satisfactory IES including how NAIF assesses the IES; the ongoing, reporting requirements; communications opportunities and details on the IES clause – providing incentive for performance.

IES process

NAIF looks for an Indigenous Engagement Strategy to:

  • identify the opportunity the project provides across participation, procurement and employment;
  • detail strategies and actions that can enable those opportunities to be taken up by Indigenous peoples;
  • provide opportunities across the construction and operational phases of the project – as appropriate for the project and commensurate to the length of the NAIF loan; and
  • be tailored to provide opportunities to local Traditional Owner groups and the regional Indigenous population as appropriate to the community, region and the Project;
  • be informed by relevant, existing documents, including for example Native title and other agreements, Indigenous Land Use Agreements, Reconciliation Action Plans, and existing engagement, training, education, employment and procurement initiatives, processes, policies and operations.

An Indigenous Engagement Strategy needs to…

A diagram to show what an Indigenous Engagement Strategy needs to do

IES reporting

Proponents are required to regularly report on IES performance to NAIF – typically every six months during the construction phase and annually in the operational phase, for the length of their loan.

IES public summaries

Communications on IES outcomes are available here:

Indigenous Engagement Strategy public summaries provide a short version of the IES and are available here:

IES typically contain commercially sensitive, culturally sensitive or otherwise confidential information – publicly released information is carefully considered.

Further information on NAIF projects are available at Case Studies