Stories

Our Annual Report: Highlights from the 2023-24 financial year

Nov 28, 2024

Services: Codes 4 Life, Desert Knowledge Precinct, DKA Solar Centre

Our 2023 – 24 Annu­al Report has just land­ed and putting it togeth­er has been an oppor­tu­ni­ty for us to reflect on past sto­ries and achieve­ments, while look­ing to the future. 

We con­tin­ued our mis­sion to pro­mote social well­be­ing and sus­tain­able inno­va­tion in Cen­tral Aus­tralia, while pur­su­ing ambi­tious pipeline projects, such as launch­ing the new Remote Focus program. 

From advanc­ing social ini­tia­tives to bring­ing more peo­ple to the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct and shar­ing trans­for­ma­tive ener­gy solu­tions, it was a big year. There’s just too much to fit into one article. 

You can read it all in our full annu­al report or see our best sum­ma­ry below.

A hub for events and collaboration

DKA active­ly pro­mot­ed the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct as a cul­tur­al­ly safe and unique event venue through­out the year. The Busi­ness and Inno­va­tion Cen­tre (BIC) wel­comed approx­i­mate­ly 4,600 vis­i­tors, host­ing organ­i­sa­tions such as the Cen­tral Land Coun­cil, NPY Women’s Coun­cil, and the Nation­al Indige­nous Aus­tralians Agency. 

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Magnify BIC numbers

Office space occu­pan­cy remained high, with social impact organ­i­sa­tions fill­ing the BIC, includ­ing Pur­ple House and the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Indige­nous Busi­ness Net­work (NTIBN) hub, which host­ed mul­ti­ple events fol­low­ing its launch in Novem­ber 2023.

Key events at the Precinct includ­ed infor­ma­tion ses­sions about the Voice Ref­er­en­dum, camp­fire yarns for NAIDOC week, CfAT’s dig­i­tal sto­ry­telling course for Abo­rig­i­nal youth, and a new com­mu­ni­ty-mind­ed café man­ag­er bring­ing new ener­gy to this cam­pus hub.

Numer­ous part­ners, indus­try heads, and politi­cians also came to vis­it the Precinct and talk to DKA about our work, and CEO Jim­my Cock­ing rep­re­sent­ed DKA on sev­er­al boards and at con­fer­ences around the country.


Alice Springs Future Grid: The Roadmap to 2030

In 2023 – 24, DKA com­plet­ed the three-year Future Grid project, pre­sent­ing the Roadmap to 2030—an in-depth report out­lin­ing the tran­si­tion to a renew­able ener­gy future in Alice Springs. 

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Magnify Precinct energy numbers

Ener­gy use at the Precinct: the DKA Solar Cen­tre and bat­tery help us gen­er­ate half of our own energy.

The report exam­ines the region’s ener­gy his­to­ry, the need for change, and poten­tial sce­nar­ios to achieve 50% renew­ables by 2030. It’s based on five dif­fer­ent sub-projects and real-world tri­als in a real feat of col­lab­o­ra­tion between local partners.

The Roadmap was unveiled in Novem­ber 2023 dur­ing a CSIRO-host­ed livestream attend­ed by near­ly 100 par­tic­i­pants. A press release in March 2024 secured wide­spread media cov­er­age, includ­ing local out­lets like Cen­tralian Today and NT News, as well as ener­gy sec­tor plat­forms such as PV Mag­a­zine and Renew Econ­o­my. DKA’s Com­mu­ni­ty Launch event in April 2024 attract­ed 40 atten­dees for a sun­set pre­sen­ta­tion, Solar Cen­tre tour, and a deep­er dive into the report’s findings.

Sup­port­ing communities

In 2023, the hir­ing of Lisa Watts as Pro­gram Man­ag­er brought new ener­gy to DKA’s social well­be­ing ini­tia­tives. New team mem­bers were recruit­ed to fur­ther devel­op men’s sup­port pro­grams, includ­ing expand­ing the flag­ship Codes 4 Life project and devel­op­ing a Men’s Iden­ti­ty Pro­gram along­side a ded­i­cat­ed Men’s Space at the Precinct. 

These efforts were com­ple­ment­ed by com­mu­ni­ty con­sul­ta­tions for the pro­posed Cen­tral Aus­tralian Lan­guage Cen­tre and con­tri­bu­tions to the Jus­tice Rein­vest­ment project, aimed at reduc­ing incar­cer­a­tion rates through pre­ven­ta­tive social programs.

Look­ing ahead

DKA also con­tin­ued to work towards the pil­lars of its strate­gic plan, an ambi­tious vision for the fur­ther devel­op­ment of the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct and an expan­sion of the role served by DKA in the region from 2023 – 25

This includes place-based goals: increas­ing the util­i­sa­tion of the Precinct, devel­op­ing accom­mo­da­tion on site for stu­dents and vis­i­tors, and estab­lish­ing a Knowl­edge and Wis­dom Cen­tre, a cul­tur­al­ly safe place to pre­serve and share First Nations cul­ture and language. 

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Broad­er region­al objec­tives include the estab­lish­ment of the Remote Focus ini­tia­tive to bring part­ners togeth­er to solve local prob­lems, par­tic­u­lar­ly in mit­i­gat­ing the impacts of a chang­ing climate.

A lot of work was done to pur­sue and pro­mote these new ideas and devel­op­ments in 2023 – 24, busi­ness cas­es being devel­oped for the Knowl­edge and Wis­dom Cen­tre and on-site accom­mo­da­tion, grants being applied for, and CEO Jim­my Cock­ing pre­sent­ing the con­cepts to fed­er­al politi­cians in Canberra. 

Fund­ing was secured for the Remote Focus ini­tia­tive with a new staff mem­ber being recruit­ed to dri­ve it for­ward from Octo­ber 2024.


As DKA con­tin­ues to fos­ter social, envi­ron­men­tal, and eco­nom­ic inno­va­tion in Cen­tral Aus­tralia, the achieve­ments of 2023 – 24 reflect the organisation’s com­mit­ment to cre­at­ing last­ing impact. Through part­ner­ships, cul­tur­al­ly sen­si­tive pro­grams, and a vision for a sus­tain­able future, DKA is well-posi­tioned to address the chal­lenges and oppor­tu­ni­ties fac­ing the region.

You can read the full annu­al report here

Other DKA Stories

Men’s Place officially opens with traditional dances and emotional tributes

Sept 05, 2024

An audience gathered to witness the official opening of the newly created Artwe-kenhe ilthe (Men’s Space) at the Desert Knowledge Precinct, designed by Aboriginal men, for Aboriginal men.

Media Release - Desert Knowledge Precinct launches dedicated Aboriginal men's outdoor space

Aug 26, 2024

The new space has been built by Aboriginal men for use by Aboriginal men. It will serve as a dedicated area for meetings, gatherings, and cultural performances.

Codes 4 Life set to reach more men and boys after licensing agreement

Apr 20, 2024

Michael Liddle first came up with the idea for the Codes 4 Life workshops about 10 years ago, and ever since, they’ve been helping Indigenous men and boys in the NT find a healthier path.