Carol Shard Joins South Australia’s KWY Aboriginal Corporation

Carol Shard, a former director of Housing SA and passionate Aboriginal rights advocate, has joined KWY Aboriginal Corporation to fill an exciting new role.

Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations are vehicles for positive change, implementing services and programs that meet the specific needs of communities across Australia.

South Australia’s KWY is no exception to that.

Carol’s 30-year career designing and implementing programs to tackle South Australia’s homelessness and promote change for the social housing sector is enriched with projects that have improved opportunities for countless individuals.

As a leader in the Aboriginal Housing Authority, Carol worked alongside Aboriginal community to co-design two transitional accommodation centres in Ceduna and Port Augusta. As a Director of Housing SA, Carol led the state reform of homelessness services in 2010 and went on to lead the transformation of the service delivery model within public housing.

Both reforms were driven by a focus on understanding the complexity and variety of people’s needs.

Carol was also part of a leadership team that delivered the construction of 220 houses and the renovation of 300 in the APY Lands to address overcrowding, and the construction of Tika Turka, one of the first student accommodation facilities for Aboriginal Youth in Adelaide.

Midway through her career, Carol regularly visited Aboriginal communities.

“I had the privilege of going to every Aboriginal community and many homelands in South Australia with Elders and Aboriginal leaders, travelling on dirt roads, hearing stories like ‘this is the track that my mum used to walk 20 miles to get a food stamp.’”

“This was one generation ago. We’re not talking about a hundred years ago.”

For Carol, maintaining a connection to the lived experience of those who would benefit from proposed services is crucial.

“We spent lots of time sitting down with Community members talking about what worked and what didn’t.”

“You have to actually feel connected — it all sounds good from a strategic perspective, but when you talk to Mary and her two kids who live in overcrowded conditions, the policies need to make sense in order to work on the ground.”

Carol first came across KWY during the not-for-profit’s grass roots phase to deliver training with only a team of three.

At the time, CEO and proud Ngarrindjeri/Kaurna man, Craig Rigney, was working with his two colleagues out of a small office. From its inception, KWY has been designing and implementing programs that mitigate all forms of violence against Aboriginal women and children and stem the flow of Aboriginal children into the out-of-home care systems.

Now based at Mile End, KWY has grown into a team of over 50 staff members, twenty family focussed programs and services, and two regional hubs.

Working across metropolitan Adelaide, Port Augusta, Whyalla, and the Riverland, KWY programs are central to improving the safety of Aboriginal women and children and stemming the flow of children of Aboriginal children and families into child protection systems.

Welcoming Carol Shard to the KWY team offers an insight into the passionate and hardworking individuals who constitute the Aboriginal social justice sector.

Carol’s role with KWY will be co-designing an exciting new program designed to dismantle the barriers Aboriginal children face in going to school.

“I can’t wait to see the first child that we get back to school. These days, education leads to everything.”

After an extensive career in government, Carol moved into the NGO sector to United Care Wesley Bowden where she managed service delivery programs, mentored young women, and assisted in bringing a women’s senior football league to her local footy club — all while raising her two children.

On keeping motivated during her career, Carol speaks fondly of the importance of teamwork and working with people who inspire you.

“I feel very humbled and privileged that I have been in the right place and at the right time to work with amazing people who have helped shape me. I have always wanted to work hard to make a difference. There’s nothing more rewarding.”

“The Aboriginal space is where my heart lies”.

Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations like KWY are the driving force to meeting the targets that have been set to improve the life outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Australia.