Pama Platform
OVERVIEW Pama Platform (or ‘Pama’) is a Try, Test and Learn (TTL) initiative, co-designed with Cape York people and funded by the Department of Social Services (DSS). It uses agile delivery techniques to innovate the linking of Indigenous individuals and families in Cape York to opportunities. It does this in a way that can provide strong scaffolding to help people to move from the passive welfare system to a virtuous circle of change, where success breeds greater success. Focusing on five key domains—money management, education, health, home ownership and employment—Pama Platform, once fully developed, will amalgamate and enhance existing Opportunity Products and services delivered by the O-Hubs. Pama will streamline these into a single, member-facing, secure, mobile-friendly, responsive web-based application. Pama’s first release (launched in February 2021) provided members with access to key features that support employment and money management such as uploading a job profile and completing a budget online. The Platform also offers a community calendar and noticeboard, which enables members to keep up-to-date with local events and
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activities in their community. In early 2022, members will be able to open Opportunity Accounts—a key pillar of the Pama innovation. Opportunity Accounts enable members to allocate a portion of their income towards certain goals according to their life stages, such as child-rearing, education, personal development and home ownership expenses. These funds will be ‘locked’ to prevent access except for the dedicated purpose, which will aid in building personal wealth as well as protecting individuals from exploitation and negative behaviours. These features of Pama build financial capability and a sense of achievement by providing visibility of account balances and leveraging lessons from behavioural economics to reward positive actions and nudge individuals towards their targets through a reward points system. Incentives, funded by the National Indigenous Australians Agency and co-designed with Cape York people, are tailored to encourage ongoing engagement with the Platform and incentivise consistent contributions to Opportunity Accounts. The Platform can be accessed at mypama.com.au.
“Pama has opened the doorway to get me interested to think about my money and how I manage it.”
Family Empowerment Report // July-December 2021
Pama Member
