We have a team of professionals dedicated to serving Indigenous governments and institutions, providing advice and support on governance, service delivery, risk management and financial management and fiscal relations. Our team will take the time to understand your nation or organization’s goals and needs, and design solutions that meet your unique needs. Through a strengths-based approach, we will celebrate and build on the strengths, knowledge and experience, all while respecting your nation’s ways of seeing and doing.
Indigenous Government Services
Leveraging a strengths-based approach, we work with Indigenous nations and their institutions on governance, strategy, program design, financial management and service delivery.
Governance Best Practice
Indigenous nations have been effectively governing their nations and Turtle Island for thousands of years. We work with clients to develop decision-making and oversight processes and structures that uphold their values and worldview. We will work with you to develop governance processes that honour your traditional ways and leverage the modern practices that work for you, recognizing and building upon your nation’s or organization’s strengths.
Foundational to good governance is information. We like to think of information as the grease of good governance. Information helps to ensure the smooth functioning of governance bodies, governments and their programs and services. We work with clients to ensure that their governance bodies have the information they need to for effective and sustainable governance.
Organizational Design
Indigenous nations have the most complex and under-resourced governments in Canada. Each Indigenous nation government must deliver the programs and services that are typically delivered by hundreds of departments of the federal, provincial and municipal governments off-reserve. Determining the optimal structure and processes for your programs and services is key to optimizing results in an environment of scarce resources. By looking closely at the complex relationships between tasks, workflows, responsibility, and authority, we help you align your organizational structure with your needs, goals and preferred ways of doing, all while improving the services delivered to your clients.
Financial Management Processes
Strong financial management practices enable governments and institutions to make the most of their scarce resources and demonstrate transparency and accountability to citizens. We work with your financial staff, management and Finance and Audit Committee to ensure your financial processes and systems provide you the financial information you need to effectively manage and govern. We can help you to implement budgeting and forecasting processes that tightly manage your cash flow and ensure your government maximizes its services within your available resources.
Committee Support Services
We support Indigenous advisory committees and working groups that are tackling complex issues. Our team provides a range of support services including meeting facilitation, research and analysis, preparation of discussion papers, development of committee terms of reference and meeting logistics.
Business Performance Improvement
The programs, services and corporate functions of Indigenous nations are generally operating with a fraction of the funding of similar off-reserve agencies. We can help you advocate for more funding, while also implementing improvements that make the most of your existing funding. Taking a strengths-based approach, we can walk your organization through the process of identifying and implementing operational, financial and governance improvements. We will encourage your people to think beyond existing service delivery models, challenging funder-created silos and conventional thinking to unlock your performance potential.
Contact Our Practice Team:
John Lees
Ainslee Kent
Orbis Risk Consulting
Orbis Risk Consulting
203-1327A Wellington St W
Ottawa, Ontario
K1Y 3B6
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