Funding and Partnerships in Early Childhood Education for Indigenous Children in Australia​

The Opportunity

Sesame Workshop (the nonprofit behind Sesame Street) wanted further insight to inform their partnership approach and content development strategy, that would seek to address the social-emotional and educational needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Australia.   

The Solution

Pearl Consulting scoped, designed and delivered a research service, to provide both an analysis of the current partner landscape and opportunities for engagement with local funding organisations that are working towards the same social outcomes. This was an integral input into Sesame Workshop’s strategy. 

Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street. The orange and yellow muppets are wearing brightly striped clothing and are holding each other.

Steps to success

The research and partner identification work helped Sesame Workshop have a better grasp of the local landscape, initiatives and organisations aligned to the same outcomes.  

1. Understanding the early education landscape for Indigenous Australians. 

With the use of statistical references, Pearl Consulting outlined the current state of early childhood education for Indigenous Australians compared to the non-Indigenous population to establish a common understanding and highlight gaps based on geographic location.  

2. Identifying a broad and then narrowed partnership landscape   

Pearl Consulting designed and executed a research approach to identify active and suitable organisations for partnership and then narrowed the focus based on a pre-agreed set of criteria.

3. Identified organisations from all sectors with a primary focus on corporations that were currently funding development themes, educational initiatives and early childhood initiatives for Aboriginal children. 

A shortlist of organisations was identified with details of their active involvement in key focus areas that aligned to the targeted areas of collaboration for Sesame Workshop. 

The Outcome

A holistic landscape of 158 organisations across corporate, government and non-profits, that have made investments in or developed partnerships in at least one of the three key areas (education, Aboriginal communities, children between ages 0-6) and narrowed down to 25 organisations that have invested in all three, enabling a strategic approach to partnership engagement for Sesame Workshop. 

“Pearl Consulting has flawlessly project managed two research projects for Sesame Workshop that have significantly made an impact on our Australian business strategy. Pearl takes the time to really understand an organisation and their goals, and develops solutions that are bespoke and curated for their needs.” Evan Hutchinson, Licensing & Business Development Manager, Asia-Pacific, Sesame Workshop