The project examined the corporate support needs of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services, the issues associated with obtaining appropriate support and existing support structures used by these services.

The key research questions were:

• what is the nature (scope and characteristics) of the support needs of ACCHSs as corporate entities, taking into account differential organisational capacity and contexts?
• how do ACCHSs, as corporate entities, access the different kinds of support they require in each area (taking into account the diversity of services, differential organisational capacity and the contexts in which they operate)?
• what frameworks (organised support structures) are required for the provision of adequate corporate support for organisations with different organisational capacity operating in different contexts, and what are the barriers to implementing and accessing such frameworks?

The project was conducted in two parts. Part 1 focused on support needs and issues associated with obtaining support. Part 2 focused on existing models for corporate support and the lessons learned through developing and implementing these structures. Each part included reviewing literature, consulting with key informants (with case studies being developed in Part 2), developing a discussion paper and holding a national roundtable.