aes19 International Evaluation Conference

Donna Stephens (Menzies School of Health Research), Sharon Babyack (Indigenous Community Volunteers), Belinda Gibb (Indigenous Community Volunteers), Debbie Hoger (Murawin Consulting), Carol Vale (Murawin Consulting), Kate Kelleher (Kate Kelleher Consulting), Greet Peersman (BetterEvaluation Project)

Better Evaluation is a global public good collaboration to improve how evaluation is planned, managed, conducted and used. Its website (betterevaluation.org) shares information on evaluation methods and processes, approaches and thematic pages, events and resources.

A new Better Evaluation project draws together evaluators, researchers and community development practitioners from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and academia to promote evaluation that builds knowledge and understanding of the heterogeneous nature of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The aim is to produce an ethical framework that draws on key principles and understandings in contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander evaluation and use this framework to identify and highlight examples of evaluation practice that are rigorous, culturally appropriate and endorsed by community. In working with communities, the project team also had to address its own shared ethical code while working from their individual, community and organisational standpoints. This navigation is indicative of much broader national and international conversations of data sovereignty and what constitutes the ethical principles of effective evaluation in these specific contexts. Most importantly, the translation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge of effective evaluation that translates to and transforms actions, into language and constructs that can be understood in the broader community.

Successful evaluation does not exclude non-indigenous researchers and evaluators; yet, it requires parameters deeply embedded in an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander focused evaluation culture that are not yet solidified in current evaluation practice in these settings. This project has sought to unbox community voices by sharing only community-endorsed evaluation examples on the website, providing a unique platform for the voice of both the Indigenous evaluator and the Indigenous participant in the evaluation, to be heard and privileged.