Introduction by Croakey Professional Services: This article introduces #IndigenousEvaluation, a series of sponsored articles arising from the evaluation of policies and programs that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The series will tell some of the stories from recent evaluations carried out by the Aboriginal-led team at Yulang Indigenous Evaluation.
Stories are important – many people and organisations have shared their stories with the Yulang team, contributing immeasurably to the impact of their findings and recommendations, yet individual stories are often not visible in publicly available reports.
This series, introduced below by Yulang’s owners Professor Megan Williams and Dr Mark Ragg, will highlight stories of leadership, strength, and healing, and look beyond the narratives to the powerful ripple effects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led health and social programs.
Bookmark this link to follow the #IndigenousEvaluation series.
Megan Williams and Mark Ragg write:
Health and social programs developed by, and aimed at improving the lives of, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been credited with bringing about significant change for participants (see here, here, and here).
However, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and social programs are not evaluated – and when they are evaluated, it is too often through a western lens.
This has meant that there has been little or no accountability to the users of health and social programs, nor to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have worked to influence their development.
Indigenous leadership matters, in research and evaluation
Leadership by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in research and evaluation can and does change this. In particular, focused attention on research capacity building by Australia’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research Institute, the Lowitja Institute, has supported many research leaders to develop.
Some governments and organisations are now seeking Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations to lead the development of policy work. In some states, the aim is to have services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people largely delivered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations.
For example, see the dashboard of the NSW Department of Communities and Justice’s targeted earlier intervention program.
Improved evaluation is essential in this picture. Evaluations led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will bring a valid, reliable, and holistic perspective as well as a cultural one, and can better reflect the needs, priorities, and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander evaluators need to balance their clear principles, values, and methodologies with personal accountability.
This is done in the context of intergenerational and Country responsibilities, sovereign governance protocols, and roles in building capacities of next generations and ensuring community members have transparent access to data and information.
Lived experience, including of interpersonal and systemic racism and exclusion, also plays a part.
As well, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander evaluators have both western science and Indigenous knowledges training, and experience and embeddedness within local communities and cultural protocols.
Narratives of change
The series to follow presents a small number of stories from current and recent evaluations undertaken by Yulang Indigenous Evaluation, an Aboriginal-led business that works at the intersection of policy, research, and evaluation of policies and programs that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The series will highlight Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led services, and healing-informed narratives of individuals across lifespans, strengths-based principles, and more.
We present these narratives here because we see the media in all its forms as a determinant of health, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people where media has such an influence on the policy landscape.
Which brings us to ripples. Yulang is the Wiradjuri word for ripple. It signifies our understanding that all we do has an impact, and that even small changes for the better can lead to changes both upstream and downstream.
You can also find out more about our work by joining a #CroakeyGO – walking journalism – in Kandos, central NSW Dabee Wiradjuri Country, on the weekend of 30 November and 1 December. Find out more here.
Megan Williams PhD is Wiradjuri through her father’s family and has 25 years’ experience working on programs and research to improve the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly in the criminal justice system.
Mark Ragg MBBS BA is a non-Indigenous man with long and varied experience in health, policy, and research, and more recently justice.
Megan Williams will be part of a #CroakeyGO – walking journalism – in her hometown of Kandos on the weekend of 30 November and 1 December. Find out more here.
Acknowledgements
The #IndigenousEvaluation series of articles was conceived and organised by Professor Megan Williams and Dr Mark Ragg and is edited by Dr Ruth Armstrong.
Bookmark this link to follow the series.
The series is supported by Yulang Indigenous Evaluation. The supporter respects the independence of the authors and the editors.
On Twitter, follow #IndigenousEvaluation.
