aes17

Lauren Siegmann (String Theory), Rebecca Harnett (Oxfam Australia), Sissy Austin (Oxfam Australia)

This presentation will discuss two evaluation case studies. These case studies examine two evaluations of Indigenous programs, conducted by a non-Indigenous external evaluation consultant working in collaboration with an Indigenous program team in a large non-Indigenous community organisation. This paper will be presented by the evaluation consultant, the Indigenous and non-Indigenous program staff (the evaluation commissioners), and Indigenous evaluation participants.

This presentation will discuss the emotional, relational, and cultural impact of evaluation and the practical ways in which the external evaluation consultant and the Indigenous and non-Indigenous program staff worked together to create safe emotional and cultural spaces in the conduct of evaluation of Indigenous programs.

The presentation will explore:

• How the external consultant focused on emotional and relational aspects of the conduct of evaluation and how this created a safe emotional and cultural space between the consultant and the program team.
• How the relationship between the consultant and the program staff led to improved engagement with Indigenous evaluation participants and consequently the collection of high-quality data collection.
• The ways in which the cultural, emotional, and relational expertise of the Indigenous and non-Indigenous program staff was critical to the success of the evaluations.
• The ways in which the positive relationships between the evaluator and program staff leads to the improved development of recommendations and utilisation of evaluation findings.
• The ways in which organisational politics in a non-Indigenous organisation were navigated by program staff to ensure a safe emotional and safe cultural space for evaluation participants. The presentation will also explore the emotional impact of working within these challenges and how relationships between program staff and between the consultant and the program staff contributed to successful navigation of these challenges.