Samantha Togni (RMIT Doctoral student)

Evaluation in Indigenous contexts is inherently political. This paper will draw on a decolonising methodologies paradigm to examine culturally responsive evaluation through developmental evaluation in Indigenous settings. It will explore how developmental evaluation operates at the interface of different knowledge systems through examples from practice.

The history of evaluation and evaluation use within Indigenous communities has too often been detrimental to, and marginalised, Indigenous people and communities. Consequently, many Indigenous peoples are sceptical of and mistrust the value of evaluation. In Australia, much evaluation in Indigenous contexts continues to be carried out by non-Indigenous evaluators, raising questions of power and privilege inherent in evaluation. Over the last 15 years evaluation scholars have argued that the recognition of and attention to culture and cultural context in evaluation are essential for improving social programs and undertaking culturally valid evaluation. Partly, this has emerged from a decolonising framework.

Developmental evaluation is designed to support innovation in complex and dynamic contexts where a program or service is emerging. Informed by complexity theory and systems thinking, its essential principles do not explicitly include cultural responsiveness. However, developmental evaluation is relationship-based and pays attention to different perspectives, inter-relationships, context, boundaries and emergence. Within the contexts in which I have applied developmental evaluation it has enabled the recognition and affirmation of different ways of knowing and valuing to inform the innovation development, evaluation design, methods and interpretation of findings. The evaluation has been culturally grounded, the usual power relationships disrupted through co-creation of the innovation and evaluation, and the evaluator being part of the development team.

There is emerging evidence from practice that developmental evaluation can be culturally responsive in its application. However, developmental evaluation is an emerging practice and we need more empirical research to understand its practice, especially in Indigenous and culturally diverse contexts.