aes24 International Evaluation Conference

Authors: Tony Kiessler (First Nations Connect), Alice Tamang (First Nations Connect, AU)

Effective First Nations engagement is integral in the design and delivery of culturally safe evaluations. The AES' First Nations Cultural Safety Framework discusses 10 principles for culturally safe evaluation and describes the journey of engagement. However, the question of how to engage effectively can be the first and most significant challenge faced by evaluators. There is little clarity on how to create opportunities for First Nations leadership and voices in our evaluations, how to engage appropriately, and who we should engage with. There is also the challenge of managing tight timeframes, client expectations and capabilities that can limit the focus on meaningful First Nations participation, partnership and co-creation.

This is a unique offering that enables practitioners and First Nations facilitators to walk together, explore shared challenges and identify opportunities to improve First Nations engagement. The session will explore the potential for partnerships in informing and implementing evaluations, opportunities to increase First Nations participation, privilege their experience and knowledge, and how evaluation practitioners can draw on these strengths through co-creation to amplify First Nations voices and leadership in evaluation practice.

This session aims to:

• Explore a principles-based approach to First Nations engagement;
• Discuss shared experiences on successful approaches to enhance First Nations partnership, participation and co-creation; and
• Develop a shared understanding of to take this knowledge forward through culturally safe evaluation commissioning, practice and reporting.

Discussion will draw on the collective experience of both the attendees and the facilitators, walking together. The sharing of ideas will be encouraged in a safe space that engages the audience in a collaborative dialogue with First Nations practitioners. This dialogue will explore current knowledge, capabilities and gaps, as well as the challenges (and how they can be overcome), as part of the broader journey to culturally safe evaluation practice.

Authors: Gillian Kennedy (The University of Notre Dame Australia), Tammy Solonec (Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre, AU)

Traditional Healers, known in the Kimberley as mabarn (medicine men) and parnany parnany warnti (group of women healers), have been practicing their craft for millennia, however, cultural forms of healing are not funded or incorporated into health services in Western Australia. In 2019 a Kimberley cultural organisation was funded to develop and trial a service delivery model of traditional healing. The trial ended in November 2023.

This presentation will reflect on a Developmental Evaluation (DE) that was undertaken throughout the model development and trial of this traditional healing service using a multi-method approach, incorporating participant observation; semi-structured interviews; small group discussions; and a client survey. Data was collated into a 'checklist matrix', using a traffic light system to show how each element of the model was tracking according to different stakeholder perspectives. This information was then provided back to the healing team iteratively to incorporate further into the model design.

The DE team acted as a 'critical friend' to the project. Two Aboriginal research assistants (one male and one female) were able to provide valuable cultural interpreting for the project to ensure that cultural sensitivities around the healing practices were carefully managed. The DE team also helped the healing team to develop a set of guiding principles and a Theory of Change to help the project stay true to their underpinning cultural values.

The DE process helped to inform a culturally-governed and owned clinic model, working with both men and women healers, that is unique to the Kimberley. DE puts the evaluation team inside the project. This relational element is reflective of Aboriginal worldviews but may bring challenges for perceptions of objectivity that are championed in traditional forms of evaluation. We argue that the evaluator as a trusted, critical friend was ultimately part of the success of the healing project.

Authors: Laura Baker (ACIL Allen), Larissa Brisbane (Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water NSW, AU)

Recommendations are the sharp end of evaluation, connecting evidence and insights to the improvement we aim to achieve. Many evaluation theories focus on framing and conducting evaluations, rather than developing recommendations or the associated organisational change required to complete the journey.

Recommendations point the way beyond an evaluation report, as the journey doesn't end when the report is produced. This presentation tells the story of recommendation wayfinding. We will share an evaluation practitioner and a commissioner's journey on navigating the challenge of developing actionable recommendations to promote impact beyond program close and into future decisions.

Evaluators need ways to integrate diverse evidence sources and generate actionable insights. The consultant will share perspectives on where these insights and the associated recommendations "come from": how different data come together to inform insights, the process for developing recommendations (balancing independence and engagement from commissioners), and how to design recommendations for the program and beyond.

Commissioners need recommendations that make sense in their context. The commissioners will share considerations in what makes a recommendation useful, and how we use this evaluation journey to leverage learning, skill building, and improvement opportunities. They will also discuss the evaluation audience and how ambitious can you get with recommendations.

This work over a number of years has helped build the evaluation knowledge base within our organisations. We will close with our recommendations to you - with the top ideas that we plan to take with us on our next evaluation journey.
eloped evaluations for multiple end users, each with their own needs. They'll share the research and engagement approaches and tools, which have been useful in different situations, as well as what was useful specifically for this project.

Authors: Lucy Macmillan (ANROWS), Micaela Cronin (Domestic and Family Violence Commission, AU), Tessa Boyd-Caine (ANROWS, AU),Tiffiny Lewin (Lived Experience Advisory Council Member) (National Lived Experience Advisory Council, AU)

As evaluators, we are often asked to examine complex, systems-change initiatives. Domestic, family and sexual violence is a national crisis. In late 2022, the Commonwealth Government, alongside all state and territory governments released the second National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032. The plan provides an overarching national policy framework to guide actions across all parts of society, including governments, businesses, media, educational institutions and communities to achieve a shared vision of ending gender-based violence in one generation.

After 12 years of implementation under the first National Plan, assessing whether our efforts had made a meaningful difference towards ending violence against women was a difficult task. We ask: As we embark on setting up measurement and evaluation systems against the second National Plan, how do we avoid making the same mistakes again?

The Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission was established in 2022 to focus on practical and meaningful ways to measure progress towards the objectives outlined in the National Plan. This session will discuss:

1. the current plans, opportunities and challenges in monitoring progress, and evaluating the impact of this national framework, and
2. the role of lived-experience in evaluation and how large publicly-funded institutions can balance their monitoring and sensemaking roles at the national-level with accountability to victim-survivors.

The panel will explore common challenges faced when seeking to monitor and evaluate complex national policy initiatives, including data capture, consistency and capacity, and explore some of the opportunities ahead.

The audience will have the opportunity to contribute their insights and expertise on how we, as evaluators, approach the evaluation of complex systems-change at a national scale, and over extended durations, while also prioritising the voices of those most affected. How do we collectively contribute to understanding if these national policy agendas will make a difference?