aes24 International Evaluation Conference

Authors: Kathleen Stacey (beyond...Kathleen Stacey & Associates Pty Ltd), Cheryl Augustsson (Yorgum Healing Services), Raelene Rosas (NT Stolen Generation Aboriginal Corporation), Pat Thompson (Link-Up (Qld) Aboriginal Corporation), Jamie Sampson (Link-Up (NSW) Aboriginal Corporation)

Link-Up Services support Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed, fostered or adopted from their families as children, and their descendants who live with the ongoing impact of forcible removal policies, to reconnect with family, community, culture and Country. Wayfinding is at the core of our work - navigating unfamiliar territory with clients towards a hoped for destination of a greater sense of 'home', wherever this is possible, in a culturally safe, appropriate and trauma-informed manner.

In 2019, the National Indigenous Australians Agency funded development of a national Link-Up monitoring and evaluation strategy with the eight Link-Up Services operate across six jurisdictions. Each Link-Up Service is either a stand-alone Aboriginal community controlled organisations or based in an Aboriginal community controlled organisation.

This interactive workshop invites participants into our collective experiences of co-creating and implementing the M&E Strategy on a national basis, presented from the voices and position of Link-Up Services. We believe our experiences and learnings will be instructive for monitoring and evaluation activity with other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and programs.

Travel with us in reflecting on our monitoring and evaluation wayfinding journey over three phases of work. Pause with us at key points throughout the session to exercise your critical self-reflection and analysis skills, share your ideas and learn what has worked well or presented challenges for us and why in creating, navigating and implementing a culturally safe monitoring and evaluation strategy in a complex and demanding service context.