Moort danjoo kanyirninpa (relationality) and Boola kaadadjan doyntj doyntj baranginy (Indigenous knowledge exchange) as Collective Capability within Indigenist Evaluation in Australia

Abstract

Understanding what and how policies, programs and services work for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations requires effective evaluation. It is often assumed that what works in the non-Indigenous population will work for Indigenous Australians. Current evaluations tend to be shaped by settler-colonial perspectives, focusing narrowly on outcomes and not aligning with Indigenous worldviews. Additionally, evaluation designs are often predetermined and formulated by funders. Available evidence highlights that evaluations are philosophically and methodologically misaligned with Indigenous ways of working, knowing and doing. Feedback from Indigenous communities and leaders highlights the need for evaluations that support Indigenous leadership and decision-making. The "Closing the Gap" is a federal policy that aims to reduce inequality between Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians through targeted programs and policies, focusing on outcomes like life expectancy, education, housing and access to services. Reform is underway to improve Indigenous evaluation practices, to better understand how to design evaluations, including processes that support Indigenous leadership and decision-making, and ensure that Indigenous communities are the beneficiaries of such evaluations. Currently, Indigenist evaluations are not common and often have not been addressed or theorised in Australia. As the focus of Indigenous evaluation practice shifts to centring Indigenous methodologies, decision-making and participation, there is a need to establish evaluation approaches appropriate to the population. This thesis introduces the term 'collective capability', drawing on Amartya Sen's 'capability approach' to highlight the central role of collective values, perspectives and knowledge in shaping wellbeing as defined by the collective. Collective capability was conceptually defined and key attributes investigated as part of the development process of an Indigenist evaluation methodology that could enhance and improve practice in Australia. The aim of this research was to address the gap in Indigenist evaluations by defining collective capability using an Indigenous-led methodology. The thesis includes two peer-reviewed publications, and one manuscript under peer-review. The first publication, a protocol in BMJ Open, outlines the methods used to define collective capability using an adapted version of Rodgers' evolutionary concept analysis. Using that protocol, the second publication, which appears in the Evaluation Journal of Australasia, comprises of the process and results of developing the definition of collective capability through in-depth interviews with Indigenous Knowledge holders. Collective capability was defined as 'people coming together relationally to work toward a common goal in a collaborative learning environment, where cultural values are prioritised, knowledge is shared and the process is equally important as achieving the goal'. Two key surrogate terms for collective capability were also identified, Relationality and Indigenous Knowledge Exchange. The final manuscript is a concept analysis of those two surrogate terms. The results provide a foundation for understanding how Relationality and Indigenous Knowledge Exchange could be featured in Indigenist evaluation in Australia. In defining collective capability, this thesis contributes new knowledge by aligning Indigenous evaluation in Australia with Indigenous ways of knowing, doing and being. Future work will embed relationality and Indigenous knowledge exchange into an operational Indigenist evaluation framework. This research has key implications for policy, including informing commissioners of evaluations of the requirements to embed an Indigenist approach to evaluation within commissioning processes. For practice, it highlights how evaluators can take practical steps to undertake evaluations by, for, with and as Indigenous peoples. Show more