Understanding and Transforming Indigenous Policy Evaluation

This chapter by a collective of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars and practitioners is based on an influential submission to the Productivity Commission’s 2019 inquiry into the development of an Australian Government Indigenous Evaluation Strategy. The authors argue that genuine authority to evaluate - and indeed develop - Indigenous policy lies with the Indigenous Community Controlled Sector (ICCS). The chapter outlines the way this sector is marginalised and subject to additional, racialised scrutiny in the policy process, including the extra organisational burden of meeting external reporting criteria in order to secure funding. There is a frequent disjunct between the knowledge Indigenous organisations hold of what works in providing services for their communities and the measurements and reporting requirements sought by government. The paper’s sharp analysis of existing approaches to evaluation in Indigenous policy describes ‘top-down bureaucratic reporting frameworks’ as a form of ‘epistemic violence’ that undermines or directly supplants Indigenous organisations’ own terms of reference in evaluating the effectiveness of their work. It concludes that the flourishing of the ICCS represents the most relevant measure of the flourishing of the communities they serve.