Participatory evaluation in practice: challenges and early lessons with an Aboriginal-community run centre for Aboriginal boys
Catherine Spooner, Saul Flaxman Colleen Murray, MaryAnn Seymour, Lisa Jackson Pulver, John Howard, and Elizabeth Moore
Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW, Tirkandi Inaburra. Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit, UNSW, Ted Noffs Foundation, and Centre for Rural Social Research, Charles Sturt University
Contact Email: s.flaxman
unsw.edu.au
Tirkandi Inaburra Cultural and Development Centre is a new Aboriginal-community run centre in rural NSW offering Aboriginal boys aged 12 to 15 a culturally-based residential program aimed at reducing future contact with the criminal justice system by strengthening the boys’ cultural identity, self-esteem and resilience.
A consortium led by the Social Policy Research Centre was commissioned to assist Tirkandi Inaburra in developing a monitoring system and to conduct an outcomes study. Constraints for the evaluation included geographic distance (most of the research consortium is based 600 km from the program, the boys live up to 500 km from the program) and a modest evaluation budget. Challenges for the evaluation included the need for culturally appropriate and sustainable methods and instruments; obtaining ‘informed consent’ from people with low literacy levels; and capturing the multitude of program effects on the program participants while minimising the burden of data collection.
In a joint presentation, Catherine Spooner (Chief Investigator) will discuss how a participatory approach enabled the evaluation constraints and challenges to be managed. Colleen Murray will describe the benefits and problems of being involved in a participatory evaluation from the perspective of the Program Manager. Ingredients for successful participatory research will be discussed.
The presentation concludes with a selection of early results from the evaluation.
Paper
Download Information (if available):
Spooner_179.pdf
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Copyright © 2007 Social Policy Research Centre.
