Indigenous Evaluation Strategy
Draft Strategy
This draft Indigenous Evaluation Strategy provides a whole-of-government framework for Australian Government agencies to use when selecting, planning, conducting and using evaluations of policies and programs affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The Strategy puts Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at its centre. It recognises the need to draw on the perspectives, priorities and knowledges of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people if outcomes are to be improved.
You were invited to examine the draft Strategy and to make written submissions by 3 August 2020.
Please note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this paper may link to other websites which contain names, images and voices of deceased people.
Please also note: This draft strategy is for research purposes only. For final outcomes of this strategy refer to the final strategy documents.
Download the draft Strategy
Indigenous Evaluation Strategy Draft (PDF - 11 387 Kb)Download the guide to the draft Strategy
- A guide to evaluation under the Indigenous Evaluation Strategy Draft (PDF - 1784 Kb)
- A guide to evaluation under the Indigenous Evaluation Strategy Draft (Word - 834 Kb)
A guide to evaluation under the Indigenous Evaluation Strategy Draft (Word - 834 Kb)Download the draft background paper
Draft background paper appendices
Please note: The following appendices are only available online.
- Appendix B: Information request to Australian Government agencies - Draft background paper (PDF - 2223 Kb)
- Appendix B: Information request to Australian Government agencies - Draft background paper (Word - 2526 Kb)
- Appendix C: A history of evaluation in the Australian Public Service - Draft background paper (PDF - 387 Kb)
- Appendix C: A history of evaluation in the Australian Public Service - Draft background paper (Word - 58 Kb)
- Appendix D: International approaches to evaluation - Draft background paper (PDF - 722 Kb)
- Appendix D: International approaches to evaluation - Draft background paper (Word - 100 Kb)
Key Points
- After decades of developing policies and programs designed to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, we still know very little about their impact, or how outcomes can be improved.
- Evaluation can answer questions about policy effectiveness, but both the quality and usefulness of evaluations of policies and programs affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are lacking.
- Evaluation is often an afterthought rather than built into policy design (and this can affect data collection and evaluation design and result in evaluations that tell you very little).
- Many evaluations focus on the wrong things (compliance rather than measuring impact, which means findings are often not useful).
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have minimal input into evaluations.
- There is also no whole‑of‑government approach to evaluation priority setting. And while policy makers agree that evidence is critical for good policies, in practice there is little reliance on evaluation evidence when designing or modifying policies.
- The draft Indigenous Evaluation Strategy (the Strategy) sets out a new approach. It provides a whole‑of‑government framework for Australian Government agencies for evaluating policies and programs affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
- The Strategy puts Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at its centre. To achieve better outcomes, what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people value, their expertise, and lived experiences needs to be reflected in what is evaluated, how evaluation is undertaken, and the outcomes policies and programs seek to achieve.
- The Strategy sets out evaluation principles and provides principles‑based guidance for Australian Government agencies for selecting, planning, conducting and reporting evaluations. The principles‑based guidance aims to ‘lift the bar’ on the quality of evaluations and improve their usefulness.
- An Office of Indigenous Policy Evaluation (OIPE) is proposed to monitor agencies’ performance against the Strategy, provide evaluation leadership, and identify potential cross‑agency/topic evaluations. A central clearinghouse for the body of evidence on the effectiveness of policies and programs affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people would improve the accessibility of evaluation evidence.
- The Strategy also sets out a whole‑of‑government approach to evaluation priority setting, including the establishment of an Indigenous Evaluation Council to partner with the OIPE to identify evaluation priorities.
- The case for central evaluation leadership and oversight is wider than the evaluation of policies and programs affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Longer term, a new independent agency — a Centre for Evaluation Excellence — could be established to provide evaluation leadership and external oversight for all social and health policy evaluations across Australian Government agencies. If such a Centre was established, the OIPE could move to the Centre as a standalone branch (with the Indigenous Evaluation Council continuing its role).
