Return to search form  

Session Title: Providing Meaningful Evaluations for Prevention Projects in Indigenous Communities

Panel Session 116 to be held in McKeldon Room on Wednesday, November 7, 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM

Sponsored by the Indigenous Peoples in Evaluation TIG

Chair(s):

Richard payday loan  Nichols payday loan ,  Colyer Nichols Inc Consulting,  colyrnickl@cybermesa.com

Discussant(s):

Richard payday loan  Nichols payday loan ,  Colyer Nichols Inc Consulting,  colyrnickl@cybermesa.com

Abstract: Effective evaluations provide new learning both to programs and to their evaluators. This panel, by 3 experienced evaluators in 3 very different indigenous communities, discusses their learnings and challenges in providing meaningful evaluation for violence prevention and substance abuse prevention programs, especially those funded by non-tribal agencies which may have predetermined evaluation requirements. Indigenous evaluators discuss their work with Maori in New Zealand and with American Indian Nations in the northwest and central United States.

Evaluation of Amokura: An Indigenous Family Violence Prevention Strategy Fiona payday loan  Cram payday loan ,  Katoa Ltd,  fionac@katoa.net.nz Amokura (the Amokura Family Violence Prevention Strategy) is an integrated community-based, 3-year initiative to address family violence in Northland - Tai Tokerau, New Zealand. The initiative is led by the Consortium (the Family Violence Prevention Consortium) which is made up of the Chief Executives of seven iwi (tribal) authorities. The initiative itself consists of four project areas that provide a whole of population approach to addressing family violence prevention and early intervention: research, education and promotion, professional development and training, and advocacy. At the end year 1 (2005) a formative evaluation was conducted and this led into the development of a research plan for years 2 & 3, and a summative evaluation plan for year 3. The evaluation and research work are both driven by theory and community aspirations, and have been developed collaboratively (involving the Consortium and their management team, the community, and the evaluator). This presentation will look at what has been learned from the intersections of theory and practice, as communities strive for the goal of zero tolerance of violence. A special focus will be on the evaluation of complex community initiatives.

An Evaluation's Identity Crisis: Implementing a Federally Funded Prevention Project Evaluation within a Sovereign Tribal Government Context Nicole payday loan  Bowman payday loan ,  Bowman Performance Consulting LLC,  nbowman@nbowmanconsulting.com Learn through two case studies how an evaluation can have an 'identity crisis' because it was funded by outside (non-Indian) government agency but was being implemented within a sovereign Indian nation. Developing the evaluation's identity for a project and using that process as a responsive and respectful teaching tool for evaluation stakeholders is the heart of collecting valid, reliable, and useful evaluation data. Participants will understand how a prevention project's evaluation identity crisis became a transformative process in which the Indian and non-Indian stakeholders created a unique community of practice and strengthened their own evaluation capacity along the way. During this presentation you will learn how this evaluation's identity crisis was the catalyst for a multi-ethnic stakeholder group to create new evaluation methods, responsive policies, and new practices. These innovations reflected a more self-determined model and Indigenized strategies for prevention programming and for the evaluation design itself. Theoretical sources, conceptual frameworks, and the empirical data, instruments, and evaluation processes will be shared. Using Indian and non-Indian methods, the presenter will compare the approach to the prevention evaluations in a side-by-side manner to highlight the differences in evaluation designs, share the collaborative transformation process, and allow the audience to leave with concrete ideas and empowering resources.

Indigenous Evaluation of the Implementation of the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's Strategic Prevention Framework in a Community on the Yakama Nation Jane payday loan  Grover payday loan ,  RMC Research Corporation,  jgrover@rmccorp.com The Strategic Prevention Framework uses a community participatory process in examining data to determine local issues that lead to problem levels of underage drinking. In American Indian Communities this process necessarily involves the whole community and seeks especially the knowledge of elders and youth. Learn from the experience of a small isolated rural community on the Yakama Indian Reservation that is providing insight into the SPF process and its evaluation in Native American and Native Alaskan communities. Questions addressed include: what constitutes evidence of effective prevention programs in these settings? what does the indigenous community consider to be successful outcomes?