Visionary evaluation: approaching Aboriginal ontological equity in water management evaluation

Publication date: Available online 16 December 2019Source: Evaluation and Program PlanningAuthor(s): Susan GoffAbstractThe 2017 Traditional Owner evaluation of the implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan developed an approach to evaluation that tested the use of Standpoint Theory in the field of natural resource management. This methodological choice was intended to enable a cross-cultural, participatory and systemic inclusion of Aboriginal approaches to data generation and use in equal measure to non-indigenous approaches. The method is implemented as a nested, up-hierarchy of scale, enabling a pan-optican dimension of vision from "below" and "above". The paper does not present the evaluative results regarding the implementation of the Plan because that information is owned by the participating Nations for their uses. Instead, and in respect of that local data, the paper presents the evaluation practices funded by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority. The methodology was negotiated and implemented with the Nations in the pilot study as a co-production across cultural boundaries. The approach was then evaluated by the participants, and these results are reported. All those reviewing the methodology were directly involved in some aspect of the evaluation, 64% of whom identified as Traditional Owners, 67% of whom were involved in high level decision-making about the evaluation approach. Traditional Owners rated cultural competence of the tested approach at 68%, the benefi...
Source: Evaluation and Program Planning - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research