Please note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or printed material.

We are collecting examples of good practice in evaluation and are particularly seeking Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander material that has been shared informally or is in the public domain but is not very visible.

The aim is for those conducting or managing evaluations in these settings to learn from these examples to improve the benefit of evaluation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The initial focus is on evaluation involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Australia. We have started to collect examples of good practice and aim to get many more from communities across Australia.

With the term ‘evaluation’, we refer to discrete evaluations but also to comprehensive monitoring, evaluation and learning systems and to the broad range of evaluative evidence including needs assessment, monitoring, performance improvement, impact evaluation and evidence synthesis. Read the story behind the project

How do we identify examples of good practice?

We used the ethical protocol to identify 'potential' examples of good practice. We then interviewed community members about the evaluation to obtain their perspective on it. When they scored it high on each ethical domain, the good practice example is shared.

Key takeaways

  • Ethical practice is not optional.

  • Ethics are applied at each stage of an M&E-related activity.

  • Applying the ethical principles demonstrates rigour and is essential for achieving credibility within the evaluation process.

  • We use ‘good practice’ not ‘best practice’ because every example shared here reflects everyday realities and every practice needs to be adapted to a community’s particular characteristics and contexts.

  • We encourage you to use and adapt the Code of Conduct, the ethical protocol, and other resources developed for this project for your organisation.

Explore good practice examples

We are sharing some initial examples of good practice and aim to get many more from communities across Australia.

A special thanks to this page's contributors

Belinda Gibb & Sharon Babyack (Indigenous Community Volunteers), Donna Stephens (Menzies School of Health Research), Debbie Hoger & Carol Vale (Murawin Consulting), Kate Kelleher (Kate Kelleher Consulting), Greet Peersman (BetterEvaluation)

We would like to acknowledge and thank Maria Stephens, an Arrabi/Binning woman who speaks the Iwaidja language. She generously provided her artwork for this page.

We thank Nick Herft (UX Designer/developer) for page design and Alice Macfarlan (BE website manager) for content review and document formatting.

Proudly supported by the Australian Government and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government.

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A special thanks to this page's contributors

Belinda Gibb & Sharon Babyack (Indigenous Community Volunteers), Donna Stephens (Menzies School of Health Research), Debbie Hoger & Carol Vale (Murawin Consulting), Kate Kelleher (Kate Kelleher Consulting), Greet Peersman (BetterEvaluation)

We would like to acknowledge and thank Maria Stephens, an Arrabi/Binning woman who speaks the Iwaidja language. She generously provided her artwork for this page.

We thank Nick Herft (UX Designer/developer) for page design and Alice Macfarlan (BE website manager) for content review and document formatting.

Proudly supported by the Australian Government and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government.

In this section

  • Culturally safe evaluation practice with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
  • Culturally safe evaluation practice with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
  • The purpose of the Ethical Protocol is to promote the full implementation of ethical principles when engaging in monitoring and evaluation activities with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The aim is to support M&E practices that respect the rights of, and function for the benefit of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
  • This Ethical Protocol contains a set of ethical principles to hear and privilege the voice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in monitoring and evaluation that involves them or impacts on them.
  • Ten foundational principles and protocols will guide BetterEvaluation core team and members of the project working team (present and future) in their engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
  • Data sovereignty is the right of Indigenous Peoples to exercise ownership over Indigenous Data which can be expressed through the creation, collection, access, analysis, interpretation, management, dissemination and reuse of Indigenous Data.
  • We are sharing some initial examples of good practice and aim to get many more from communities across Australia.
  • The story behind the Project

    When the project was started with a grant from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPM&C), Indigenous Affairs, in July 2018, the need for cultural sensitivity and input from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island