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Keynote address, Victoria Hovane (Tjallara Consulting Pty Ltd, Western Australia)

The social and cultural realities of First Nations Australians have been and continue to be profoundly impacted by our relatively recent experiences of colonisation, and ongoing oppression and systemic discrimination.  Evaluation of programmes and services in Aboriginal communities can be marred by this legacy through the use of Eurocentric concepts, methods and processes.  Drawing on learnings from consultations with Aboriginal communities in Western Australia, this presentation draws attention to the importance of relationship with community, up-front clarification of the role of community in the evaluation process, and how these relate to issues of concepts, methods and processes.  The presentation will also outline an approach for how Non-Aboriginal evaluators can work cross-culturally with Aboriginal communities.