Meeting Communiqué, September 2020

The Indigenous Evaluation Committee’s (IEC’s) seventh meeting was held via videoconference and was split over 18 and 25 September 2020, due to COVID-19.

Key discussions

18 September 2020 – part 1

The Policy Analysis and Evaluation Branch provided updates on:

• • The publication of the 2020-21 Annual Evaluation Work Plan, new evaluation activities and progress of activities on the work plan.
  • The development of the NIAA evaluation capability strategy.
  • The NIAA’s implementation of management responses to evaluation recommendations and findings.
• Jessica Hartmann and Vance Khan led a discussion on lessons learned from COVID-19 including work the agency has commissioned using ‘impact yarns’ methodology to gauge the social and emotional wellbeing and impact as a result of COVID-19 for First Australians in both urban and remote communities.
• The IEC discussed members’ recent attendance at a Government-wide evaluation priority setting workshop held by the Productivity Commission as part of the development of the Indigenous Evaluation Strategy.

25 September 2020 – part 2

• The Policy Analysis and Evaluation Branch provided updates on:
  • The development of the NIAA evaluation capability strategy.
  • Plans for a future annual report on the quality of evaluations and agency approach to assessment of evaluation quality.
• The Recognition and Empowerment Branch sought IEC input on the Empowered Communities evaluation and toolkit development.
• The Families and Safety Branch presented on the Indigenous Early Childhood evaluation and monitoring strategy being developed in partnership with the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC).

Key message

The IEC highlighted the importance of engaging early with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people when considering the NIAA’s implementation of evaluation recommendations and findings and communicating what has changed as a result of the NIAA’s response to an evaluation.

Next meeting

The IEC’s next meeting will be held in Canberra on 11 December 2020.

Prof. Maggie Walter
IEC Chair