Commissioning stronger evaluations of Indigenous health and wellbeing programs

The Productivity Commission has called for ‘more and better’ evaluations of Indigenous programs and commissioning processes that engage Indigenous communities, organisations and leaders.

The commissioning of evaluations plays a significant role in the way program evaluations are carried out. It is through the commissioning process that the budget is set, the evaluators are identified, the aims and objectives of the evaluation are set, and many other aspects of the evaluation are determined.

This National Health and Medical Research Council funded project (GNT1165913) responds to a call from Indigenous leaders for opportunities to influence decision-making processes within the health system and across sectors for the commissioning of health programs to reflect their needs, priorities and views on program design, delivery and evaluation.

This project aims to identify how government (federal, state/ territory) and non-government (not-for-profit, corporate, foundation, philanthropic) commissioning practices can better support Indigenous engagement and leadership in the evaluation of health and wellbeing programs in Australia.

To achieve this aim, this project will address the following objectives:

1. To characterise the spectrum of commissioning practices of government and non-government organisations in contracting evaluations for health and wellbeing programs particularly the role of Indigenous engagement and leadership during, and resulting from, the commissioning process.
2. To identify the issues, challenges and opportunities for Indigenous engagement and leadership across the spectrum of commissioning practices from the perspectives of: (a) commissioners/policy makers; (b) service providers; and (c) the Indigenous community.
3. To translate the findings into resources to support Indigenous engagement and leadership in the commissioning of program evaluations.

The project will be supported by an advisory group, chaired by Professor Tom Calma AO.

The project is funded until October 2022.

• Associate Professor Margaret Cargo (University of Canberra)
• Professor Dennis Foley (University of Canberra)
• Ms. Summer Finlay (University of Canberra)
• Professor Bronwyn Fredericks (University of Queensland)
• Professor Jenni Judd (Central Queensland University)
• Professor James Smith (Menzies School of Health Research)
• Associate Professor Yvette Roe (Charles Darwin University)