4.4.1 EvalIndigenous Concept Note

In order to strengthen and make evaluation more authentic in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities it is time to build on work that has been done to bring both world views together. As noted by Battiste, it is a coming together of Indigenous and western sciences or as Hatcher, Bartlett, Marshall and Marshall state it is ‘Two-Eyed Seeing’ “that is, to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of the western ways of knowing, and to use both of these eyes together.” Using this lens will help to ensure that the equity focused and gender responsive approach of EvalPartners is truly equitable.

The development of partnerships and the documentation where these approaches have been used will be shared with other organizations and evaluators in order to strengthen national capacity for evaluation. The UN General Assembly resolution on national evaluation capacity development supports the importance of strengthening national capacity for evaluation. It is essential that strengthening national evaluation capacity includes valuing the contributions of Indigenous world views and practices as well as recognizing the sovereignty of Indigenous nations.

Furthermore, UN Article 18 regarding the Rights of Indigenous peoples states, that “Indigenous peoples have the right to participate in decision-making in matters which would affect their rights, through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures, as well as to maintain and develop their own Indigenous decision-making institutions.” Therefore, there is also a need that strengthened national evaluation capacity recognizes the differing cultural and contextual realities within Indigenous communities and among Indigenous peoples. As such, the documentation and sharing of cultural protocols will become and important contribution of EVALINDIGENOUS.

EVALINDIGENOUS as conceptualized will include communicating and networking with Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation (VOPEs), UN agencies, other international organizations, Indigenous governments, other governments, academia, think tanks and private foundations.