Stories are the foundation of everything: program design and cultural evaluation methods in three Indigenous organizations across Hawai’i

Presenter(s)

• DM

  Dawn Mahi, None

  Sr. Program Officer
  Consuelo, United States
• KN

  Kaui Nichols, None

  Operations Manager
  Hoʻokuaʻāina
  Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

Location: Room 209

Abstract Information: Four culturally-based, Indigenous community organizations in Hawai‘i collaborated with a local Foundation to design and implement SenseMaker as a story-based evaluation platform to understand the role of connection in culture-based programs and how connecting to land, place, self, and community plays a role in improving wellbeing. Each organization employs Native Hawaiian cultural stories and histories as guides for their work. The evaluation collaboration sought to measure the impact of each organization's work in a way that could also be aggregated to see a larger story of impact. The qualitative, story-based collection method employed in SenseMaker as well as the self-signifying aspect of the work was found to be culturally relevant in Hawai‘i, although there were challenges with implementation. The collaboration evolved over time out of the SenseMaker platform and is ongoing, and preliminary results are now available.

Relevance Statement: Stories and narratives are sacred in Hawai‘i. This proposal is relevant to the field of evaluation because it details the process of working with Indigenous, Native Hawaiian community organizations to self-determine and design evaluation tools that honor their work and foundational narratives and puts them in control of the design process. Partners in the initiative designed the evaluation first and foremost for their own learning and program improvement. The design and implementation also sought to honor the story contribution of each participant through the collection and analysis process, through self-signifying/coding of their own narratives and analysis sessions with program participants.

This proposal adds knowledge to the field by sharing the challenges inherent in the process of designing Indigenous evaluation and how they were overcome. Cultural rigor was applied to the process, sometimes challenging standard norms in the field. Applying SenseMaker in a non-development context was novel for the consultants who helped to facilitate this evaluation.

Presentations:

• 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM ET

  Stories are the foundation of everything: program design and cultural evaluation methods in three Indigenous organizations across Hawai'i
  

  Presenter: Dawn Mahi, None – Consuelo

  Presenter: Kaui Nichols, None – Hoʻokuaʻāina