Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa: 10 year evaluation
Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa (KJ) was created by Martu fifteen years ago to preserve Martu culture, build a viable, sustainable economy in Martu communities, and build realistic pathways for young Martu to a healthy and prosperous future. Among the most traditional Aboriginal groups in Australia, Martu are the traditional custodians of a vast area of the Great Sandy, Little Sandy and Gibson Deserts in the Western Desert of the Pilbara.
SVA Consulting was engaged to conduct a 10 year evaluation of KJ’s work. The guiding philosophy underlying this evaluation was that it must be a Martu story by Martu, speaking both to Martu and to the Western world. The process was co-designed with Martu and involved Martu in the co-facilitation of consultation sessions.
In the evaluation, Martu described a set of outcomes that were important to them and KJ’s impact was measured against those outcomes. In this way, the evaluation focused on what was most important to Martu and not on criteria set by non-Martu. We found that over the past 10 years, KJ has made a substantial impact on outcomes that are important to Martu.
Click here to read the full report.
The project
KJ wanted to do an evaluation to understand its impact on Martu over the past 10 years.
“The SVA 10 year evaluation gave Martu the opportunity to tell us and mainstream Australia what is important to them and for future programs affecting their communities to be measured against that standard. We have again been very impressed with the capability and commitment of SVA’s consultants. They have the skill to balance the need for robust and rigorous evaluation with the empathy required to be reactive to the needs and rhythms of remote communities.”
Zan King
General Manager, External Affairs
Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa
The objective
KJ engaged SVA Consulting to evaluate their impact on Martu communities between 2010 and 2020. The evaluation had 3 purposes:
- Create an opportunity for Martu to articulate the outcomes that matter to them and for the impact of programs involving Martu to be measured against those outcomes
- Understand the extent to which KJ has contributed to outcomes that are important to Martu communities over the past ten years
- Reflect on KJ’s organisational values and how KJ works with Martu
The role we played
SVA Consulting worked closely alongside KJ and Martu to:
- Facilitate two discovery workshops with Martu Leadership Program members to develop a list of Martu outcomes
- Run three separate community consultation trips across Newman, Parnngurr, Punmu, Kunawarritji and Jigalong in the Western Desert
- Synthesise and analyse a large tranche of qualitative and quantitative data
- Prepare two detailed and extensive evaluation reports that discuss how KJ has impacted on the outcomes important to Martu and whether Martu feel KJ are working in the right way with Martu. The report and approach undertaken was in line with the Indigenous Evaluation Strategy 2020 published by the Productivity Commission.
“SVA’s 10 year evaluation of our impact on Martu communities has been a seminal piece of work not only for us as a Martu organisation, but also for Indigenous policy, evaluation and program design at a sector level. The evaluation demonstrated a genuinely indigenous-led approach that truly put the Martu voice at the centre. A great example of an evaluation done in-line with the Productivity Commission’s recent Indigenous Evaluation Strategy 2020. “
Peter Johnson
Co-founder, Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa
Project impact
This report was an opportunity for Martu to articulate the outcomes that are important to them. In so doing, Martu are able to have current and future programs affecting their communities to be measured against those outcomes.
The report also told a very clear story of how KJ contributed to those outcomes over the past ten years and what Martu want to see happen to continue building the future they want for their communities.
Further, the reports contained reflections on Martu outcomes and how they compare to a Western perspective, what were the major enablers of positive Martu outcomes from a policy and program design perspective, and how Martu’s relationship with KJ underpins the trust and respect needed to work together for a better future.
Finally, Martu were also able to build their evaluation capabilities through the evaluation process having co-facilitated community workshops and informed consultation approaches.