E/Valuation in Designing Indigenous Services Delivery in Alice Springs

• In Event: E/valuative Actions: Exploring the Doings of E/valuation in Evaluative Systems 2

Abstract

The Integrated Services Program (ISP) is designed and delivered by Tangentyere Council (www.tangentyere.org.au), an Aboriginal organisation in Alice Springs. The program grew out of past programs delivering alcohol support services for Aboriginal people. It is difficult even to fully describe the services delivered under the ISP which are animated by a logic quite foreign to the world of services delivery markets. This leads to painful puzzles and serious problems in evaluating the program.
In Australian services delivery markets, services delivery products are required to include elaborate plans for evaluative processes. The evaluation, as defined by the ISP funding contract defines two key types of program evaluation. First, an assessment of whether the program is working—in terms defined by the funding body (the state) which includes a requirement for enumeration. Second evaluation in terms that can inform the iterative re-design and development of the program itself is required.
This paper begins with narration of a series of vignettes which will be followed by commentary that attempts to articulate an approach that might be called good-faith evaluation. This will include a discussion of Verran’s approach to understanding the generation of numbers.

Author

• Matthew Campbell, Charles Darwin University