7: Beyond the Survey: Culturally Responsive Evaluation with Indigenous Communities

Western evaluation approaches, while valuable in many contexts, may not fully capture program impacts when working with Indigenous communities. This session explores how a collaborative evaluation team enhanced their assessment of a behavioral health program serving Mixteco and Triqui women by integrating Indigenous methodologies alongside conventional approaches.

When initial evaluation methods—including standardized surveys—provided limited insights into program outcomes, the evaluation team recognized an opportunity to strengthen their approach. Indigenous program staff brought their expertise to integrate oral narratives, staff observations, ceremony-based reflection, and Indigenous-defined indicators of wellness and healing alongside existing data collection methods.

This collaborative process enhanced the evaluation's ability to capture program impact while honoring Indigenous ways of knowing. The team developed culturally grounded success metrics, implemented community-preferred communication approaches, and established protocols that meaningfully reflected program outcomes. The enhanced evaluation framework provided richer insights and strengthened the program's ability to demonstrate its effectiveness.

This Birds of a Feather session invites participants to explore collaborative evaluation approaches that center community perspectives and partnership. Through facilitated dialogue, participants will:

• Discuss strategies for integrating community-centered methodologies with conventional evaluation approaches


• Explore collaborative frameworks for working respectfully with diverse communities and programs


• Share experiences and challenges in developing culturally responsive evaluation practices


• Identify practical steps for enhancing data collection methods to better capture program impact across different community contexts


• Examine approaches to building authentic partnerships that leverage community expertise

Join us in exploring how evaluators can develop more effective and culturally responsive data collection methods that capture meaningful program impact across diverse community contexts while honoring different ways of knowing and meeting rigorous evaluation standards.