Evaluating with Littlewell Working Group

Community First Development’s approach to monitoring and evaluation

In 2014, Community First Development embarked on a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Review to build internal MEL capacity. The monitoring and evaluation (M&E) undertaken with the Littlewell Working Group in 2014-15 was one of the first examples for Community First Development of applying the participatory approach and new monitoring system to co-design short and long term indicators of change with communities, monitor them throughout the project cycle and assess effectiveness at the end.

In 2014-15 Community First Development embarked on two projects with the Working Group: Littlewell Submission Writing Project (2014-2017) and Littlewell Oral History Project (2015-2018).

The participatory M&E approach was built into the design and delivery of these community-led development projects that the Working Group asked Community First Development to assist with.

Self-determination is central to all Community First Development community development and evaluation projects. In practice this means that Community First Development only works at the invitation of communities and all projects and M&E work are led and owned by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people and communities.

The Littlewell Working Group invited Community First Development to work with them. This process was formalised through an explanation of how the relationship would work, and signing a project agreement.
The Working Group described their priorities. These were used to co-design the project objectives and project plan.
As part of the project plan, short term (project) indicators and long-term (dream) indicators were co-designed with the Working Group.

Extensive time and energy was invested at the start of the project to understand the Working Group’s priorities, key relationships, history and cultural practices and protocols. Observation and listening were key to this process. In the words of the Community First Development evaluator:

“So monitoring begins when we first engage with the community… For me, to effectively measure change we need to hear the voice of the people and to see and feel the ripples of change. Hearing the voice of the people captures a powerful picture that empowers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to have ownership of their future to create a better and brighter tomorrow…
When a community sets their own goals, they have a much better chance of success. Most communities already know the solution to the challenges they face, all we need to do is empower and support the community to drive and own the space and the process.”

— Doyen Radcliffe, Community First Development Regional Manager

A combination of methods was used to collect data relating to the indicators of change: observation, appreciative inquiry, transect walking, Ten Seeds Technique and the use of images, video and voice recorders assisted with monitoring the activities and capturing multiple perspectives and tracking the journey.

As part of Community First Development’s MEL Review, importance was placed on the collection of a baseline. Community First Development’s first encounter with the Littlewell Working Group was in 2012. The Community First Development evaluator describes the baseline this way:

“In 2012, I met with the former residents of Littlewell Reserve who requested assistance from Community First Development. Thomas and a former resident who I will refer to as Brother Boy spoke about this pram to me and its significance to the story of Littlewell Reserve. This pram belonged to Brother Boy and as a toddler he was taken away and he lost contact with his family and the Littlewell community. Brother Boy was part of the stolen generation. Years later, Brother Boy began his journey to find his roots back at Littlewell. The pram may be only a pram but it symbolises the journey of the Littlewell peoples’ experience and where they want to see Littlewell Reserve in the future – it is the foundation of their vision – it is the baseline to moving forward and a strategy to how they will do this.”

— Doyen Radcliffe, Community First Development Regional Manager

How did the approach benefit the community?
How were the findings applied?

The Community First Development evaluator explained that the participatory monitoring approach added richness in understanding the story of the community and was useful to deal with challenges and issues affecting the project.

Participatory monitoring supported governance and decision making by clarifying multiple perspectives and was used by the Working Group to refocus or change direction as required.

The participatory approach provided flexibility and “breathing space” to track where and why some things were moving slowly, while others had traction and moved more quickly. It provided the Working Group the opportunity to own the decision making process and solve the challenges the projects faced.

“Flexibility is the key when working with communities as the community needs to own the process, the space and vision. Rigid structures do not work as things can change.”  
— Doyen Radcliffe, Community First Development Regional Manager

The use of technology such as voice recorders, cameras and video camera were an effective way to capture the voice of the Working Group, word for word. This avoided the need to interpret what people were saying and it was less distracting and intrusive than the evaluator taking notes while people were talking.

A structured approach that included the Working Group’s identified short and long-term indicators provided guidance on where to focus efforts, and which information to collect and record during monitoring points and throughout the activity. Establishing the baseline was key to effectively assessing change later on as described by the community and hearing the voice of the people. It provided a clear point of comparison.

Images enhanced the participatory monitoring experience when combined with words and/or audio.

The Ten Seeds Technique deepened the evaluators understanding of the significance of the Littlewell project. While it was anticipated that recording the stories of former residents would be positive, questions asked in the Ten Seeds technique revealed that for some participants, recording their stories was also a difficult experience as it prompted them to revisit memories of being taken away as children. However, while it was difficult, the participants also highlighted that being involved in the project and sharing their story was healing and represented a significant step for them personally.

“It's like my sister mentioned in one of her interviews, it's a place of healing. It's a place where we've been exposed to a lot of violence, and quite a few of our family's been taken away and put into missions. But, we survived, and the reason I say we survived... They knocked us down. We've been knocked to the ground, but we got up, and we continue on fighting for something that's really close to our heart.”

— Thomas Cameron, Littlewell Working Group elected spokesperson

The participatory monitoring process enhanced the leadership, governance and decision making of the Working Group. It enabled the Working Group to clarify direction at each monitoring point. The Working Group established that they were about half way to achieving their aims at the end of 2015. In 2015, the Working Group identified that one of the aims had been achieved: “Use a video camera to record the stories of the people who lived at Littlewell so these memories are preserved as an oral history”. This monitoring point helped the Working Group to focus on taking the next steps to achieve their aims.

Key to the project was recognising the diversity of the Working Group that were no longer geographically connected. By identifying and working with the correct community member for the project, years of listening, observation and understanding were built into the project, drawing on the expertise of the elected spokesperson for the group who held this knowledge and co-designed the evaluation and project with Community First Development:

“I'm the sort of person, I like sitting down and listening to the old people yarning. I grew up knowing that, you know? And they've got an encyclopedia of knowledge. If we can get somebody to sit down and listen to them, they don't write it in books. They tell you the stories of the history of our people, and I guess that's rewarding to do that.”

— Thomas Cameron, Littlewell Working Group elected spokesperson