An AES Cultural Safety Framework (the Framework) was commissioned by the AES Board in 2020, at the initiation of the Indigenous Culture and Diversity Committee (ICDC). Sharon Gollan and Kathleen Stacey were appointed to develop the Framework, working with a Reference Group consisting of members from the ICDC and representatives from the three other Board Strategic Advisory Committee. The Framework was formally launched on 15 September 2021 at FestEVAL21.
The Foundation Workshop on learning to apply the Framework has been developed by Sharon Gollan and Kathleen Stacey. Workshop 2 on applying the Framework in practice has been developed by Sharon Gollan and Kathleen Stacey, together with Doyen Radcliffe and Ginibi Robinson. They will be delivered as half-day virtual sessions during 2022.
Foundation workshop:
Learning to apply the AES First Nations Cultural Safety Framework
The purpose of this workshop is to provide participants with guidance and support in beginning to apply the AES First Nations Cultural Safety Framework to their evaluation context. Participants are highly encouraged to have a specific evaluation project in mind, in which First Nations people were or are strongly involved, that they are willing to reflect on during workshop activities, while noting they must consider any confidentiality requirements.
By the end of the workshop, participants will:
- Strengthen their understanding of how principles for culturally safe evaluation can be applied in evaluation contexts.
- Develop skills in critical self-reflection in working towards culturally safe evaluation.
- Strengthen their understanding of what it means to be an ally for culturally safe evaluation.
The AES Framework Cultural Safety Framework articulates principles for culturally safe evaluation, and describes how critical self-reflection in relation to evaluators, evaluation roles and responsibilities, and evaluation practices can contribute to culturally safe evaluation. Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on and discuss how they consider and apply the principles within their evaluation work. They will consider what cultural accountability means in evaluation, and identify how they can take up opportunities and gain practice at being an ally.
Who should attend?: People involved with evaluation in a variety of roles, including commissioners, evaluators, evaluation educators, and managers/staff whose policy, program or project is being evaluated.
Please note, this session is not a cultural safety workshop; it supports participants to develop understandings and skills that can lead to evaluation being a culturally safe experience for First Nations colleagues and evaluation participants. Cultural safety training, usually a two-day workshop, is an extremely valuable personal and professional development experience to undertake either before or after this workshop, as it can help participants understand and learn how to strive towards creating cultural safety in any area of their work or personal life.
Registrations will be released for 2023.
Details and registration links are on the AES online events calendar.
Workshop 2:
Applying the AES First Nations Cultural Safety Framework in practice
The purpose of this workshop is to build on the foundational workshop by providing participants with an opportunity to learn from and discuss examples of applying the concepts and approach described in the AES First Nations Cultural Safety Framework from two different evaluation teams.
Pre-requisite: Attendance at the foundational ‘Learning to apply the AES First Nations Cultural Safety Framework’ workshop.
By the end of the workshop, participants will have reflected on and discussed actual examples of culturally safe evaluation that will:
- Enhance their understanding of how the principles of culturally safe evaluation can be applied in evaluation contexts.
- Strengthen their skills in applying critical self-reflection to their own evaluation contexts.
- Enhance their understanding of what it means to be an ally for culturally safe evaluation.
This workshop will be run as a panel session, where two different evaluation teams will share an evaluation example that strove to be consistent with the Framework and facilitate a discussion with participants to explore the application of the Framework. Participants will get the opportunity to walk some of the journey of each evaluation, addressing scenarios or challenges that emerged along the way, and practice applying the concepts and approach in the Framework to identify how they would respond if faced with a similar scenario or challenge in a future evaluation.
Please note, this session is not a cultural safety workshop; it supports participants to enhance understandings and skills that can lead to evaluation being a culturally safe experience for First Nations colleagues and evaluation participants. Cultural safety training, usually a two-day workshop, is an extremely valuable personal and professional development experience to undertake either before or after this workshop, as it can help participants understand and learn how to strive towards creating cultural safety in any area of their work or personal life
Registrations will be released for 2023.
Details and registration links are on the AES online events calendar.