Summary

The Cultural and Indigenous Research Centre Australia (CIRCA) was commissioned by Aboriginal Biodiversity Conservation (ABC) Foundation to conduct a formative evaluation of the Aboriginal Women’s Research Assistant and Evaluation (AWRAE) Training Project Pilot. The AWRAE Program Pilot was a 13-week training course for Aboriginal women, teaching them about research and evaluation and is implemented by ABC Foundation and other partners. The purpose of the evaluation was to understand the effectiveness of implementation and outcomes achieved by the program, to inform later versions of the program.

CIRCA’s Research Approach

CIRCA worked collaboratively with the ABC Foundation to develop the Evaluation Framework (evaluation questions, outcomes, indicators, measures, data collection methodologies, and data analysis methods). CIRCA then developed the Discussion Guides that were used for the data collection. CIRCA undertook interviews and focus groups with Implementation Team members and AWRAE participants – total of 11 individuals over two time points. Ethics approval through AIATSIS was confirmed prior to data collection taking place.

Research Findings and Outcomes

The evaluation provided early indications of project successes and areas for improvement, with insights into how the design and implementation of the next AWRAE project could be improved. These findings have been put to use by ABC Foundation for their future projects.