I
came across ‘program evaluation’ when I had just completed
a degree in Maori Education at Auckland University and was
looking for meaningful employment that would utilize my brand
new education to assist Maori research and development! I
came into the evaluation field in the usual way – I
fell into it, through a research job with Te Ropu Whariki.
Actually, to say I was ‘pushed’ into evaluation
would be more accurate and also more typical of entry into
this field in the New Zealand context.
That
was just three short years ago and since that time I have
been struggling to understand what evaluation is and isn’t,
its practical uses for Maori development, and my place as
a Maori evaluator in the grand scheme or things. I don’t
purport to have the answers (I am trying to find out and
have chosen to complete a PhD on Maori centred approaches
to evaluation). However, I am happy to share what I have
learnt and where I have learnt it from, in the hope that
it will be useful to others making similar journeys through
the evaluation field, and that you too will use whatever
you learn to further assist Maori development.
