This workshop was held online on the 5th and 6th of February, after several false starts with trying to arrange an in-person session (Covid and cyclones being the main culprits...). The overall aim of the two days was to use the data that was collected over the last 12 months to make assessments for each of the indicators in Jabalbina’s, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting (MER) framework. The workshop made 21 indicator evaluations, which recorded a rating for the indicator, comments related to the rating, and any relevant management implications.
A highlight of the workshop was recognising the incredible work of the Jabalbina community research assistant, Pam Young. Pam had undertaken more than 90 interviews with community members and knowledge holders, which included almost every part of the community, from young people in schools to elders living all across Australia. Each interview recorded the participant’s rating for an indicator as well as their feedback and comments, many of which were highly detailed and very insightful. From these 90 interviews, there were over 500 individual responses related to the indicators, which represents an incredible dataset that could be used to inform overall evaluations. This is by far the most outstanding community engagement piece undertaken as part of this SP-SC project and was duly recognised.
The workshop also presented an opportunity to review Jabalbina’s current MER framework and how they use their information management system (IMS) to deliver the project. This enabled several targeted refinements to be made to the framework and to the IMS, which will result in an overall better outcome for Jabalbina.
Learning note:
Recording management implications as part of the indicator evaluation process provided meaningful feedback that will be used for the upcoming planning period. This highlighted the organisational relevance of the MER project and demonstrates the way that community engagement can be used to direct an improve the course of the Corporation and its operations.