Evaluation Matters He Taka Tō Aromatawai, 2017, 3: 40-66

"Worldwide the major influence on evaluation practice has come
from the United States of America, dominating the field so much
that non-dominant (or indigenous) culturally constructed evaluation frameworks are largely excluded and absent. The role and place of Māori people as the indigenous people of this land has influenced the culturally centred development of evaluation in Aotearoa New Zealand. Successive New Zealand governments have adopted neoliberal policies helping to shape health service delivery for, and by, the indigenous Māori peoples of New Zealand. Opportunities to design and deliver Māori-oriented health services were enthusiastically embraced by Māori who were ill-prepared for the additional requirements
demanded as a result of accepting service contracts. Within
this article the cultural value of whanaungatanga is presented as a source of tension in “By Māori for Māori” externally evaluated health and wellbeing programmes. This article highlights the vulnerable and contentious position that indigenous service providers and external evaluators are placed when they accept government service-provider contracts. Although service contracts embrace notions of responsiveness and inclusiveness, the continued application of western-privileged frames continues to marginalise indigenous people and their desires. (Authors' abstract). Record #5561