INKLUSI – Putting lived experience at the centre of inclusion
La Trobe researchers are helping evaluate empowerment and inclusion through INKLUSI, centring the lived experience of marginalised communities.
Dr Elisabeth Jackson, Dr Thushara Dibley and Adjunct Associate Professor Linda Kelly
INKLUSI, the Australia–Indonesia Partnership Towards an Inclusive Society, is a $120 million initiative supporting marginalised communities across Indonesia. Between 2023 and 2025, researchers from La Trobe University’s Centre for Human Security and Social Change worked with Indonesian research partners on a participatory evaluation that centred marginalised people’s lived experience in defining and assessing empowerment and understanding how INKLUSI contributes to change.
Across 22 locations, participants reported positive changes across seven key areas of empowerment, including self-confidence and personal autonomy, skills, social connections, access to services and having a say in decisions.
Evaluation findings are already strengthening INKLUSI’s approach to supporting voice, agency and inclusion, and will help shape its delivery through to 2029 and the ongoing work of civil society partners. The participatory methodology is also generating wider interest, with potential to inform impact evaluation across Australian development investments and within Indonesia.
