Supporting the CLC with monitoring, evaluation, research and learning

The CHSSC has partnered with the CLC for over ten years to support the monitoring and evaluation of its community development programs which currently supports over 100 Central Australian Aboriginal governance groups. These programs aim to maintain Aboriginal identity, language, culture and connection to country and to improve health, education and employment outcomes. These programs are predominantly funded by Aboriginal people using income from land-use agreements, Aboriginal groups also leverage funds from organisations to support the implementation of Aboriginal planned and prioritised projects.

In 2021, then CHSSC Co-Director Linda Kelly and CHSSC Senior Research Fellow Danielle Campbell worked with the CLC to redesign the Community Development Framework and to develop an accompanying monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) strategy. The CHSSC works alongside the CLC to support ongoing strategy implementation, learning and adaptation.

This includes analysing information collected throughout the year from individual project reports, community-based monitoring, staff reflections and independent evaluations of specific projects. This is supplemented each year by in-depth reviews of selected projects or areas of work. Annual monitoring reports collated by CHSSC staff, are complemented by in-depth reviews or analysis of specific or emerging issues, such as the review of the Matched Funds Initiative Monitoring Report 2022-2024 by Louise Stanley and Leila Davies.

Since 2021, the CHSSC has also been working with the remote Aboriginal community Lajamanu in collaboration with the CLC to understand, track and influence what change is happening in their community. In 2021, CHSSC researchers worked with the Lajamanu community to identify seven domains considered critical to a good community life i.e. Yapa decision-making and control; Warlpiri country, culture and language; Kids and young people supported; Family and community unity; Health; Housing; and Employment and training.

Since then, the project has supported the community to monitor changes in wellbeing over time using participatory research approaches which promote community ownership of the data and support them to decide any actions to take in response.

In 2023, CHSSC staff worked with community researchers to develop, test and refine data collection methods and tools. To help with this, three local Yapa male researchers and four local Yapa women researchers worked closely with senior Yapa researchers who are helping to guide the project. The research provided employment for local community members and is continuing to support Yapa autonomy over the research project and their lives more broadly.

In 2024, the CHSSC and its local researchers took further steps in Indigenous data sovereignty to refine project governance and develop data sharing arrangements with the community. The project team also facilitated discussions with the community which both helped make sense of the data and determined what actions they would like to take in response to the findings of the project.

In 2025, fieldwork was conducted twice. The first fieldtrip focused on data collection and the growing Yapa research team demonstrated capability development in asking probing questions in interviews and in sensemaking. In the second fieldtrip the research team made sense of three years of data and shared the learnings with key community stakeholders. Yapa researchers showed command of all forms of data in sharing the findings.

Our work with the CLC is currently led by Research Fellow Alex Gyles with support from Senior Yapa (Aboriginal) Researcher Marlkirdi Napaljarri Rose, Senior Research Fellow Mardi Grundy,  Research Associate Louise Stanley and Research Fellow Shane D’Angelo.