Relational Systems and the Principles of Self-Determination, Reciprocity, and Mutual Benefit: Enacting Indigenous Ways of Knowing in the Evaluation of an Indigenous Health Research Network in the Province of British Columbia, Canada

The British Columbia Network Environment for Indigenous Health Research (BC NEIHR) is one of nine Canada-wide initiatives focused on research leadership across First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities. When developing the BC NEIHR Environmental Evaluation Framework (EEF) the authors strove to empower Indigenous people to engage in evaluation that mirrors their cultural principles. With the aim of advancing their own evaluation, and contribute to Indigenous evaluation knowledge, the authors conducted a critical content analysis of the EEF and annual reports supported by an Indigenous evaluation literature scan. This article presents the results of that meta-analysis, in which four improvement themes where found: addressing power dynamics, using methods based on Indigenous epistemologies, redefining success metrics and indicators, and the idea of becoming rather than having done. The meta-analysis concludes that the key to Indigenous evaluation lies in relational systems thinking, self-determination, reciprocity, and mutual benefit. In this work, the authors hope to contribute to the future directions of Indigenous evaluation frameworks. This article is a contribution to the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation Roots and Relations Collection’s Western Door – Do Good Work, with the aim of supporting and advancing culturally grounded, reciprocal, and relational Indigenous evaluation principles and processes.