Kaupapa Māori Evaluation in Aotearoa New Zealand

Kaupapa Māori evaluation is literally about doing evaluation a Māori (Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand) way. While the methods we use are often those from western evaluation practice, our methodology and the paradigm within which we operate are Māori. Our use of these methods enables Māori organizations and communities to meet their accountability requirements for the funding they receive to deliver services and programs to their people and to the wider community. At the same time as we are undertaking these evaluations, we are also encouraging those we work with to increase their own evaluation capacity. Part of this is thinking outside of the western evaluation “square” to incorporate traditional decision‐making ways into how they capture outcomes and improve service delivery. The Kaupapa Māori evaluation journey we describe here is about how we currently practice, and our ambitions for the true decolonization of evaluation.