Looking Backward but Moving Forward: Honoring the Sacred and Asserting the Sovereign in Indigenous Evaluation

Culturally responsive evaluation and culturally responsive Indigenous evaluation (CRIE) within the broader field of evaluation are not often included in Western literature nor are they known or used by the majority of mainstream evaluators. In order to address this literature and practice gap, this article offers an overview and a broader origin story of CRIE prior to colonial or European contact in the United States and gives an overview of the historical, theoretical, and practical foundations for conducting CRIE in a contemporary evaluation context. Examples of evidence-based models, theories, and resources are provided to connect CRIE to Western evaluation designs and provide concrete strategies for the field of evaluation going forward. The article concludes with systemic and policy evaluation considerations as agencies from federal (i.e., United States), tribal, and international governments and partners from private or nonprofit sectors collaborate to carry out Indigenous evaluations in the future. Collectively this multijurisdictional, culturally responsive, and community-centered CRIE approach gives evaluators a new way to move forward