ANZEA Conference 2022

In this session, I will discuss three challenges that stand out for me about what it means to be a Pākehā evaluator in Aotearoa New Zealand.

None is ‘rocket science’ nor even particularly ‘new’; all though have been – and continue to be - critical to how I aim to ‘do’ evaluation and live in the world more generally.

The session title speaks to time and place; to a journey both through the years and across the landscape. In 1980s Taumarunui, I was part of a women’s collective that established a women’s refuge and rape crisis centre at a time when none existed between Hamilton and Whanganui. It opened my eyes to how much more there is always to learn about place, about histories and about ‘making a positive difference’ through mahi including evaluation.

Despite being from Whanganui, the only thing I knew about any connection the town had with Taumarunui was State Highway 4. Despite the refuge and rape crisis centre sharing a small office building with an esteemed Iwi leader and staunch Whanganui Awa advocate, all I saw was a stern elderly man who seldom raised a smile. Despite advocating for setting up Te Kākano o te Whānau, my appreciation of intergenerational trauma for Māori was non-existent. Racism, though a critical component of my structural analysis, had no impact on my day-to-day life as a Pākehā. So why is any of this relevant to evaluation? One of the few things I am sure about when it comes to evaluation is that as an evaluator I am the evaluation tool – no fancy technology and no precision engineering to call upon here! To be up for the evaluation challenge, the first thing I need to actively engage with is what it means for my evolving evaluation practice to be Pākehā.