Our Yanalangami Team are so excited to have partnered with the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Research and Education at the University of Technology Sydney!
The Jumbunna Research Institute is focused on achieving impactful societal change and positive outcomes for First Nations people, through undertaking the highest quality research and evaluation on Indigenous legal, economic, social, educational, and Cultural issues.
The Jumbunna Institute has been collaborating with our Team and our incredible Aboriginal Research Advisory Group members to co-design tools and resources that will assist in evaluating and measuring the impact that the Yanalangami program has had on participants, and their communities.
The purpose of this evaluation process is to determine the effectiveness and impact of the Yanalangami program to achieve our specific aims to:
Connect women and strengthen their networks within a culturally safe and supportive community
Grow Changemaker’s personal and professional leadership skills to enact sustainable, community-led change
Amplify Changemaker’s stories, aspirations, and methods of change
The research process involves the Jumbunna team holding both one-on-one and focus group interviews with Community members and Yanalangami Alumni to seek their input and feedback. The key evaluation questions and research methodologies have been developed in collaboration with our amazing Research Advisory Group members, our Yanalangami Team, and local Community members to ensure they are culturally safe and meaningful.
One of the key governance river streams of our Yanalangami program is ensuring that unbiased and objective Measuring, Evaluation and Learning Activities (MELA) are completed regularly, both internally and externally. This helps to ensure we are learning and improving as our program and our impact grows. Partnering with the Jumbunna Institute means that we can provide safe spaces for our women to share their feedback and insights anonymously.
We are passionate about ensuring that our Changemakers have a comfortable relationship with the research team, and that our women are not the subjects of research but are instead provided with a safe space to share their experiences and journey with Yanalangami; amplifying their voices in order to advance positive change and contribute to a national conversation about gender justice and equity.
We are so grateful to our Changemakers for providing us honest feedback about which elements of Yanalangami have been impactful, engaging, and positive, and which elements we can improve on. We are continuously learning, listening, growing, and reflecting on the program to ensure it is the best it can be.
The final Interim Report from Jumbunna will be made available soon on our website, so watch this space!
You can learn more about the Jumbunna Research Institute and the impactful work they do here.
With deep respect,
The Yanalangami Team
