Using measures of wellbeing for impact evaluation: Proof of concept developed with an Indigenous community undertaking land management programs in northern Australia

Larson, Silva; Stoeckl, Natalie; Jarvis, Diane; Addison, Jane; Prior, Sharon; Esparon, Michelle

doi:10.1007/s13280-018-1058-3

Cited by 25 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Although investment in ILSMPs was initially designed to support improved conservation and environmental management by the increased involvement of Indigenous people, over time, it has been more frequently reported as being able to improve the wellbeing of Indigenous people [7], with growing evidence that ILSMPs generate co-benefits. "Co-benefits" are a diverse range of benefits that reach far and above those associated with the environment (e.g., health, pride, confidence, and capacity building), and can accrue to a wide and diverse range of stakeholders, including Indigenous people [3,8] and funding bodies [5]. However, impacts are not necessarily all positive.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, we used the recently reported wellbeing impact evaluation (W-IE) approach [8] and interviewed 190 Indigenous Australians in four ILSMPs-engaged communities. We first set out to identify which aspects of wellbeing were perceived as important to interviewees (hereafter referred to as important factors) and to then learn more about their perceptions of the way in which ILSMPs had (or had not) impacted those important factors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Indigenous Land and Sea Management Programs (ILSMPs) Enhance the Wellbeing of Indigenous Australians

Larson

Stoeckl

Jarvis

et al. 2019

IJERPH

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Conservation and environmental management have been reported as offering opportunities to substantially improve the wellbeing of Indigenous people. Using the holistic wellbeing impact evaluation (W-IE) approach—well suited for use in Indigenous communities—we interviewed 190 Indigenous Australians across four communities. All communities were involved in the Indigenous land and sea management programs (ILSMPs). Our study explored the conceptualisation of ‘wellbeing’ by participants. In particular, we were interested in the aspects of wellbeing perceived to be affected by ILSMPs. Out of the 26 wellbeing factors explored, ‘Health centres’; ‘Language’; ‘Schools’; and ‘Safe community’ emerged as being of highest importance to the largest percentage of the respondents. When grouped using principle components analysis (PCA), the ‘Community and society’ domain emerged as the most important; accounting for 52% of the overall importance of all wellbeing factors. The second most important domain was the ‘Country and culture’, contributing 31%. Lastly, ‘Economic aspects’ contributed only 17%. Respondents believed that ILSMPs have played a considerable causal role in improving wellbeing, by positively changing factors most important to them. Specifically, 73% of perceived causal links were related to improvements in the ‘Country and Culture’ and 23% to ‘Community and Society’ domain. We thus conclude that land management for Indigenous people is much more than ecological or environmental management with ILSMPs, perceived to cause a wide range of cultural and social benefits. We also propose ways in which the future design of such programs could be improved to further increase benefits.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indigenous Land and Sea Management Programs (ILSMPs) Enhance the Wellbeing of Indigenous Australians

Larson

Stoeckl

Jarvis

et al. 2019

IJERPH

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This is in addition to other crucially important contributions ILSMPs make to Indigenous well‐being (Larson et al. ) and to the longer‐term impacts that associated knowledge transfers generate (another important topic for future research). ILSMPs also support ecosystem functions and are known to have significant positive impacts on a range of other social and cultural values (Social Ventures Australia, , ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Much research highlights the significant, positive, contribution that Indigenous Land and Sea Management Programs (ILSMPs) make to Indigenous income and employment outcomes and well‐being (Social Ventures Australia , ; Barber & Jackson ; Larson et al. ). Here, we seek to contribute to the small but growing literature focused on assessing the multiple outcomes from ILSMPs, learning more about the regional economic impact of (mostly government) ILSMP expenditure and the distribution of the resulting economic gains between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous people.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Indigenous land and sea management programs: Can they promote regional development and help “close the (income) gap”?

Jarvis

Stoeckl

Hill

et al. 2018

Aust J Social Issues

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Throughout the world, there is growing recognition of the important role Indigenous people play in natural resource management and conservation. Indigenous Land and Sea Management Programs (ILSMPs; which provide funds to Indigenous people to support Indigenous land management activities) are also known to generate social and economic benefits, although relative few of these co-benefits have been quantified. Using northern Australia as a case study, we analysed data on ILSMP expenditure within three regional input-output tables, learning more about the size and distribution of their associated regional economic benefits. We found ILSMPs make a significant contribution to regional economies-with multipliers commonly exceeding that of other key regional industries such as agriculture and mining. We also found ILSMP expenditures make a larger contribution to Indigenous household incomes than they do to non-Indigenous incomes-thus helping to close the (income) gap. They will continue to do so, provided the proportion of ILSMP money spent on Indigenous (compared to non-Indigenous) incomes does not fall below a threshold amount.Rather than finding evidence of a trade-off between socioecological and financial/economic goals, our results suggest ILSMPs, known for their ecological importance, can also make a vitally important contribution to economic development in rural areas.Association.F I G U R E 1 Study area showing geographical areas covered by our three (adapted) I-O models, the location of organisations receiving ILSMP funding during 2014/15 and the main population centres. Boundaries of Daly River (NT) and Mitchell River (QLD) catchments also shown (we later compare our I-O multipliers with those generated from models developed for these regions). Map courtesy of Wolf Stoeckl

show abstract

A well‐being framework for cross‐cultural assessment of development scenarios: A case study from North‐Western Australia

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In Western‐democratic countries, it is widely accepted that affected communities should be involved in natural resource planning and decisions. This is especially so when the well‐being of diverse communities is directly involved, and where alternative future options are being considered. Although there is an agreement that ‘values’ and ‘well‐being’, in some form, guide decisions, there is no consensus on the well‐being framework(s) that might be used in participatory planning. To assist a multicultural group in assessing alternative future development scenarios for the Martuwarra (Fitzroy River) in Western Australia, we developed a well‐being framework that culturally diverse communities could share and use to discuss and assess scenarios. In this paper, we aim to evaluate the effectiveness of the well‐being framework used to assess the potential impacts of scenarios by (i) analysing how effectively participants used the well‐being framework; (ii) verifying whether the well‐being framework was sensitive to the cultural diversity of participants and (iii) direct evaluation by workshop participants. Our analysis shows that participants effectively applied most well‐being categories, and the framework was sensitive to the cross‐cultural context of the application by capturing Aboriginal cultural elements. However, the approach can be improved by including principles of behaviour; producing a more complete system model; and reviewing and amending the well‐being categories in more extensive community consultation. We conclude that the interaction among different worldviews generated valuable knowledge and that, with further adaptation, the framework shows promise for applications involving similar tasks in culturally diverse contexts. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

show abstract

Using measures of wellbeing for impact evaluation: Proof of concept developed with an Indigenous community undertaking land management programs in northern Australia

Cited by 25 publications

References 23 publications

Indigenous Land and Sea Management Programs (ILSMPs) Enhance the Wellbeing of Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Land and Sea Management Programs (ILSMPs) Enhance the Wellbeing of Indigenous Australians

Indigenous land and sea management programs: Can they promote regional development and help “close the (income) gap”?

A well‐being framework for cross‐cultural assessment of development scenarios: A case study from North‐Western Australia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About