24/09/2026
Recently, Community First Development team members, Jak and Allan, attended the Australian Evaluation Society International Conference 2026 as Alumni and Community Support Grant Recipient on Garramilla, Larrakia Country.
This year’s theme ‘Making space, valuing place’ invited participants to reflect on what it means to make space for diverse perspectives and value the places, communities and experiences that shape how we approach evaluation with mob.
For us, one of the highlights was seeing First Nations evaluators, practitioners and Community Support Grant recipients come together to connect, learn and share experiences.
These conversations reinforced the importance of First Nations perspectives being represented within evaluation and the value of creating opportunities for First Nations people to strengthen networks, build knowledge and support one another across the sector.
We were also proud to see Allan recognised as one of this year's Emerging First Nations Evaluators, a well-deserved acknowledgement of the commitment, leadership and contribution he continues to make to the profession.
Beyond the conference program, conversations between First Nations evaluators and Community Support Grant recipients sparked important reflections about cultural safety, representation and belonging within evaluation spaces.
These reflections highlighted both the value of bringing First Nations practitioners together and the importance of continuing to listen, learn and improve our practice.
