Indigenous Evaluation &
Data Sovereignty Sessions
Reclaim the Story of Your Impact
Your community’s success cannot always be captured by numbers alone.
This series will help you build evaluation practices that honor relationships, lived experience, community knowledge, and Indigenous ways of understanding impact—while still producing the information funders need
Led by Dr. Sofia Locklear, this four-part learning experience will help participants build culturally grounded, community-centered evaluation practices while also meeting funder requirements. Through two prerecorded videos and two interactive live workshops, participants will explore Indigenous evaluation frameworks, Indigenous data sovereignty, meaningful measurement, and practical strategies for creating evaluation systems that are both useful and sustainable.
Dr. Sofia Locklear is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto Mississauga. She is also a CIFAR Global Scholar.
Her work sits at the intersection of Indigenous evaluation methodologies, Indigenous data sovereignty, and public health. Drawing from her experience with the Urban Indian Health Institute, Dr. Locklear specializes in helping organizations bridge traditional knowledge, community priorities, and contemporary reporting requirements so Indigenous stories are represented accurately, respectfully, and with dignity.
Pre-recorded Webinars
Prerecorded Video 1: Indigenous Evaluation
Released July 15, 2026
Video 1 explores why evaluation matters, how evaluation can reflect Indigenous values, and how organizations can remain accountable to both their communities and their funders.
Prerecorded Video 2: Indigenous Data
Released July 15, 2026
Video 2 introduces Indigenous data, culturally relevant measurement, and accessible ways to collect and manage information.
Live Interactive Sessions
Live Session 1: Designing Community-Centered Evaluations
July 29, 2026
9:00 a.m. Hawaiʻi Time
90–120 minutes
This interactive workshop provides a practical framework for transforming strategic plans and program goals into meaningful evaluation systems.
Participants will develop culturally grounded evaluation questions, identify measurable outcomes and indicators, and begin creating evaluation plans that integrate program objectives, community priorities, and Indigenous data sovereignty principles.
By the end of the session, participants will have tools to measure impact in ways that are both funder-ready and community-centered.
Live Session 2: Streamlining Evaluation and Reporting
August 12, 2026
9:00 a.m. Hawaiʻi Time
90–120 minutes
Managing multiple funder requirements can create significant reporting burdens for Indigenous and Native-serving organizations.
This session will help participants develop a more cohesive organizational approach to evaluation and reporting. Participants will explore strategies for aligning multiple funder expectations, reducing duplication, strengthening data management practices, and integrating evaluation into daily operations.
The session will also focus on using evaluation findings to improve programs, communicate impact, and support organizational sustainability.
