Abstract:
Co-design has become increasingly common in the public sector. This thesis aimed to develop a
kaupapa Māori evaluation framework to evaluate co-design, and, more broadly, to contribute to the
knowledge and practice of kaupapa Māori evaluation of co-design projects with and as Māori. The
research lays a foundation of what good co-design looks like for Māori, and provides practical tools
to effectively evaluate our participation in co-design from a Māori perspective.
A kaupapa Māori methodological approach was used, in particular, applying a participatory
approach with a Māori health organisation to support the development of the framework. Informed by
literature reviews, interviews and hui with Māori evaluation and health leaders, my research
identified features and principles that were important for undertaking evaluation and co-design as
Māori. When evaluating co-design providing a Te Tiriti o Waitangi critique in practice means
balancing power and resources, appraising partnerships with the Crown and its agencies, ensuring
approaches are Māori-led and addressing epistemological racism within evaluation. A Māori view of
co-design is grounded in our traditional knowledge space and is seen as a natural (collective) way of
working as Māori, taking a sustainable and generational perspective.
This research presents a kaupapa Māori evaluation framework to evaluate co-design as a
transformative method for Māori to enact self-determination. The various kaupapa Māori evaluation
tools informed by and using collaborative, reflective and kōrero approaches are presented as a
“tukutuku”, a Māori design metaphor that combines our reflective whakaaro and tells an evaluative
story of co-design in the form of pūrākau/kōrero paki. The framework helps to fill a gap in the
evaluation arena for culturally embedded evaluation. In this way it attempts to collectively harness
our own knowledge systems, our mātauranga, and taonga tuku iho and build on this through new
applications of methodologies, methods and frameworks. Thus, creating the space for more
meaningful evaluation as Māori, in order to support the development and hauora of our people.