Indigenous health service evaluation: Principles and guidelines from a provincial “three ribbon” expert panel

A group of Indigenous health and social service evaluators called the “Three Ribbon” panel came together in Toronto in 2015/16 with the goal of informing a set of evidence-based guidelines for urban Indigenous health and social service and program evaluation. The collective knowledge and experiences of the Three Ribbon panel was gathered through discussion circles and synthesized around the following areas: barriers to conducting Indigenous health and social service evaluation; decolonizing principles and protocols that support community self-determination and centralize Indigenous culture and worldviews; and guidelines to inform health and social service evaluation moving forward. The wisdom and contributions of the Three Ribbon Panel creates space for Indigenous worldviews, values, and beliefs within program evaluation practice and has important implications for evaluation research and application.