The Australian National University (ANU) Centre for Indigenous Policy Research (formerly the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR)) was commissioned by Aboriginal Affairs New South Wales (AANSW) to conduct the second phase of the co-designed evaluation of Local Decision Making (LDM), an initiative under the OCHRE (Opportunity, Choice, Healing, Responsibility, Empowerment) plan for Aboriginal affairs in New South Wales (NSW). The Stage Two Evaluation is an outcome evaluation, investigating if and how the OCHRE LDM initiative is achieving ‘what it set out to do’ across five LDM sites. This co-designed, participatory evaluation has taken place over four years from 2020–2023[1] across five NSW regions, represented by five Aboriginal Regional Alliances/Assemblies, and at a state level with the NSW Coalition of Aboriginal Regional Alliances (NCARA). The evaluation is guided by a strengths-based methodology that weaves together First Nations knowledge with that of the public sector and academia. The OCHRE LDM Stage Two Evaluation Synthesis Report is one of ten reports produced by CIPR researchers under this stage of the evaluation. CIPR’s evaluation of the LDM Accord Negotiation process produced three site-specific LDM Accord Negotiation reports and a report synthesising the findings of those evaluations. CIPR’s evaluation of LDM as a whole has produced this synthesis report, three site-specific evaluation reports, a state-wide evaluation report, and preliminary findings report. CIPR evaluated the operation of LDM across the regions of three Aboriginal Regional Alliances/Assemblies -– Murdi Paaki Regional Assembly, Three Rivers Regional Assembly, and Illawarra-Wingecarribee Aboriginal Alliance Corporation. CIPR has also evaluated the NSW Coalition of Aboriginal Regional Alliance (NCARA)-State Accord and three LDM Accord negotiation processes for the Barang Regional Alliance Accord, the Riverina Murray Regional Assembly Accord, and the Murdi Paaki Regional Assembly Accord II. 

The OCHRE LDM Stage 2 Evaluation Synthesis Report consolidates key recommendations of the OCHRE LDM Stage Two evaluations, to help guide NSW government agencies in developing a structured programme of action to improve their performance so that the LDM initiative operates as intended. 

[1] The original three-year project timeframe (July 2019 – June 2022) was extended to four years due to unavoidable delays caused by COVID-19 disruptions.