As an Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisation (ACCO), we understand that we have to do research and evaluation differently to have a real and positive impact on the Aboriginal community.

Our Research and Evaluation team is responsible for fostering stronger connections with our community and Elders. We also aim to bridge the gap between research and practice by gathering, synthesising and sharing mainstream and Aboriginal knowledge to inform the work our programs do. In short, the team increases Wungening’s capacity to fulfil its goals of immersing in culturally responsive research; establishing a culturally-sensitive evidence base by embedding Aboriginal-led evaluation within programs; and in the long term, understanding Wungening’s impact in the community.

The team works alongside Wungening’s other programs to develop outcomes frameworks that reflect what is meaningful and what matters to the clients and people with lived experience in the community. These frameworks help to ensure our programs deliver the best service and are linked to the six impact themes of Wungening’s Impact Measurement Framework: Relationships, Connections, Growth, Healing, Safety and Empowerment. We are proud that our Impact Measurement Framework was collaboratively created with clients, staff, the community and Elders.

Through our research activities, we collaborate with universities and other research bodies to build learning and insight with the goal of ‘wungening nalungh kungyah’ (healing our spirit). In the past financial year, Wungening was involved with 22 research partnerships in the areas of AOD, FDV, families, justice, mental health and LGBTIQ.

Learn about the Aboriginal-led Birdiya Maya Homelessness Research Project, a partnership between Wungening (as the lead) and Curtin University’s National Drug Research Institute (NDRI). Funded by Lotterywest, the project amplifies the voices of Aboriginal people experiencing homelessness in Perth, providing a platform for participants to tell their stories and identify ways of improving responses to homelessness.

Click here to learn more about the Birdiya Maya Homelessness Research Project