For this year-end report, IICRD used a Developmental Evaluation (DE) approach to evaluate the Off-Reserve Aboriginal Action Plan (ORAAP) work undertaken in 2012/3 and to assist the Provincial Coordination Team (PCT) and communities to tell their stories in a useful way. DE is different from traditional ways of evaluating and is used when initiatives have multiple stakeholders, high levels of innovation and creativity, fast-paced decision-making and areas of uncertainty within systems of relations between actors, structures and processes. This is very much the context of ORAAP. Through a DE lens, some unique and promising outcomes of the ORAAP work in 2012/13 were identified.
Due to the complexity of the issues, ORAAP requires a long-term, socially innovative approach to improving socio-economic outcomes and addressing their root causes. To date there has not been a discussion platform to address the interests and needs of the off-reserve/urban Aboriginal population – ORAAP is intended to address this. The challenge that needs to be addressed through ORAAP is how government can more effectively work with the urban Aboriginal population by undertaking a collaborative, coordinated and holistic approach that supports the needs of the off-reserve/urban Aboriginal population resulting in improved outcomes
