Indigenous Insights: An Evaluation Podcast

Available Episodes

5 of 46

S04E05: Liberatory Evaluation, Trust-Based Giving, and Reimagining Impact with Hafsa Mustafa
Bio Hafsa Mustafa – Decolonial MEL Strategist - is a researcher, writer, and data expert with more than 20 years of experience in the field of learning and evaluation. Hafsa's perspective is rooted in both professional expertise and personal history. Her career spans grassroots movements, philanthropy, impact investing, and academia, where she has helped organizations turn complex information into actionable insights and impact strategies that are grounded, equity-driven, and built to endure. Informed by mentorship across global movements and a family legacy rooted in justice, she is committed to making research and evaluation non-extractive, relational, and a driver of transformative change. Overview In this thought-provoking episode, hosts Dr. Gladys Rowe and Dr. Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara are joined by Hafsa Mustafa, a decolonial monitoring, evaluation, and learning strategist whose 20+ years of work span grassroots movements, philanthropy, impact investing, and academia. Hafsa shares her evaluation origin story, weaving together her family’s history of displacement under British colonialism, her experience growing up in Karachi’s dual education systems, and her awakening to how colonial frameworks shape knowledge, language, and data. In this episode, the conversation moves through the many ways Hafsa is reimagining evaluation as a liberatory and justice-oriented practice. She shares how her partnerships with global social movements have reshaped the meaning of impact - centering collaboration, relationship, and shared power rather than compliance or control. Hafsa reflects on the principles of trust-based giving, which challenge traditional philanthropy by emphasizing long-term, relationship-centered approaches grounded in mutual accountability. Drawing inspiration from solidarity economies in Mexico, landless worker movements in Brazil, and women’s cooperatives in Nepal, she highlights how collective power and intergenerational learning create sustainable change. Finally, Hafsa introduces her “liberatory evaluation” tools - the diagnostic and champion’s map - that help individuals and organizations locate themselves within systems of power and envision tangible pathways toward equity and transformation. Resources Just Insights – https://justinsights.org Email: [email protected] For more visit: https://www.gladysrowe.com/podcast (Scroll to the bottom to subscribe to the newsletter!) If you are loving this podcast please leave a five star review on your favourite streaming service. If you would like to offer support please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/InsightsPod
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S04E04: Joyful Militancy, Black Liberatory Evaluation & Mind-Your-Business Solidarity with Dr. Monique Liston
Bio What happens when Black identity is loved, protected, and defended as we collectively learn about process and change in communities, organizations and programs? This is the question that dr. monique liston unapologetically built a community-engaged intellectual and regenerative life practice around. She is the founder, chief strategist, and joyful militant at UBUNTU Research and Evaluation, an undisciplined learning organization in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As the daughter of Ursula, granddaughter of Gracie J. and Bernice, pet-mom of Simone, a mini Goldendoodle, and Franklin, a Russian Box Tortoise, she asks that you send her recommendations of bookstores, restaurants, and beaches to help her find joy while surviving the end of a white supremacist heteropatriarchal queerphobic world. Overview In this powerful episode, Gladys and Liz are joined by Dr. Monique Liston — Founder, Chief Strategist, and joyful militant at Ubuntu Research & Evaluation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Monique centers Black liberation, joy, and collective thriving in her evaluation practice and invites us to imagine — and measure — toward the worlds our communities deserve. Monique invites us into a bold reimagining of evaluation as a liberatory practice rooted in Black joy, dignity, and possibility. She describes her approach to Black liberatory evaluation as one that rejects deficit-based narratives and instead insists on measuring progress toward the thriving futures Black communities deserve. Together, the conversation explores how solidarity requires what Monique calls “minding your business deeply”—grounding ourselves in our own histories, responsibilities, and communities so that cross-movement alignment is built with intention rather than assumption. They also dive into Ubuntu’s Afrofuturist Evaluation and Beloved Community frameworks, which evaluate present-day efforts based on their ability to move us toward worlds free from oppression. Throughout, Monique speaks candidly about the tensions evaluators face when working inside systems that don’t always reflect our values, and emphasizes the role of joy, curiosity, and writing as essential acts of resistance, mentorship, and future-building. Resources Check out Fractals here. AEA GEDI Internship Email: [email protected] For more visit: https://www.gladysrowe.com/podcast (Scroll to the bottom to subscribe to the newsletter!) If you are loving this podcast please leave a five star review on your favourite streaming service. If you would like to offer support please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/InsightsPod
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S04E03: Saying the Things – Systems Change, Trauma, and Transformation with Louise Adongo
Bio Louise Adongo was born and mostly raised in Kenya but has also lived in various parts of Southern Africa. A bold and grounded leader with close to 20 years' experience in systems change, policy and evaluation, Louise runs the inclusive engagement consultancy, Caprivian Strip Inc (CSI) and is a co-steward in systemic mediation with the Transition Bridges Project collective *https://www.transitionbridges.net Drawing lessons and wisdom from her heritage, faith, creativity as well as assorted personal & professional experiences, she brings care and intention to uncovering the roots of tangled problems; enabling shifts to greater resilience, sustainability and impact. She believes that co-creating more nimble, transparent and creative institutional spaces is key to the reinvention that we have learned through our most recent pandemic that we all need. She also understands that connection in communities can be made possible quite unexpectedly one conversation at a time. Overview In this episode, hosts Dr. Gladys Rowe and Dr. Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara sit down with Louise Adongo, a systems change leader, evaluator, and founder of Caprivian Strip, an inclusive and empathy-based consulting firm that uses facilitation, research, and evaluation to support clients in their change work. Louise shares her origin story from Kenya to Nova Scotia, exploring how love, courage, and truth-telling shape her approach to systems transformation and evaluation. Together, they explore what it means to say the things—to have the courage to name what is often left unspoken within systems of power, oppression, and policy. Louise reflects on how unaddressed grief and trauma can keep systems stuck, emphasizing that witnessing and naming these truths is essential for transformation. The conversation moves into a reflection on dignity in transition, inviting a reimagining of leadership and organizational change as opportunities for healing rather than moments defined by burnout or shame. They close by turning toward creativity and joy, considering how art, play, and embodiment can restore a sense of wholeness, imagination, and connection in decolonial and systems change work. Email: [email protected] For more visit: https://www.gladysrowe.com/podcast (Scroll to the bottom to subscribe to the newsletter!) If you are loving this podcast please leave a five star review on your favourite streaming service. If you would like to offer support please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/InsightsPod
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S04E02: Decolonizing Policy and Leading with Love with Toni Tilston-Jones
Toni (she/her) is a descendant of white settlers, mostly from Britain, Ireland, Wales who was born and raised here, in Treaty One territory, in the heart of the Metis nation in Winnipeg MB, Canada. She is a daughter, sister, wife, parent, friend, community member, and a member of the 2SLGBTQQIA* community. Toni has a deep love for animals and the beauty of Mother Earth. She is committed to dismantling the systems, structures, and processes of colonization, oppression and injustice that cause harm, imbalance, and injustice. This must be work focused on the personal, organizational and systems levels. She believes we all have the capacity to heal ourselves, Mother Earth and continue to flourish as communities. She also believes on this journey, we need others -always - to walk with. All that we do is relational. Toni has a Master of Social Work from the University of Manitoba with a specialization in Leadership/Social Policy/Administration in not-for profits and over 25 years of experience working with people, communities, systems, and organizations. She has spent over 20 years providing direct clinical services, works in the not-for-profit sector at the executive level and is the owner and primary operator of Resurgence Consulting & Counselling Overview In this second episode of this spotlight series, hosts Dr. Gladys Rowe and Dr. Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara sat down with Toni Tilston-Jones—a leader, community advocate, and executive director—whose career has been rooted in dismantling systems of oppression and reimagining organizations through anti-colonial and decolonial practices. Toni shares her origin story, growing up in white settler spaces, navigating queerness in a society that denied belonging, and early experiences working with Indigenous youth in the justice and child welfare systems. These moments sharpened her understanding of oppression and fueled her lifelong commitment to system change, healing, and justice. In this episode, the conversation explores how decolonizing organizations must begin from the inside out—addressing racism and oppression before inviting Elders or community knowledge keepers into the work. Toni shares how she has used policy as a lever for change through a staff-led committee and analysis tool, leading to transformative shifts such as a compassionate leave policy and space for ceremony. Together, Gladys, Liz, and Toni reflect on evaluation as a practice of transformation, highlighting the development of a youth-led wellness card deck and staff reflection tools that center belonging, connection, and relationship as measures of well-being. At the heart of it all is Toni’s leadership philosophy—grounded in love, humility, and vulnerability—shaping a path away from hierarchy and toward shared leadership and relational accountability. Email: [email protected] For more visit: https://www.gladysrowe.com/podcast (Scroll to the bottom to subscribe to the newsletter!) If you are loving this podcast please leave a five star review on your favourite streaming service. If you would like to offer support please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/InsightsPod
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S04E01: Living in Indigenous Sovereignty with Dr. Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara
Dr. Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Laurentian University. She is a non-Indigenous scholar whose work focuses on the roles of non-Indigenous peoples in decolonization, reconciliation, Treaty, and LANDBACK; and on anti-colonial methodologies and decolonial change through public education and film. She is the author of the book Living in Indigenous Sovereignty and a filmmaker with the Stories of Decolonization Film Project. Overview In this first episode of Season 4, host Gladys Rowe is joined by co-host Dr. Elizabeth Carlson-Manathara for the launch of a special spotlight series on anti-colonial and decolonial evaluation. Together, they explore the practices, tensions, and responsibilities of reimagining evaluation as a site of transformation rather than extraction. Elizabeth shares her origin story—from her upbringing in white communities in the U.S., to her early experiences working in an Indigenous school in Minneapolis, to her deeper learning through gatherings at Turtle Lodge in Manitoba. She reflects on her journey into anti-colonial praxis, the responsibilities of non-Indigenous peoples in decolonization, and the concept of living in Indigenous sovereignty. This conversation sets the stage for the season ahead—one that will feature Indigenous and non-Indigenous evaluators, scholars, practitioners, and knowledge keepers walking the path of decolonial and anti-colonial evaluation in different ways. Resources Book: Living in Indigenous Sovereignty Film Series: Stories of Decolonization Film Project Turtle Lodge, Sakgeeng Manitoba: Turtle Lodge Email: [email protected] To be added to the mailing list when this is announced please send an email with the subject line: SUBSCRIBE to: [email protected] For more visit: https://gladysrowe.com/category/indigenousinsights/ If you are loving this podcast please leave a five star review on your favourite streaming service. If you would like to offer support please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/InsightsPod
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