Lessons from Hawai‘i in Building an Ecology of Knowledge: Engaging with Cultures to Rethink Evaluation Criteria

Abstract

In this paper, we show how widely used evaluation criteria grounded in Western epistemologies—such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development, Development Assistance Committee framework—fall short, especially in Indigenous and culturally diverse contexts. Drawing on Indigenous critiques and Hawaiian epistemology, the paper highlights fundamental differences in how valuing is understood across traditions. Indigenous worldviews emphasize relationality, place, and collective responsibility—dimensions often underrepresented in dominant frameworks centered on measurability, efficiency, and effectiveness. We propose that evaluators need to move beyond rigid, mechanistic approaches and instead design evaluations that are responsive to context and informed by culture. We also urge evaluators not to frame Indigenous and Western paradigms as strictly incompatible. Instead, we encourage them to engage in dialogue and to engage across cultures in ways that advance epistemological pluralism. Using examples from Hawai‘i and Indigenous scholarship, the paper illustrates how integrating diverse epistemologies can foster humility and strengthen learning. When evaluators integrate diverse epistemologies in this way, evaluations speak more directly to communities that dominant frameworks have historically marginalized.