aes26 International Evaluation Conference

Authors: Ali Rasoli (STARTTS), Samantha Cherian (STARTTS)
Community development programs in refugee settlement contexts are often evaluated using frameworks designed for clinical or mainstream service environments. These approaches can struggle to capture the trauma-related, relational, collective and culturally embedded forms of change that occur in refugee communities.

In response to this gap, the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS), together with more than 130 refugee community leaders, has co-designed a Social Capital Evaluation Framework for community development programs working with refugee and migrant communities in Australia. The framework adapts established social capital theory to the realities of settlement work, enabling evaluation of changes in bonding, bridging and linking social capital, while also introducing the concept of social capital enablers.

This presentation introduces the STARTTS Social Capital Framework and demonstrates how it functions as a culturally responsive and trauma-informed evaluation approach for refugee community development initiatives. Drawing on multiple program evaluations conducted across New South Wales, the session will show how the framework captures outcomes often overlooked by conventional evaluation models, including strengthened community networks, emerging leadership, increased access to institutions, and collective wellbeing.

The presentation will outline the conceptual foundations of the framework, describe the evaluation tools and indicators developed by STARTTS, and present practical examples from community programs. Participants will be invited to reflect on how social capital concepts can be applied within their own evaluation contexts through guided discussion during the session.

The session will offer practical insights for evaluators and practitioners working in settlement and community development contexts, demonstrating how social capital can be operationalised as both a conceptual framework and a practical evaluation tool for evaluating refugee community programs.